Photos from the CC Cohort by Guillaume Vachey.
As soon as I saw the image of these two Américaines, I was transported back to the mid-90s. Never mind that they carry French plates. So, not quite a location I would have trotted back then, but there’s no way these two won’t reawaken those now-distant 1990s memories in my head.
As some may recall, each of these carried great hopes for their makers on their debut. Each looked quite sharp, featured FWD platforms, and seemed to signal that the long malaise era was reaching its end.
You may be wondering what the Chrysler Vision name is all about, as you may remember this specific visage as the Eagle Vision. It’s all part of a 1990s effort when Chrysler felt its new US products were good enough to compete in the European market. As such, the LH platform showed up under the Chrysler banner and Vision name carrying the company’s 3.5L V6, tuned to 208HP.
FWIW, Chrysler wasn’t alone in its European ambitions, with some of the new Cadillacs also finding their way into the Old Continent. Indeed, the following ’98-’04 Seville would even sell in RHD form in the UK amidst a push by Cadillac to break into the EU market.
Those European exploits were rather star-crossed for both makes at the time, in particular for Chrysler. But that’s beyond today’s post. For the time being, we can see that some folks took a liking to the looks of these Américaines, even to this day. Thus, giving us a neat 1990s snapshot, all in the same driveway.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1992-1997 Cadillac Seville – A Forgotten Contender
Américaines , more appropriate with an ‘e’ at the end for ”voiture américaine” .Voiture being a feminine word. Please feel free to correct my English next time. I often have to modify the google translate result myself.
Tip my hat, to those that passionately keep these less mainstream autos on the road. In spite of the extra cost, and patience, involved. We all benefit, with their preservation.
For the Cadillac to have survived, lets hope it has a HT-4900 (most of the bugs resolved) or a later Northstar (again, enhanced reliability).
As for the Chrysler, as long as it does have the 2.7 litre V6 (which I’m not sure was available for this car), the odds are much better.
There’s a good local car show in Normandy near my French House at Javron les Chapelles.In amongst the French cars you would expect was a small American section, a couple of Mustangs, a Camero, but also an immaculate bronze and white Edsel. I can’t remember which year but it did have a 410.