'92 Chrysler Le Baron Convertible

[Darrell]

I parked next to one when I went to Wally world this morning. I have always liked the looks of them. This one was cherry, red of course, with a black top, and a continental kit on the rear bumper; the side badge proclaimed it as a V6. I met the lady who drives it when I returned to my car, and talked to her about it a bit. She said it was originally a California car, she inherited it from her mother two years ago with only 40,000 miles on it. I always thought it would be a relatively cheap way to get into a convertible. What's the skinny on the car?

[rightisright]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm2iNNqj2fQ

[Fivetoes]

Body will sag too.

[Darrell]

I parked next to one when I went to Wally world this morning. I have always liked the looks of them. This one was cherry, red of course, with a black top, and a continental kit on the rear bumper; the side badge proclaimed it as a V6. I met the lady who drives it when I returned to my car, and talked to her about it a bit. She said it was originally a California car, she inherited it from her mother two years ago with only 40,000 miles on it. I always thought it would be a relatively cheap way to get into a convertible. What's the skinny on the car?

They're utter pieces of shit. Crap motors, worse transmissions, even worse overall quality general. Anyone who has ever owned one for long, or used it very much, has regretted it. They're on hundreds of "worst cars of all time" lists.

Should I go on?

Um, no.

[Darrell]

So, what would you recommend for a guy on a budget who wants a convertible?

Ya know, I had a Dodge minivan of about the same vintage ('91), that thing was a tank. I think I owned it the longest of any vehicle I ever had. I had to have a fuel pump done on it, and brakes, that was about it. Ran great, actually got decent mileage for what it was (20s city, low 30s hwy), and ran well in snow. It had the Mitsu 3.3L V6 engine and auto trans, the only auto I've ever owned.

[308Mike]

I parked next to one when I went to Wally world this morning. I have always liked the looks of them. This one was cherry, red of course, with a black top, and a continental kit on the rear bumper; the side badge proclaimed it as a V6. I met the lady who drives it when I returned to my car, and talked to her about it a bit. She said it was originally a California car, she inherited it from her mother two years ago with only 40,000 miles on it. I always thought it would be a relatively cheap way to get into a convertible. What's the skinny on the car?

They're utter pieces of shit. Crap motors, worse transmissions, even worse overall quality general. Anyone who has ever owned one for long, or used it very much, has regretted it. They're on hundreds of "worst cars of all time" lists.

Should I go on?

Yeah, they're crap even IF they might have "Rich Corinthian Leather!" - although *that* commercial was for the Cordoba, they still used much of the same materials. Remember Landau tops (which would eventually dry out and peel away at the edges)? LOL!!

[evan price]

The Chrysler A604-Ultradrive transmission set two records- it was the first solenoid-shifted, computer controlled overdrive transmission in passenger cars. It was also a total piece of shyte. The trans control computer used speed sensors to detect the differential in speed from the input and output sides of the unit. It calculated the slip co-efficient of the clutches based on torque, speed, load, etc. and input from the speed sensors to calculate gear ratios based on a constant value which was the viscosity and slip index (VSI) of the fluid in the trans. Great idea. Except for the fact that Chrysler effed-up and printed the owner's manuals and the frigging DIPSTICKS with the wrong fluid type- Dexron, instead of the 7176 fluid it actually needed. So the VSI was wrong and it caused the clutch packs to not engage properly and you got shudder and rapid up and downshifting, and that prematurely burned out the clutch packs. Plus they used a tiny little filter screen on the orifice feeding oil to the shift solenoid packs and if you did not change your fluid regularly the little tiny screen clogged and then oil pressure at the solenoid wasn't right, so you got delayed shifts, failed shifts, and the solenoid packs started overheating and the O-rings got brittle and you got leaking internally.

When I used to see Chryslers of this era as something I bought for resale, if I saw a Chrysler minivan with an Ultradrive and a trailer hitch- if the hitch looked like it had been used- I passed on buying it. The trans, if not already trouble, was going to be trouble. I've seen these things explosively seize the differential shaft which would grenade the differential housing. Or the planetary gearset would disintegrate. Instant scrap transmission.

