Car Stuff: The Getaway

Damn, it happened again. I was working on ideas for a Car Stuff post in my mind, then some time yesterday afternoon all thoughts of such left my mind and did not return. Most peculiar...

I'm getting a little better at capturing quick shots when I spot cars on the move, but there's always some luck involved in the timing. A couple of weeks ago we pulled into a parking space and I realized what was parked in front of us, so I got out my phone and prepared to take pictures after we got out of the car. But right at that moment I noticed that the car was occupied and the driver was about to pull away, so I just pushed the button to get whatever shots I could.

This sighting was a Chrysler LeBaron convertible from the 1980s. You may remember that after the Cordoba went out of production, Chrysler kept Ricardo Montalban on the payroll to do ads for their other cars, including this one. The LeBaron was one of the finest examples in the history of the auto industry of making a silk purse from a sow's ear, the ear in this case being the lowly Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant that I've mentioned before. Conveniently, I can identify this one as a 1986, because it's the only year that this body style had the center-mounted brake light before getting a redesign.

The LeBaron was dressed up outside and inside, not enough to hide its origins but enough to make it a much more pleasant environment than the source vehicle. The convertibles were available with a Mark Cross leather interior, and also with fake woodgrain paneling that evoked the Town & Country convertibles of the 1940s. Sometimes they also had a trunk-mounted luggage rack, which always looks silly regardless of what car it's on.

The second shot reveals more clearly that this car is showing its age, but it's still running after almost 30 years, and these are such a rare sight now that I'm very glad I spotted it, and got these pics in time.