2003 Chrysler Town And Country 96k Dvd, Well Maintained on 2040-cars

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Local UAW leaders recommend membership approve FCA contract

DETROIT — Union leaders from Fiat Chrysler factories are sending a new four-year contract to a membership vote. The 47,000 members of the United Auto Workers union at the company will vote on the deal starting Friday. Local leaders assembled on Wednesday in Detroit to go over the pact, which includes a $9,000 bonus per worker upon ratification. The company also has promised $4.5 billion worth of new investments in U.S. factories. The union reached agreement with Fiat Chrysler last weekend. The new contract also offers a mix of lump sums and pay raises for longtime workers, full top wages for new hires within four years and a path for temporary employees to become full-time after three years of work. The Fiat Chrysler contract also adds 12.5% to the union workers' profit-sharing formula, giving them $900 per 1% of profit margin generated North American. That's up from $800, and a $12,000 cap was lifted. The UAW says the deal created more than 7,900 jobs, including a $4.5 billion investment previously announced at two factories in Detroit. Fiat Chrysler is the last of the Detroit automakers to settle with the union. Workers at General Motors ratified their contract Oct. 31, ending a 40-day strike that paralyzed GM's U.S. factories. Ford workers followed by approving a contract in November. In a summary of the contract, the union said FCA agreed to extend a moratorium on outsourcing of jobs and will maintain its U.S. manufacturing presence through the life of the contract. The $9 billion of factory investment includes $4.5 billion previously announced at two factories in Detroit, including a new assembly plant. Also included is an agreement to build fresh models off the Jeep Cherokee SUV underpinnings and invest $55 million into the Belvidere, Illinois, assembly plant, where the Cherokee is built. At the Toledo, Ohio, North Assembly plant, which builds the Jeep Wrangler SUV, the company will invest $160 million and hire 100 more people to build a plug-in hybrid version of the Wrangler. The Toledo South plant gets $120 million to keep building the Jeep Gladiator pickup. At an assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, Fiat Chrysler will invest $210 million to keep building light-duty Ram pickup and new high-performance version of the truck. Another truck plant in Warren, Michigan, will get $2.8 billion including engineering and development expenses to keep building the Ram pickup and a new three-row SUV called the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.

Chrysler recalls 1.2 million Ram pickup trucks

Chrysler has announced that it will issue three separate recalls that will cover as many as 1.2 million Ram pickup trucks for "steering-system tie rods that may have been misaligned during assembly or steering-system service." The vast majority of these trucks were sold in the United States, though some trucks in Mexico, Canada or overseas will be called in, as well.
The largest of the three recalls covers an estimated 842,400 model-year 2003-2008 Ram 2500 and 3500 trucks. Two smaller campaigns will bring 294,000 model-year 2008-2012 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups, chassis cabs and 2008 Ram 1500 4x4 Mega Cabs; plus 43,500 model-year 2008-2012 Ram 4500 and 5500 4x4 chassis cabs into the dealer to be checked and repaired if necessary.
This is a very large recall, and Chrysler says it is "casting the net wider than necessary to identify those vehicles that require repair." The automaker estimates that "as many as 726,000 may not need repair."

Pair of 1970 Plymouth Superbird barn finds hits eBay

Here are a couple noteworthy barn finds for sale right now on eBay: a pair of 1970 Plymouth Superbird muscle cars, found with their giant rear wings, retractable headlights and 440 Super Commando V8s apparently perfectly intact after being stored for decades in a garage in Maine, with their condition reportedly "very good for 40 years of dry storage." In his lengthy writeup, the seller notes the short-lived, modified Road Runner is "One of the most collectible muscle cars with one of the most incredible automotive Aerodynamic (sic) designs in automotive history." The Superbird, which saw only one production year, is approaching its 50th anniversary, with their values expected to soar, he notes. The seller explains that he learned about the Superbirds after he purchased his own blue Superbird from the Owls Head Transportation Museum auction in Maine in August for $187,000. "Just after I won the blue 1970 Super Bird with white bucket seat interior a man approached me and sat down next to me and stated he has 2 Super Birds in storage that he has owned for the last 40 years," he wrote on his listing. "He told me he purchased them from the original owners." One was B5 blue with white bucket seats, just like the one he'd just purchased. The other was Alpine White with black bucket seats. According to the back story, both cars were originally sold off the lot in 1970 at Blouin Chrysler Plymouth Dodge in Augusta, Maine, and the man who'd been keeping them in his garage said he knew both of the original owners, having purchased both cars from them around 1978. The man, who is reportedly a Mopar expert, kept them both registered until 1985 and 1987, with the registration stickers still intact on the windshields, then prepared both for storage, putting straight antifreeze in the motors and filling the cylinders with lubricating oil. Both cars are currently being stored in a garage in Massachusetts. The Alpine White Superbird has 42,497 miles on it. The highest of 84 bids as of this writing was $135,000. The blue version has just 27,416 miles on the odometer, with the highest of 93 bids at $151,100. Both were updated with Pioneer cassette decks that the seller says "are classics in themselves." The seller also notes he hasn't tried to get either car started but that both motors turn freely and that the head and taillights all work. Bidding ends Sept. 27.