As a child growing up in the 1980s, I am intimately familiar with the Chrysler K-car platform. Much has been written about how this era-defining unibody came to be, how it ultimately proved a stunning success and saved the company from the brink of economic disaster, so there’s no need to rehash all of that history here. Suffice it to say, though, that the platform was so ubiquitous that for a couple of decades you could hardly make a quick run to the grocery store without being surrounded by a bevy of K-based Pentastars.
I will admit to ignoring the initial K cars as a child. The box-it-came-in appearance did not appeal to me at all, and the fact that they were so common meant they basically just blended in with the scenery. Those initial Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant sedans and wagons, though, would give way to fancier models and nameplates, including the LeBaron. The name may have dated all the way back to the days when coach-built vehicles were common, but by the time the 1980s rolled around the LeBaron was little more than a slight variation on Chrysler’s standard vehicle architecture. But it did mark one important milestone: the 1982 Chrysler LeBaron was the first domestic convertible since the 1976 Cadillac Eldorado.
Why the Chrysler LeBaron convertible?
It’s funny how something that seems deeply uncool in your youth can transform into something you secretly admire as you grow older. For me, that’s true of the boxy LeBaron convertible. The more streamlined version that debuted in 1987 based on the J platform, which was in reality still based on the old K, is also interesting and seems likely to appreciate over time, but the older early-80s LeBaron convertible rectangles are starting to get collectible. That’s especially true of the faux-woody Town & Country models that were offered from 1983 through 1986.
