(first posted 4/8/2011) The eighties were shaped by two very powerful divergent influences: the price of oil and the desire for the trappings of luxury and prestige. These two do tend to be mutually exclusive. But the human mind is an infinitely flexible organ and there are ways to bridge almost any gap with a bit of creativity and a cutting torch.
The most perfect example (the TC runs a close second) is this Chrysler Executive Limousine: a K-car seven passenger limo powered by a 93 hp four cylinder engine. You either experienced the early eighties, or you’ll spend the rest of your life trying to make sense of them. Or both.
The whole history of the American car, as well as our whole built environment, lifestyle and everything that spins off from that has been shaped by the price of oil more than anything else. In 1980, the average price of oil was $92 (adjusted), a record that has not yet been broken, until perhaps this year? Worse than that, the projections in 1980 were that oil would just keep zooming up. How else could one explain Chrysler green-lighting this doomed project? Just plain poor judgement?
The premise was pretty ridiculous, high oil and all: the K car was a very compact affair to start with; it looks tiny in today’s traffic. Imagine building a Ford Focus limo today; that would get a few laughs. The truth was that the Executive was just way too small to carry even two executives in the comfort they were used to, let alone seven. Munchkins, perhaps.
from allpar’s piece on the Executive:
The sedan lasted two years, while the limousine lasted four. Bob Wilson noted that Bob Marcks presented the idea to Robert Lutz [ED: not correct; Lutz started with Chrysler in 1986. Iacocca, more likely], who approved it. Details are at Bob’s web site (see below). Bob Wilson noted:
They were discontinued because they were not “real” limos in the sense that you could not carry three people in the back seat and two more for the jump seats, despite the fact that they were rated by the EPA as a seven-passenger car. The jump seats had no seat belts.
Making an Executive involved sending a Le Baron coupe to ASC, where it was cut in two, and a new center section grafted in. There were even two versions: a slightly shorter “five passenger” Executive sedan, and this “seven passenger” limo.
The other profound limitation was in the engine compartment. All Chrysler had at the time was its own 2.2 and the Mitsu 2.6, which was drafted for the first three years. For the grand finale, the new 2.2 turbo was bestowed on the Executive. What a combo, with the three-speed automatic. Unlike turbos of today, then they were riddled with holes and buzzes. The V6 was still a distant dream.
And to think that just twenty years earlier, Chrysler’s limo looked like this:
A grand total of 1698 of these Executives were built, and I consider myself fortunate indeed to have found this one looking for a new buyer ($6820). Oil is up; so maybe the Executive is just getting ready to find its second wind.
If I needed a limousine back in its day, and the company sent me this, I`d demand a bigger car and/or a refund!
Ah…the Executive Limo. What a great car. I have just finished restoring the very first 1984 Executive Limo built. The actual “Pilot Car” built on the last day of 1983 production as a 1984 model. It has an automatic trunk closing mechanism, no door locks on the rear doors and was up fitted with s phone antenna in the center of the trunk lid. Lot of neat differences between this car and the actual production models, it sits on the showroom floor of my dealership for viewing with only 66,000 miles on it. It also has the rare rear sear ventilation remote duct control option which was later dropped for production models. It rides like a dream, used it in my daughters wedding in Oct. 2016 Wow…a one of one car. I love it.
If you want to see it, or discuss the executive series described in the previous post, with an enthusiast, call me at eight six oh, eight three six, eight six oh six or go to Papa’s Dodge in New Britain CT. Kay jay pee eye rrr oh cee at aye oh ell dot com. I have another limo built almost a year later that is simular but different. The vin for the pilot car is 1c3bc55g1eg100052 and is non-conforming to the 1984 model year vin’s. that is how you can tell it is a pilot car. The MDH is 0714 or July 14th, which as during the 1983 model year. Really cool.
In the context of the times these cars make a lot more sense. Iaccoca was a showman, and these stretched K’s gave him something to show off. People were talking about them. They gave Chrysler a bold “Yes we’re back” sort of swagger. I think that they were very much an attempt to prove that Chrysler was not only off of life support but just how versatile the K chassis was. They were like a Ford Model T/A Town Car for the 80’s.
