(first posted 9/19/2013) While walking back to my car after attending the recent Hooters show (home of the surrey-topped Cushman and other CCs you’ll see here a bit down the road), what did I find? A first-year K-car convertible, right from the dark days of 1982, when 85 mph speedometers ruled the land. When the Cimarron and Cadillac HT4100 V8 debuted. When Pontiac discontinued the B-body Bonneville and Catalina–shame on them! Actually, at the time of its debut, the little K-car ‘vert was a nice little pick-me-up for American motorists.
And this was no Del Griffith-approved woody LeBaron; no, this was a Dodge 400; unlike the Broughamier LeBaron, a model now likely forgotten by most of the country. The Dodge saw only 5,541 copies, while the “LeBroughamon” sold in 3,045 standard models and 9,780 fancier Medallion versions.
These convertibles were not exactly cheap by 1982 standards, so I guess most folks figured they might as well get the top-of-the-line version. With its mini-Mark grille, whitewalls and extra chrome, the LeBaron was the more traditional choice.
The 400, on the other hand, attempted a slightly more European flair–or at least as much of it as early-1980s Detroit could muster: blackwall tires, fender vents (shades of 2013), bucket seats, etc. The 400 also got a mini-Mirada grille color-keyed to the paint–all minor trim shuffling, but enough to give each car a unique appearance.
And I would take the “pepperoni” alloy wheels over the rattly wire-wheel covers any day. I believe they were not available in 1982, so these have likely been swapped from a Dodge Daytona or Chrysler-frickin’-Laser.
I am quite sure this is an inaugural ’82; it had no rear quarter glass, which was added in ’83 ’84, probably due to complaints about the 1982’s gigantic blind spot with the top up.
This one has rather faded paint, but otherwise looks decent. It’s nice to see one of the early K-car convertibles, since even the ’90s LeBarons are getting pretty scarce around here. I wonder if it still tells the owner that the door is, in fact, not a door but a jar?
A later 600 ES Turbo is on my wish list of cars I want when I win the powerball. Drop a turbo III in it and have lots of fun with all that torque steer!
Having worked on these cars at the Chrysler and Dodge dealers since the first K car came out, I have NEVER had problems, nor a customer complaint, with torque steer because they had equal length CV shafts on the turbocharged models.
You must be thinking of the Mitsubishi built cars that Chrysler was selling during that time period.
Wow, I almost didn’t make it through the first paragraph without having to dump a lot of rum in my diet coke! I agree with your last point in the paragraph. This really was a halfway decent looking ray of sunshine in its day. Coming from the rather frumpy original K-car, that is fairly high compliment.
From the start, I preferred the Dodge 400 convertible to it’s Chrysler cousin. I agree with most, that the top in the 82 looked awkward when up and that the little quarter windows were a huge improvement.
It also occurs to me that Chrysler was using a pretty high quality of vinyl in these cars. The stuff they used in the 70s was cheap as could be and the seats were split at ever seam by the time the car was about 8 years old. However, I see Mopars of this vintage with vinyl seats that still look presentable.
Count me as another fan of the pizza wheels.
I like the wheels on the ’82 brochure photo – a bit Mercedes Benz. I have a hard time warming up to the wheels on the subject car. Too modern for the rest of the car, and not my favorite style on any car.
+1 on your comments on Mopar vinyl.
Better the pepperoni, than the Chrysler with extra cheese.
The first cell phone call was made in 1983 from a Dodge 400 convertible in this exact color combo:
Cell phone ? The guy is holding a phone booth….
Great find !
“Cell phone ? The guy is holding a phone booth….”
The Motorola 800 (the first one I touched) could also be used as self defense weapon, construction brick…
You are off by about a decade with that fact, sir.
The first Commercial Cell Phone Call, I should say to clarify.
http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/04/17/first-cell-phone-call-video/
Ten bucks says the called was dropped right after he said, “Can you hear me now?”
http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=fz0ymWEOyowC&printsec=frontcover&lr=&rview=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
Read about it here-I was surprised when I found this
Thanks….I just killed about an hour and half with that 73 Pop Sci.
Now I want to build a floating pool and mod planters in my spare time, I also have a hankering for an Old Gold……
I got a kick out of the old car ads from 1973 in that issue and how strange to see cigarette ads
Check out the article about car colors.
I remember that same shot of the red 400 convertible from an old AT&T video?
My brother had an ’83 version of this, white with a red top and red interior. Your car is the ’82, which had the K-car instruments in an upscale brushed finished. In ’83, the instrument cluster would be shared with the E-bodies. The quarter windows didn’t come in until ’84,
There were three big changes in 1984:
1. Quarter window glass.
2. Glass rear window (’82/’83 had plastic).
3. ‘Soft touch’, ‘A-frame’ steering wheel.
It was a toss-up on which was better. The quarter windows and rear glass were big improvements, but I love the old-school, hard, shiny plastic steering wheels. The spokes were at 8 and 4 o’clock, and held the horn buttons, as well.
