2005 Chrysler Crossfire Base Convertible 2-door 3.2l on 2040-cars

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America was the unexpected theme at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show thanks to Trump

President-elect Donald Trump was not in attendance at this year's Detroit Auto Show, but it sure seemed like he was the target audience for many of the press conferences and announcements surrounding the event. Several manufacturers chose to play up existing and future commitments to the US in general and American jobs specifically in their presentations to the press, and we're pretty sure that has everything to do with Trump's recent targeting of automakers on Twitter. To us, it seemed automakers were going on the offensive to try and preempt any future tweet-shaming for investing in auto manufacturing anywhere but the US. The pro-America sentiment started the week prior to the auto show, with Ford announcing that it would build several future electrified vehicles at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan and also cancel a $1.6 billion factory planned for Mexico. Ford announced the two items on the same day, but the reality is that they likely have no relation to each other; the Mexican plant is being skipped because the company doesn't need the extra capacity to build the Ford Focus right now. Trump was still happy to share the news on Twitter. Then, on Sunday, FCA announced it would invest $1 billion in manufacturing plants in Ohio and Michigan to produce the new Jeep Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer, and Wrangler-based pickup. It's not as though those potential new jobs were on their way out of the US, necessarily, but FCA took the opportunity to mention that plant upgrades at the Warren Truck Plant would allow the company to build Ram heavy duty trucks, which are currently assembled in Mexico, there. CEO Sergio Marchionne confirmed that Trump and his proposed tariffs had nothing to do with the decision. We certainly believe that, but we also have to believe that the timing of the release, positive outcome for America, and zero gain for Mexico were all orchestrated. Again, Trump sent out a victory tweet as if this had been his doing. Ford then used its press conference at the show on Monday to reiterate the plans for Flat Rock and also confirm that the Ford Bronco and Ranger nameplates will be returning to the US market, and that both will be built at a plant in Michigan. Announcements of manufacturing locations are usually aimed at the UAW, which certainly has a stake in these things, but again this one was broadcast to the auto show crowd in general.

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.

Junkyard Gem: 2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser Convertible Conversion

Chrysler started selling PT Cruisers for the 2001 model year, and these "trucks" (yes, they were considered trucks for American regulatory purposes) proved quite popular for at least the first half of the 2000s. A factory-built version with a convertible top appeared for 2005 (and later "won" the Top Gear Worst Car of the Last 20 Years award), but what about the PT Cruiser shoppers who wanted a drop-top before then? It turns out the aftermarket had the solution: the Newport Convertible Engineering conversion, which took new PT Cruisers and added a fully functioning convertible top. According to a discussion on Allpar, 54 of these conversions were performed, and I found one of them in a Denver-area self-service yard last month. Newport Convertible Engineering is still around, though they're in Huntington Beach instead of Placentia these days. If you want a Tesla Model S or Range Rover convertible, they'll build it for you. The NCE conversion for the PT Cruiser cost $9,900 (about $15,715 in 2022 dollars) plus the $17,000 sticker price of a new PT Cruiser, and included the needed chassis-stiffening modifications and a shortened, hydraulically-actuated rear hatch. The materials used look pretty good, even after 20 years of abuse and neglect. This one had the convertible mechanism ziptied shut in many locations when I found it. Naturally, I cut all those zipties to see if the roof mechanism still worked. It was very, very stiff but proved semi-functional (the zipties appeared to be an attempt to keep a faulty latch mechanism from letting the roof pop open at speed). The roof assembly weighs a lot, though you could spend an extra $3,000 to get a power-actuation system from NCE. This cab must have been extremely noisy and buffety with the top down at speed, but so what? Convertibles are cool. Mechanically, it's an ordinary Touring Edition with a Neon's 2.4-liter four-cylinder making 150 horsepower. You could get a PT Cruiser with a five-speed manual transmission, and many did, but this one has the extra-cost automatic. Starting in the 2003 model year, a 215-horse turbocharged engine became available. Rare, but not valuable. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This commercial is for the factory convertible, but you get the idea.