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Junkyard Gem: 1990 Chrysler LeBaron GT Convertible

When Chrysler sprang back to life under Lee Iacocca and his K-Cars, the flagship of the new front-wheel-drive order was the luxurious new 1982 LeBaron convertible, which shoved aside the drab and antiquated Dodge Diplomat-based 1981 LeBaron. The LeBaron sedan got the axe after 1989, with only sporty coupes and devil-may-care ragtops given LeBaron badges after that. Here's an example of the third-generation LeBaron convertible, found in a Colorado wrecking yard a few months ago. There were four trim levels of LeBaron convertible available for the 1990 model year: Highline, Premium, GT and GTC. Today's Junkyard Gem is a second-from-the-top GT, which had an MSRP of $17,799 (about $43,383 in 2023 dollars). The intake manifold may bear the Chrysler name, but this engine is three liters of pure Mitsubishi 6G72 power. With 141 horsepower and 171 pound-feet, this engine was  standard equipment on the GT convertible (if you bought the GTC Coupe, you got a 175-horse 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder). The idea of a Detroit luxury machine with a manual transmission seems strange today… and it was also somewhat strange 33 years ago. The original buyer of this car almost certainly had the money for the optional automatic ($552, or $1,314 today) but preferred the five-on-the-floor manual. With a curb weight of just 2,775 pounds, this car would have been plenty of fun to drive with a three-pedal setup. The resemblance between this car and its far more expensive first cousin, Chrysler's TC by Maserati, was all too obvious to TC shoppers. Yes, that's genuine Corinthian Leather on the seats. Driver's-side airbags were rare on 1990 US-market cars, but Chrysler was ahead of the competition with this safety feature. This car nearly reached 275,000 miles during its life. Who says a convertible doesn't make a good daily commuter? It looks to have been in good condition at the end, though the driver's door latch mechanism needed to be reattached via welding repairs at some point. The retractable headlight covers are open in these photos. Chrysler ditched the hidden headlights for the 1993 LeBarons; production ended after 1995. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. There is no luxury without engineering. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In Canada, Celine Dion pitched this generation of LeBaron convertible.

Polaris Slingshot, Tesla cryptocurrency and an electric Jeep concept | Autoblog Podcast #664

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. They kick things off by talking about the 2020 Polaris Slingshot, which Jeremy got a chance to sample before the weather turned cold. Then, they pivot to news, starting with the fact that Peugeot's previously rumored return to American is very likely dead, but Stellantis plans to keep FCA's North American brands alive, at least for now. That's followed by Jeep's announcement that it will bring an all-electric model to its annual Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. They get into the idea of cryptocurrency transactions in car shopping, followed by some grim news at Harley-Davidson, which is attempting a new pivot.  Autoblog Podcast #664 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown What we're driving: 2020 Polaris Slingshot   News Stellantis dealers plead that letting Chrysler die is not an option Jeep will bring an electric Wrangler to Moab this spring Buy a car with bitcoin? Some car dealers have been years ahead of Tesla Harley kickstarts 5-year turnaround plan after surprise quarterly loss Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related Video: Auto News Earnings/Financials Green Podcasts Chrysler Jeep Automakers Green Driving Transportation Alternatives Convertible Motorcycle Road Tests

Stellantis aims to eliminate separate inverter, charger to improve EV efficiency

Stellantis has announced that, in collaboration with French battery company Saft and French National Center for Scientific Research, has made significant progress in eliminating two major components of an electric vehicle powertrain: the on-board charger and the power inverter for the motor. The company claims that doing this will allow for better space use in vehicles, as well as improvements in efficiency, cost and reliability of components. As a quick primer, also explained in the below video, the on-board charger and power inverter are sort of translators to get the right current to different parts of the electric powertrain. The on-board charger takes AC power from the grid and converts it to DC to charge the batteries. Then when power goes from the batteries to the electric motor, the power inverter converts that DC power back to AC. These components aren't exactly small. Frequently you'll find them packaged somewhere under the hood. What Stellantis and its cohorts have developed, and have been using on a test vehicle since last summer, are small power inverter boards that can be mounted very closely to the battery packs. They can handle both conversion needs, for charging and discharging, instead of needing two separate devices. The most obvious perk to this is that you can do away with those traditional components and free up more space, either for making smaller vehicles without losing interior volume, or adding space to a vehicle that wouldn't have had it otherwise. There's the additional benefit of reduced weight, something that EVs struggle with. Stellantis also claims improvements in efficiency, reliability, and cost, however, it didn't go into detail as to how this setup would do that exactly. We'll try to get in touch with representatives from Stellantis in order to get more information. We're still a ways out from seeing this technology in production Stellantis vehicles. The company said it aims to apply it to vehicles by the end of the decade. Saft is also looking at using it on stationary battery systems as well. So maybe we'll see it on a 2029 Ram 1500 REV, but for now, we'll be living with traditional chargers and inverters. Related Video: Green Alfa Romeo Chrysler Dodge Fiat RAM Technology Electric