The A-frame’s spokes were at 7 and 5 o’clock and the horn button was moved to the center pad.
For some reason I thought the quarter-free top was ’82 only. Will fix, thanks!
As someone else mentioned in another post, I think the first two years were farmed out to ASC (a big reason these cars were pricey). Someone in Chrysler’s higher echelons had argued with Iacocca at how cost prohibitive it was going to be to build the Konvertible in what essentially was going to be a conversion manner. But Iacocca (being Iacocca) was adamant that he wanted the car built, regardless of the cost.
Iacocca’s instincts, as usual, were correct.
ugg.
Anyway
Aren’t these things 2 seaters? I thought the first couple of years were only 2 seaters, which is why the top had such a large c pillar?
You might be thinking of the Chryslerati TC?
A let down of the highest order.With sales figures that made Edsel look a success, for some reason I’ve always wanted to see a Chrysler Maserati in the metal though despite it looking like a none too special Mopar.Now if they’d built what I was expecting a sleek and beautiful Italian body with a big Mopar V8 things would have been different
But in that case, the only available platform was the M body. Not exactly the stuff dream cars are made of.
I remember seeing mostly gold or green ones. Used to see one on way to work most mornings. (around 1987-89ish) Last time I saw one I can think of was about 2011. Was for sale at a MD dealership.
The original LeBaron convertible show car was a two seater but they put something resembling a back seat into the production one.
The oriignal convertible show car was actually a Plymouth Reliant. I saw it at the New York auto show in 1981. It was silver witha black interior.
In addition to the K-cars during the 1982 model year of drop top revival, a real, full sized luxo-convertible appeared: Buick Riviera.
I have an irrational love for these K-Car convertibles. I don’t know why, but they’re so fascinating. Maybe it’s because they try so hard. Whatever reason, they’ll always be one of my favorite Mopars ever!
John Voight had one…
Pepperoni pizza wheels. Ha ha! I never heard that name for them before, but it’s sure fitting. I think of that style of wheel as an 80’s fad which I’m glad died out. I don’t like them at all.
The more I think about it, I doubt these wheels were offered on this car, this year. I’m guessing they came off a later car, maybe a 600 ES, explaining why they look too modern for this car.
Not a fan of them on any car.
I think there was a more “butch” version of these wheels on the GLH too.
jpc is correct in calling the wheels “pizza wheels” vice “pepperoni wheels.” I wouldn’t mind a set for my 83 LeBaron convertible, but the beads tend to collect corrosion and the tires continually leak. My 84 Daytona cured me of lust for those wheels.
The large C pillar was 82 and 83 only. 84s got the little rear side window and the smaller C pillar on the top. The reason was too much stress on the rear window and C pillar fabric when the top was retracted.
The 82s and 83s did have a rear seat. Not good for much but I’ve had kids back there.
Now, if only I could find a red Mark Cross interior in the bone yard……
I don’t think the Mark Cross interior came in red — brown/tan only.
Weren’t the early ones outshopped to ASC, and the quarter windows added when production was brought in house?
In the annals of K-car variants, I always like the first generation convertibles the best. They had the right dimensions and styling was perfect, the last decently styled, sharp-creased car. The same time the Konvertibles were showing up, the Ford Taurus and Thunderbird was arriving on the scene and, suddenly, everything got the same, bland, melted jellybean in the rain, aerodynamic styling.
Have you seen the European Ford Sierra, introduced around the same time and later sold here as the Merkur XR4ti? In bespoilered XR4i/XR4ti or RS Cosworth form, one could call it a lot of things, but “bland” doesn’t spring to mind…
I’ve always referred to, and seen these referred to, as “salt shaker” wheels rather than “pepperoni” wheels. Back when I had a ratty ’87 LeBaron sedan, I came close to buying a pair from a Daytona off of eBay to put on. But since I was a broke college student, I ended up spending that money on Schaffer Light instead.
All this wheel talk is making me hungry.
These wheels look similar to what we called pepperpot alloys on the 1984-85 Mitsubishi Sigma GSR, they were 15″ (large for a small-medium car then) with special allen key-ztyle lug nuts. I think I still have 2-3 of them behind the shed.
I forgot to say that there looks to be more backspace (or more negative offset) on these wheels than the local RWD Mitsubishi ones.
“Jon Voight’s car!” That was what George Costanza said when he bought that ill-fated convertible on Seinfeld.
Typical old convertible; the top might still go down (or maybe it won’t come back up), but one of the windows is stuck in the up position.
What makes you think the window is stuck?
I’m making an assumption based on the three different convertibles I have owned thru the years. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I had the top down and the windows up. Getting the wind and sun in your face is the whole point of having a convertible, at least in my opinion. If you didn’t want to be exposed to the elements, why in the world would you pay the premium for a convertible and then put up with the cowl shake and misaligned doors that come with it.