Yeah, these seem silly today, but back in the day, they don’t seem any more silly than a Pinto-based Mustang II in 1974, which was a huge success (at least for that first year). Ironically, the Mustang II was also an Iacocca effort.
The idea that the Chrysler limo wasn’t intended to be a big seller, but more of a halo vehicle seems accurate. I doubt it was an accident that the amount made was approximately enough to get at least one into every showroom.
There have been some good comments over the years on this CC and one of my favorites was the one which compared the K-car limo to the minivan. They were both either 5- or 7-passenger FWD vehicles so, theoretically, the market could have been the same, kind of like an ersatz luxury ride for the children of more aspirational soccer moms. In fact, I wonder how a station wagon version of the Chrysler limo would have went over. IIRC, the FWD Lebaron Town and Country wagon was a fairly good seller. Sinatra even traded his troublesome Imperial for one, which was supposedly his ride for occasional grocery store runs (link: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-cars-of-frank-sinatra/ ).
Or the fact that it was a cheap build for Chrysler to simply have ASC do the work on a limited run to see how it went over. I doubt Iacocca lost any money on the project. Of course, I suspect that an expensive K-car was something of a tough sell at Chrysler dealers. But, then, Iacocca was smart in that there were no Lebaron K-car sedans, either, at least not until the FWD New Yorker which, frankly, seems like the 5-passenger Executive Limo’s successor. Plus, the smaller size of the K-car limo could actually be a benefit in maneuvering within congested, urban areas, as opposed to a full-size Caddy or Lincoln livery vehicle.
Taken as a whole, the K-car limousine doesn’t really seem entirely as goofy as it would first appear.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
A hundred comments and six years in, and someone gets it!
This was Chrysler and the auto business emerging from near death a few years earlier, and Chrysler was putting on a little swagger with these as much as anything. They showed up in some full-line advertising, and were part of Chrysler building a full line of cars from the K: sedans, wagons, coupes, convertibles and even a stretch sedan and limo!
Folks that think Chrysler was taking this undertaking seriously are missing the fact that the factory limo business was almost non-existent at the time, and officially died off a handful of years later – at least at U.S. domestic producers. Iaccoca couldn’t have been seriously looking for volume as much as he was experimenting with the market and creating more buzz around Chrysler. If the car had taken off, so much the better!
For as much comment as those 1,600 or so cars have produced here, I think the master showman can take a bow!
Ugh. No thanks. Gimme a Volvo 164TE instead, please and thank you.
It’s hard to believe that this is the same company that made the Valiant.
But not so hard to believe it’s the same company that made the Volare.
Touché!
They are cute in a “mini-me” sort of way. I think the Executive Sedan has better proportions than the Limousine, however.
And the Executive Sedan is actually rather rare. According to Wikipedia, there were only a total of 205 examples built for production in the two year, ’83-’84 run (and only nine of them in 1983).
So, for the most rare, one need only search for a one-of-nine 1983 car.
Ive got an 83 sedan.
Seems under powered, pain in the rear to park with the small rear window
In 1984 I was eleven and one of my best friend’s dad worked for Chrysler. He took us out to the Chelsea, Michigan proving grounds for some sort of open house day. He got his hands on a 1984 Dodge Charger Shelby and gave us a full tour of the proving grounds, including a 120mph ride on the high speed track.
I remember seeing a couple of these limos in the display area. At the time they made sense, even to my eleven year old mind, considering the fuel crunch and the direction of auto design at the time. While a K-car seems small today, it was mid-size at the time. Basing a limo on such a car may seem misguided now, I can still see the logic from a 1984 viewpoint.
If Lee Iaccoca had managed VW, perhaps he would have dreamed of this.
check out this one https://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/cto/6058417890.html
This whispers subtle elegance without being ostentatious, like a JC Whitney catalog to the back of the head at 88mph.