The 3.0 V-6 was a design by Mitsubishi. Generally it was a very good engine and I often see them running 200,000+ miles with normal care. Problem was the first runs of them Chrysler used inferior valve stem seals and you could often see them trailing clouds of blue smoke down the highway as they sucked oil past the valves. They finally fixed the problem in the mid-1990's and from then on they were good motors. They also tended to be finicky with regard to overheating, Chrysler used very marginally sized radiators standard and ran them hot for better emissions, and they were not very tolerant of any sort of cooling problem and they would blow head gaskets. This isn't really a motor problem, there just wasn't a lot of reserve cooling capacity.
I would prefer the Mitsubishi 3.0 motor over the Chrysler 3.3 any day.

The LeBaron was a "K"-car coupe before they chopped the roof to make the convertible. The K-chassis wasn't known for its rigidity to begin with. They added stiffening and made some changes but you can literally see the car flexing in hard corners. Squeaks, rattles, and poor fit and trim are common. They are also prone to floor pan and rocker panel rust.

Add to that the random quality gremlins of the typical 1990's Chrysler product and what you get is a car that was pretty typical of its era. If you want some sort of retro-nostalgia-cool or something there's better choices out there.

[evan price]

Mid 90s mustang (94-2004) or Camaro (93 to 2002) convertible. Mass market small block v8, bullet proof trans, common as dirt, cheap parts, lots of mods, huge enthusiast community...

A quick search on autotrader showed me over 100 within 500 miles of me, under $10k, with over 30 of them under $5k.

I'll differ from Chris. The F-body convertibles I drove and saw have universally sucked. Ever try to work on the late gen F-body? The motor is installed into the dashboard. Nose heavy. Crappy fit & finish. Mustangs are not bad but it's a Mustang.

I'd say look at the Mazda MX-5 Miata. Some call it a chick car, but it isn't. Not as powerful as the V8s, but a heck of a lot of fun. A metric crapload of aftermarket parts to get it to anywhere you want performance-wise. And it will run forever with maintenance.

The last-gen Toyota MR2 was a real convertible (Spyder) and they are a lot of fun in a small package.

[308Mike]

I would recommend to ANYONE who gets a convertible, get or have a ROLL BAR installed. One of those saved my brother's life. One of our neighbors owned an import car dealership, and he had mostly British imports. So he had LOTS of MGs, MGBs, Austin-Healeys, etc., etc. But since we were a neighbor, he would NOT sell my brother the MGB convertible he wanted UNLESS he also had a roll-bar installed.

A couple of years after having his MGB, my brother rolled his car at 45 MPH, and that roll bar SAVED his life. Another friend of ours, someone we'd known for MANY years was hot-rodding around in a convertible in a residential neighborhood and took a 90-degree corner too damned fast, flipped the car, and the windshield came down and took his head off. Who knows, he might have actually been better off NOT wearing his seat belt - at least he *MIGHT* have had a chance had he been thrown clear (but MOST ejections end in fatality), but losing your head is CERTAINLY fatal.

You get a convertible = you GET A ROLL-BAR (although it might already be part of the rear window design and you don't need to do anything)!!! One of those saved my brother's life, and they can be made to look unobtrusive and/or cool. Do yourself and your family a GREAT BIG favor, GET A ROLL BAR!!

If I had a digital picture of my brother's car which rolled 34 years ago, I'd post it. I still might take a picture of it with my brother sitting in the driver's seat of his rolled car at the tow yard. The money to get a roll-bar is INSIGNIFICANT to the cost of your funeral or even worse, your rehabilitation for SEVERE head & neck trauma.

Did I mention you SHOULD get a ROLL-BAR yet? After all, if I didn't care at all I wouldn't be saying anything.

[Netpackrat]

If I ever roll my MG, it's because we were meant to die together. But unless it hits something going sideways, it will always slide before it rolls.