A likely scenario is that the husband drives and the wife rides shotgun, and she doesn’t like too much wind blowing on her. Hence the passenger window is up, even though it looks weird with the top down. Ask me how I know. 🙂
One of my all time favorite cars. I really prefer the turbo version, I used to call them the “Kleenex box with an attitude” cars…
I really dig the wheels too. They’re off of an early Daytona, as I think they went to 5 lugs for 1985. There was a 16 hole version that Mopar made that is just about indistinguishable from the Alfa Romeo wheels they sought to emulate. Well, actually just copy. See the attached photo, the Mopar wheel is on the left, the Alfa wheel is on the right.
Had one of these, white on white, red interior. Eddie Bauer sheepskin seat cover is required for top down sunny days and winter days. We all forget how stinking cold vinyl can be. It was a decent car, had the Mitsu 2.6. EGR valve issues, finally resolved, and squeaky front sway bar bushings the dealer refused to replace, even when out of warranty. Teeny tiny radio speakers, I added some to the doors, but the radio looked a lot better than it sounded. Had it for 6 or 7 years, always got us where we wanted to go. The huge C pillar easily tore. I think that’s why they slimmed it down and added the rear quarter glass.
Very nice ’85 Dodge ‘vert for sale here at the bottom of the globe: http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/dodge/dodge/auction-623003858.htm
Nice cars, could be buying a white one soon. I’m in Eugene, so maybe a Niedermayer CC will come of it?
NZ Skyliner’s pic, above is exactly what my brother has owned for something like 20 years. Somebody hit him, and he bought a yellow parts car, that has now been in the back yard hosting yellow jackets for nearly as long. He took the front clip and one fender off it for the gold one, had the whole car repainted and promptly got backed-into two weeks later. The car hasn’t been driven since.
In our family, it all started with Dad’s LeBaron GTS 4-door, which he ordered previous to release and waited several months for. It was relatively fast for its day and nicely sized, but the turbo lag and whine were amazing. He gave it to my brother, who gave it to me, and I gave it to a friend, all in something like 120K miles, which was a lot of miles to put on a 4 cyl. turbo those days without an engine rebuild. I still have a set of phone dial wheels for it in storage. The guy who owns the facility saw them in my space, and being an Alfa owner, hoped they were for meant for his spider (as mentioned in the 9-year old thread). As far as I know, in 2022, these 600s and LeBaron converts are some of the only upscale K’s left.
“…A first-year K-car convertible, right from the dark days of 1982…”
1982 may have been the first year for this Dodge 400, however it is my belief that 1980 was the starting point for the whole of the K-Car line (Reliant and Aries). Just looking for clarity on the ‘first year’ reference.
I remember taking a test drive of one K-Car, maybe Spring of 1981. It was certainly a different feeling than the RWD cars I had been used to.
Those aren’t the Pizza wheels, though; they’re the Swiss Cheese wheels, with many holes of different size all across the face of the wheel. The Pizza wheels have 16 same-size (about 1-3/4″ or so) holes in a circle, with a rough-cast ring around each that looks like the texture of pepperoni. Pic attached shows it.
Fortunately for us all, the web archive holds an intact copy of Dempsey Bowling’s canonical (or damn-near) FWD Mopar wheel spotter’s guide—couldn’t find any pics of the rare “Broccoli” wheel or the even rarer “Blueberry Cobbler” wheel, though.
Daniel, always appreciate your impeccable, and unmatched, Mopar knowledge. Great link to Dempsey’s excellent site.
Given Dempsey is documenting various FWD wheel applications as used by Chrysler/Dodge, I’m a bit surprised he didn’t include the one below. Very popular on the ’87/’88 Dodge Shadow and the ’87/’88 Chrysler LeBaron. As he indicates, his list is not just exclusively Shelby wheels. But wheels used by Dodge in general.
My Sundance had those wheels.
Liked the convertible versions of the “Sundance/Shadow” models. They were soo overpriced in this area though.
Someone wanted me to “lease” one. That was a”no go”.
I must say, I vastly prefer the Dodge version. That’s also true with the Daytona and its short-lived Chrysler Laser clone. The luxury paste applied sullied the car, IMO.
However much I loved the Chrysler Pizza and Swiss Cheese wheels at the time, I felt Ford trumped them both with this similar wheel design on the Merkur XR4ti.
The larger circular openings, and their pronounced ‘chiseled’ appearance, looked so modern and elegant. Perhaps my favourite wheel design of that era.
Another beautiful wheel design (used by 1987) on the XR4ti.
I’m surprised nobody mentioned this yet, but the wheels on the pictured car, whether you call them Swiss cheese or pepperoni, were clearly inspired by the ones that Jaguar people call the Pepperpot wheels.
> I am quite sure this is an inaugural ’82; it had no rear quarter glass, which was added in ’83
Also the silver, square gauges, which were 1982 only.
I forgot there even was a 400 convertible; the LeBaron ‘vert seemed to get much more attention and still does.
I gotta wonder why Dodge thought it was a good idea to give its new models numbers instead of names. Pontiac did the same thing around the same time, both brands quickly backed away from numbers and resumed naming their cars a few years later.
I soo wanted a silver out /burgundy top-in Dodge 400. They “up&quit” making them so abruptly.