My dad recently passed and he has a 1983 Chrysler Exec Limo. I remember driving in it and it was a smooth ride. Just thought I’d share this rare one, only two of these produced from what I know.
The Chrysler Limousine1983-1986, was exported to Colombia, South America ?, Thanks for your response
IMO, THESE CARS COULD HAVE BEEN A BIGGER HIT IF MARKET ED RIGHT.THEY ARE PERFECT TAXI CABS!!! LOTS OF LEG ROOM AND GOOD GAS MILEAGE TO BOOT.Sure Beat 12 Miles Per Gallon In Lincoln Town Car…
What you may not know is that I ( a true Chrysler enthusiast) love these cars and recently rescued the prototype “pilot” car for the 1984 model year run. It was believed to be built on the last day of 1983 Model year production at the St. Louis plant in Fenton MIsouri as a 1984 model, making it a “1 of None Pilot Car. The last 6 of the VIN is 100052 making it the 52 Pilot Car built for the 1984 Model year against all assembly plants. (Can anyone confirm the VIN sequence for me). The car has been repainted and restored to its original look and runs and drives great. This could be the actual car that appears in all of the publicity and showroom brochure photos. A great find for a bygone era. Call me if you have any info on how this car was built as some of the unique components were etch dated in March and April of 1983. Ken 8608368606 kjpiroc@aol.com 9/19
Trunk looks miserable for a limo !
Is this for sale?
(first posted 4/8/2011)
CC Effect: Although this article was from years ago, I recalled it the other day when I read the article linked below on Motor Trend.
Somehow, I am on Motor Trend’s mailing list, presumably from attending their International Auto Show a few years ago. (They used to send me the printed version of their magazine.)
Anyway, when this article popped up on MT, I immediately knew I read about these limos before, right here on CC… and then this rerun appears. The CC Effect never ceases to amaze me.
https://www.motortrend.com/features/chrysler-history-k-car-limousine-executive-sedan/?lid=2mxbsj4lv7gv
In either 1983, or more likely, 1984, a friend’s dad took us out to the Chrysler proving grounds for family and friends day. There was a showroom of sorts, and a couple of these Executives were there. As a ten or eleven year old with little/no limousine experience, it was fairly exciting to be able to crawl around in a limo of any sort. Based on that experience, I have always had a soft spot for these cars.
As an aside, the friend’s father was John “Jack” Pointer, who is credited with designing the Dodge Daytona, among many other accomplishments. He took his son and me out to the proving grounds in a new Dodge Daytona or Plymouth Laser turbo and gave us a full tour of the proving grounds, including a 120+mph lap of the big oval track.
Iacocca’s thought behind these cars wasn’t exactly original. Packard did the same thing, using Henney to produce a limited run of limousines back in the mid 50’s.
Really, somebody ought to buy one of these and hot-rod it with one of those insane turbo engine builds one sees, and go racing with it.
“… the projections in 1980 were that oil would just keep zooming up.”
Car & Driver predicted most of America to be driving compact cars with manuals. Panthers, GM B/C body were supposed to get dropped after 1983. The Fox body LTD was supposed to be “new family car”, replaced by Taurus.
Minivans kind of changed that, also stable gas prices. And, Jeep XJ Cherokee, S-10 Blazer, and Bronco II ignited SUV boom.
What if Chrysler used the K-car New Yorker body instead of the LeBaron for the limousine? This idea could have looked better and offer more room inside. The LeBaron coupe roof doesn’t give that “Look” of a limousine as the New Yorker roof would have had.
Something fascinating about these K-car limos is how few were built, yet are still around today (and in really decent shape, to boot).
I guess it makes sense, too. I mean, who the hell would be driving one of these around as regular, daily transportation? It’s not exactly like they’d work for any kind of typical livery service, either. I can’t imagine anyone desiring to rent a limo for a formal occasion choosing to use an old K-car limo.
IOW, they didn’t sell when new, and they fall flat in the collectable market, as well.