Note: None of the pictures in this post are of the actual car
When I was active in the car flipping business, I was presented with the opportunity to purchase a non-running 1980 Chrysler LeBaron. The owner told me that it wouldn’t crank and that he needed to get rid of it FAST. Upon looking it over, I determined that it needed a timing chain (318 V8) before it would start. The owner said that he didn’t want to sink anymore cash into it and asked if I’d give him $600 for it. It had newer Michelin tires and looked good overall except for a dent in the driver’s door. Take $500? It was mine.
Oh, did I mention that the owner was a heavy cigarette smoker? That the car with its cloth interior reeked of smoke? That all of the trim pieces were discolored by smoke? Minor details, but ones that would require a significant effort to remedy.
This is pretty close to what I had, except for the full wheel covers in lieu of the high top wire covers and the paint color. Mine was dove gray on the horizontal surfaces and silver on the sides. Don’t forget about the padded vinyl roof with opera lights on the C pillar. Not a bad looking car overall. Since it was based on the Dodge Aspen, I was very familiar with the mechanicals and set out to get it running.
On the 318 V8 engine, the timing chain replacement is a simple activity with lots of room to work in. Several hours later, it was running very good. Lots of acceleration with the V8 and the transmission shifted good. Replaced the spark plugs for good measure and I was in business. I originally had planned to flip the car after repairs, but decided that it was too nice for that. So I kept it.
Some folks didn’t like the fact that the turn signals were over the headlights, distinguishing it from the Dodge Diplomat. I thought they looked fine when coupled with the waterfall grille and plastic crystal hood ornament. The next order of business was to fix the driver’s door. I was able to use a dent puller to get most of it out, but still needed to use some Alum-a-Lead to fill it in. Once painted, it looked and worked good. At least on a $500 car. One has lower expectations based on the acquisition price.
The dash itself was basically the same as the Dodge Aspen, but with fake wood trim on the bezel and round gauges. The steering wheel was unlike that in the picture above, but rather the standard vinyl covered wheel with a solid horn pad from 9 to 3 o’clock. It also had a Quartz Lock cassette stereo (top picture below) which looked quite impressive compared to the standard Chrysler radio.
Performance wise, the car started easily and had good acceleration. It was NOT equipped with the famous Lean Burn system, so it was easy to maintain. There were a few complaints about the design. The Aspen/Volare cars were not known for their spacious trunk. As you can see below, a full size spare would take up quite a bit of valuable real estate. My car had a mini spare that required use of an inflator bottle that was included. Fortunately, with a good set of Michelin tires, I never had to find out if it worked.
As I mentioned, the car with the 318 had good acceleration except when it neared a gas station. It had a hearty appetite for gas, averaging about 14 mpg combined. At the time, I was dating my future wife who lived in a city 100 miles away. I could make it there starting with a full tank, but had to fill up once I was there or I wouldn’t make it home. At least gas was cheap at that time.
Mechanically, the problems I encountered were the typical frozen door locks in the winter, an A/C compressor that required a rebuild, buttons on the QuartzLock stereo that quit working, and an engine that started to run rough after a couple of years. I thought it was a carb adjustment, but after that didn’t work, I rebuilt the carb. That didn’t work either, so I did a compression check on the cylinders. One showed low compression, so I removed the head and found a bad valve. After buying a new valve and grinding the valve seat, it ran like new.
After the engine valve issue, I decided that it was time to move the LeBaron on. A co-worker was looking for a cheap car, so I gave him the grand tour. He liked it, but said he was going to keep looking. However, when his insurance provided rental car expired, he came over in a panic and bought the car. I made money on it after three years of ownership and he was happy with his new car. Everybody won.
The 1980-1981 LeBaron rear end styling was more interesting and luxury-car-looking than the later Fifth Avenue with its dull horizontal taillights. Chrysler should have kept the original.
Never thought about that. Good point.
In 1980, Chrysler offered a Lebaron Fifth Ave that saw less than 700 built. It had a unique grill, the roof of the later Fifth Ave, and the taillights that you prefer. I’d post a picture if I knew how.
Here’s a Lebaron Fifth Avenue…
Thanks!
My ’76 aspen had the full size spare tire in the well in the trunk .
The trunk was large but shallow so suitcases would have to lay down to fit
How did you get rid of the cigarette smoke odor?
I used copious amounts of upholstery cleaner on the cloth parts of the interior, and window cleaner with ammonia on all of the hard parts. It still took several applications to get rid of the smell.
