2000 Chrysler T & C on 2040-cars

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10 cool cars from Peugeot's lineup we'd love to see in the U.S.

FCA and PSA are merging: The mega-alliance will not just bring a desperately needed technology boost to Fiat Chrysler, it will also open up potential U.S. sales venues to brands that have long been absent here. Citroen left in the 1970s, Peugeot deserted us 20 years later; Citroen's DS spinoff is a complete unknown in the States. Moreover, there's Opel, formerly a part of General Motors, with its UK-based Vauxhall attachment. As a brand, Opel was last seen here around 1970, its models sold through the Buick sales channel. Even though Opel is now part of the PSA empire, there is still significant overlap with Buick: The Buick Encore is an Opel Mokka, the Regal is an Insignia, and though this is its last model year in the States, the Cascada had been shared as well. But in Europe, the replacement of GM-shared platforms with PSA-Opel models is well under way, We have assembled 10 of the most interesting cars currently offered under the Citroen, DS, Peugeot and Opel/Vauxhall monikers. Should they be offered in the U.S.? We certainly think they deserve consideration. Citroen C4 Cactus Purist architecture in automotive form: The polarizing C4 Cactus is shaped by geometric lines, although it has recently been toned down and assumed a somewhat crossover-like stance that was absent before the facelift. Also lost is the funky full-width front bench that you could initially choose. Still, the C4 Cactus shuns conventional notions of aggressive and prestige-oriented design, opting for functionality and a product-design-like attitude. Sadly, it won't survive past its current generation. Citroen C5 Aircross Bigger and taller than the C4 Cactus, the C5 Aircross features even more of an SUV look, though it comes with front-wheel drive only. Controls and instruments have a reduced, product-design-like look, and the seat patterns offer a retrofuturistic interpretation of 1970s design. The "Advanced Comfort" chassis emphasizes ride quality, but the C5 Aircross is still surprisingly agile. No wonder, as Citroen has a proud rally heritage.  DS 3 Crossback This compact crossover oozes technology and luxury: Fitted with diesel or gasoline engines or with a fully electric powertrain, the DS 3 Crossback can be specified with a plethora of premium options. The cockpit plays with upscale patterns and materials; some dashboard versions are actually inspired by stucco veneziano. The diesel, our favorite engine option for this vehicle, is incredibly efficient and surprisingly torquey.

Junkyard Gem: 1975 Plymouth Fury Sedan

The Plymouth Fury was once among the most commonplace vehicles on American roads, with the 1970s being the most Furious decade of all. If you've watched a lot of Malaise Era cop shows, you've seen endless examples of the 1975-1978 B-Body Fury sedan; today's Junkyard Gem in Colorado is a civilian version with a very unusual combination of features and options. Though the 1975-1978 Fury is sibling to many much more famous B Platform Chryslers, including the Dukes of Hazzard General Lee and a lot of other highly revered Mopars of the late 1960s and early 1970s, it doesn't get the recognition it deserves today. Would the world be the same if Debbie Harry had posed in her Anya Phillips dress on the bumper of, say, a Ford LTD instead of the iconic '76 Fury on the cover of Plastic Letters? I've got this album cover hanging on my garage wall, right next to Sir Mix-a-Lot's My Hooptie and its '69 Buick Electra. This sun-baked '75 left the assembly line with some nice luxury options for an affordable midsize sedan of its time, including a padded vinyl roof. Factory air conditioning was a $437 option on the Fury in 1975, a price tag that comes to an attention-grabbing $2,185 in 2020 dollars. The MSRP on a Fury sedan that year started at just $3,571 ($17,840 today), so A/C jacked up the cost by close to 15%. The base engine was a 225-cubic-inch (3.7-liter) Slant-6, but this car took the next step up on the Fury engine hierarchy for 1975: a 318-cubic-inch (5.2-liter) V8 making 145 horsepower. Here's where things get a bit weird. That shift lever on the steering column controls a three-speed manual; this rig is commonly known as a three-on-the-tree. The most popular transmission setup on Detroit cars of the 1940s through the early 1960s, the good ol' three-on-the-tree survived here all the way through the 1979 model year in new cars and 1987 in new trucks. By 1975, most lower-priced American mid- and full-sized cars had the three-on-the-tree as base equipment, but by that time nearly every new-car shopper here opted for an automatic transmission or — occasionally — a floor-shifted three- or four-speed manual. The total number of 1975 Fury buyers who sprang for the V8 engine, air conditioning, and a vinyl roof yet still kept the old-fashioned three-on-the-tree transmission setup probably can be counted in the low hundreds, if even that many.

Junkyard Gem: 2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser Dream Cruiser Series 1

It has become fashionable to hate the PT Cruiser these days, but Chrysler really hit a home run with the idea of a retro-looking, Neon-based vehicle that — legally speaking — qualified as a light truck according to American regulations and thus didn't need to comply with the costly fuel-economy and crash-safety rules applied to cars. PT Cruisers sold like crazy for the first half of the 2000s and even developed something of a cult followingÂ… but familiarity bred contempt once every parking lot and traffic jam in the country filled up with cute-looking retrowagons. I didn't start seeing many of these cars trucks in junkyards until about a decade ago, at which point the Chrysler section of every yard instantly became about 50% PT Cruisers. Most of the time, I ignore them as car-graveyard background noise, but the rare turbocharged Cruisers or those with manual transmissions can catch my eye, as well as those with weird body kits. The more interesting special-edition PT Cruisers also seem worth documenting as historically significant Junkyard Gems, and here's one of the rarest of all: a Dream Cruiser Series 1, found last summer in Colorado. Inspired by Detroit's Woodward Dream Cruise, the '02 Dream Cruiser Series 1 was the first of many special-edition PT Cruisers (if you're going to collect them all, you'll need to find a Pacific Coast Highway Edition, a Sunset Boulevard Edition, a Woodie Edition, and all the subsequent Dream Cruiser Series cars). All the Series 1 Dream Cruisers came in metallic Inca Gold paint, allegedly inspired by the paint on the 1998 Pronto Cruiser concept car. Chrysler planned to build 7,500 of these cars trucks, but I cannot verify actual production numbers. This is the first I've seen in a self-service wrecking yard, at any rate. The Dream Cruiser Series 1 got leather seats and interesting gold-trimmed interior surfaces. This one looks a bit rough inside, but we can assume it was glorious when new. Resale value on the PT Cruiser has cratered in recent years, so even a runner has little chance of evading the cold steel jaws of the crusher, once it starts to rust. Because every performance upgrade you can do with a Neon can also be done to a PT Cruiser, it would be possible to swap all the relevant mechanical bits from an SRT-4 Neon into a snazzy-looking Dream Cruiser and have the quickest PT Cruiser in your timezone. You should do this. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences.