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A Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country with 12,000 miles is up for auction

A hundred years ago, the LeBaron name was among America's top luxury nameplates, so when we heard that auction house R.M. Sotheby's was auctioning one off, we immediately thought of one of the coachbuilt Imperial-branded classics that competed with the highest-order Gatsby-era Cadillacs and Lincolns. What we found instead, however, was arguably even better. It's a 1985 Chrysler LeBaron Town and Country convertible, the one most of us know from when "Back to the Future" was still in theaters, complete with faux wood paneling. This has strong nostalgic value, especially as one of my best grade-school friends' mom had one, and I always felt like a celebrity to get picked up from school with the top down. While the LeBaron name may have fallen from grace by then, becoming the entry-level Chrysler offering, the T&C droptop was the most glamorous of the midsize K-cars. Did the Plymouth Reliant or Dodge Aries have acres of plastic timber applique on their flanks and four words (five if you count "Le" as its own) in their model names? Hell no. It may have been powered by a 2.6-liter Mitsubishi Astron engine, but the front-driver was pure Americana. K-cars were as common in the 1980s as RAV4s are today, and the K platform was largely responsible for saving Chrysler from bankruptcy. Nothing from Ford, GM, Germany or Japan came close, then-CEO Lee Iacocca said, and, "If you can find a better car, buy it!" he would threaten. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Beyond that, the LeBaron was the steed that carried Neal Page and Del Griffith cross-country in time for Thanksgiving dinner in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Esteemed LeBaron T&C owners counted Iacocca himself, Frank Sinatra (a wagon, even!), and if George Costanza is to be believed, Jon Voight. For a car that sold over 2 million examples, the "wood"-sided Town and Country convertible variant was rare. Chrysler made only 1,105 of them, and this particular example has a claimed 12,345 miles on the clock. The color is gold, Jerry, gold! And given what we known in hindsight about their build quality, you're not likely to find a better one. According to its CarFax report, the LeBaron was purchased new in Vermont, where it resided until 2004 when it was sold to a new owner in West Virginia. Five years later, it made its way to a dealer in Utah.

What we think we know about Chrysler's plug-in hybrid minivan, CUV

When the 2016 Town & Country comes to Chrysler dealerships, it will sport something no production minivan has ever had: a plug. That was on bit of news hidden in the massive Fiat Chrysler (FCA) product preview held in Detroit on Tuesday. All FCA would say about the minivan was that the Town & Country PHEV would get 75 MPGe. We know from the product preview slide (click to enlarge) that there are actually two plug-in hybrids coming from FCA. The minivan and a "full-size crossover," due in 2017. While that could describe the next-gen Dodge Journey, it could also be a brand new peoplemover. All FCA said officially was that it will be a "new vehicle or renewal of existing nameplate," which seems like an awful broad definition. We were curious to know more about these products, so we asked FCA spokesman Eric Mayne. Sadly, he was less than forthcoming, telling AutoblogGreen, "I can only refer you back to the presentations in which the PHEV is mentioned. If the answers aren't there, you'll have to wait." There are actually two plug-in hybrids coming from FCA. Well, sure, for actual facts we'll have to wait, but we can still speculate and look into the archives to see what plug-in vehicle technology FCA has offered in the past. Chrysler had an electric vehicle working group called ENVI that created products like an all-electric minivan for the US Postal Service (pictured). ENVI was disbanded in 2009. At the time, the company said plug-in vehicle work would continue, and since then we saw PHEV minivan and PHEV truck test programs from Chrysler and Ram. In early 2012, Chrysler started testing a small, 25-unit fleet of plug-in hybrid-electric Town & Country minivans with the city of Auburn Hills, MI, where the company is located. The $26-million demonstration project was funded in part by the US Department of Energy, which covered $10 million. The stated plan was for those minivans to each hit at least 16,800 miles over two years, but there were hiccups. In September 2012, for example, the liquid-cooled 12.1-kWh batteries from were found to overheat. Those batteries came from Electrovaya and were mated to a 3.6-liter Pentastar engine that could burn E85. Will any of this make it into the production Town & Country PHEV? No idea, but now we know where the company's coming from. FCA also has some EV experience with the Fiat 500e. Chrysler says electrification has been over-blown by the media.

Chrysler recalling 630k Jeep models worldwide

Despite its refusal to recall 2.7 million Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty models this week over a gas tank fire risk, Chrysler will be recalling 630,000 Jeep Compass (pictured), Patriot and Wrangler vehicles around the globe for a pair of entirely different reasons.
The affected Compass and Patriot models are all from the 2010 to 2012 model years - 254,000 in the United States, 45,400 in Canada and 109,000 elsewhere in the world. In these models, a software error may result in the late deployment of the side airbags and seatbelt tensioners. In the event of a crash, failure of these systems could result in more serious injuries for the vehicle's occupants.
Jeep's go-anywhere Wrangler also faces a separate recall due to power steering fluid lines that can possibly wear a hole in the transmission oil cooler line. According to Chrysler, the vehicles could then leak fluid, possibly damaging the transmissions. Roughly 221,100 Wrangler models are being recalled because of this issue, all of which are fitted with Jeep's 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine. In the US, 181,000 vehicles are affected, with an additional 18,400 in Canada and 21,700 additional units worldwide. A Chrysler spokesperson said that no crashes or injuries have been reported with either case, according to the Associated Press.