I was wondering about the cigarette smoke too. We will probably have to ask his co-worker.
83 LeBaron: I like your COAL series. Making the most with limited means is a style that I prefer over alternatives.
My 1976 Aspen also had the full size spare and it fit nicely in the well. But the M-body cars had 15″ wheels instead of 14″; since the 14″ on mine was a rather snug fit, perhaps the 15″ wouldn’t, necessitating the compact spare.
No matter what, though; grocery bags loaded up full were a tight fit in the shallow trunk.
For $500 and some elbow grease you got a car that was easy to maintain and gave you three years of good service…and you made money on it. Good deal.
There were never many of these around. Chrysler seemed to be in a death spiral at the time and the Lebaron was just not that compelling. But I liked them and thought Chrysler put as nice an interior in these as could be found in their segment.
Those doors sure look like they’d interchange with an Aspen. If they’re the same, it’s a dead giveaway as to the Lebaron’s (and, by extension, Fifth Avenue) lineage.
I think the later, padded steering wheel was generally referred to as an A-frame style.
The fronts do, the rears are more upright on the M-body.
Rear doors were from the station wagin body to save money front doors ase the same as aspen
So, I’m gonna guess that the front doors from the Aspen sedan, station wagon, and Lebaron are all the same, and it’s only the Aspen station wagon and Lebaron rear doors that interchange.
The station wagon doors all are kind of squared off at the top to better go with the formal roofline of the lebaron the aspen rear doors were rounded at the top .the aspen had a different roofline
Good call on the difference between the Aspen sedan and station wagon doors. It’s a very subtle difference, but it can be seen when the two are side-by-side. The biggest ‘tell’ is the size of the fixed rear door glass: the station wagon, with a more upright rear frame, has a larger pane of glass that goes all the way to the top of the frame.
The sedan’s pane is smaller (because of the sharper C-pillar angle), with the top stopping at least an inch or two from the top of the door frame.
Sounds like you could have fun playing mix-n-match, and come up with some combos Mopar never built!
I liked these cars but never really warmed to the 4 door sedans as they just seemed like a “gussied up” Aspen. Somehow the 2 doors and wagons avoided that impression, at least for me.
As far as the turn signals being above the headlights, that struck me as odd at first but then seemed pleasantly distinctive.
When I lived in Memphis I would often pass a house that had 3 LeBaron coupes in various states of driveability in the back yard.
In the early 1980’s I was working in Downtown LA. The Los Angeles school district police department had only recently been formed. Their patrol cars were LeBarons! It was quite noticeable compared to the Dodge Aspens. It seemed like an unusual choice to use a Chrysler patrol car. The Le Baron front end is much more distinctive than the Diplomats.
In 1979 the Chrysler R-body, used for full size police cars, was available only as Dodge (St. Regis) and Chrysler (Newport). Plymouth added the Gran Fury in 1980; it still had the Volaré as a midsize but that ended after 1980; Plymouth then had no midsize entry in the police market; so that Chrysler-Plymouth dealers would have something to bid with, the Chrysler LeBaron was their offering in 1981. In 1982, the Plymouth Gran Fury joined the M-body lineup, competing for the squad car market with the Dodge Diplomat. It replaced the Chrysler LeBaron, which was not available as a police car in 1982.
G. Poon is right; there was a bonefide Chrysler built police package 1981 LeBaron. They were rare and I’ve seen pictures of units owned by New York City.
I owned an ’81 LeBaron police package for a while in the late 1990s. It came from Florida, had an all vinyl interior, and had a 2 bbl 318. It deserves to be written up sometime.
I do have ALL original 1980 R body Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue cream and tan color combo ALL original 15K miles with documentation and manuals. I paid 13,500$ for it 2 years ago and No it’s Not for sale!
I never got the hubbub over the parking light placement, if the indicators were below the headlights it would be called boring. Is it pareidolia? Frankly this need to match facial features in car front ends is why car front ends are so goofy and cookie cutter these days. I get the dislike of the original LeBaron nose with the literally flipped over 75 Seville design, but I feel the 80 was an original and attractive enough effort to own it.
Agreed. I think the front end of this is well done, for what it is.
Aspen/Volare’ still get panned for their initial quality. But Chrysler got last laugh, and some profits to pay off loans, from M bodies. Just by renaming and restyling basic car, lasting until 1989.