What exactly is a "K" car?

[mcrews]

the 'k car' design pulled the chysler corp out of bankruptcy. THey were able to reduce design and build cost by using the same parts under all the cars across the brands.
It was a front wheel drive design.

Another statagy of Iaccoca was to build the flagship car, Imperial, 2 door lucxury coupe with only 3 options. Loaded, Loaded w/ suroof, loaded w/ leather.
He had the assemblymen w/ 20 yrs or more all moved to the same plant. It was the first car to offer a 36 month 36k mile drivetrain warrenty.

[Golden Ears]

It’s so strange to revive this thread but I’ve got to tell you my experience with the K car.

This guy, Mr. Larsen, worked for Lowrance GPS as the financial controller. Certainly the cheapest man I’ve ever met. He would buy his eyeglasses at flea markets just by trying them on until he could see better. He had lawn furniture from the 1960s, that tubular rubber stuff.

But I got to give him credit.

He had a Dodge K car.

When I asked him why he bought the car he said the purchasing criteria was the most expensive part for the car in the parts catalog was $150. amazing. And he could go to the junkyard and find an endless supply of parts and the car was so simple with virtually no computers anyone could work on it with a minimal of tools.

I couldn’t stand the thing, but it was front wheel drive so it could Handle New England winter. If you wanted the windshield wipers to work you had to cross two wires together.

He retarded the timing on the car or so he said, as a result the car struggled just to go 60 miles an hour. But there was a method to his madness.

The car got over 50 mpg even in a headwind.

And as a penniless snowboarder without a job in 1992, that was pretty appealing.

7 hours of driving for a 375 mile round trip from Wayland Massachusetts to Sunday River in Bethel Maine .

We did it on $6 of gas. Maybe we shorted him a gallon but we had to make the gas gauge match and the car was always on empty .

We named the car “ sipper” because it barely sipped gasoline .

[freebeard]

Welcome to Ecomodder.

The well is pretty deep.

There was even a user with the handle XFi. Their last post 2009-12.

I've only had mine for a year.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

I'm so much more used to the Japanese keijidosha definitions that I even forget there was a K-car from Chrysler. Odd enough, considering how an Argentinian variant of the Hillman Avenger/Plymouth Cricket soldiered on for a while after being rebadged as a Volkswagen, it does surprise me there were seemingly no attempts to bring the K-car and eventually fitting a Volkswagen engine to it.

[freebeard]

One of my favorites is the Dodge Rampage. I knew a guy that said he wanted to be buried in his; but in the end he didn't get his way.

A little truck with a big heart: the Dodge Rampage ...
https://www.hagerty.com › media › car-profiles › little-truck-with-big-heart-the-dodge-rampage
The Dodge Rampage was a three-year experiment, sold from 1982-1984. A front-wheel-drive pickup based on the Chrysler L platform, it was modestly powered, reasonable on fuel, and small in stature. Overall, its capability compared favorably to the likes of the last of the El Caminos and the newcomer VW Caddy.

My understanding is that the engine was a VW inline four design with the bore spacing increased to accommodate the 2.2 liter swept volume. Looking at this picture it seems likely.


http://www.rampageforsale.com/wp-con...-pa-engine.jpg

That's a first-year turbo five-speed.

[Piotrsko]

Afaik, K cars were almost Yugo expendable like $5/grand but unlike Yugos, you could fix them forever. See also Red Green (his favorite car to modify)

K was the next in the chrysler naming series, starting with A body, B body....

[MeteorGray]

I have fond memories of my 1983 Reliant K sedan.

I bought it new and drove it 130,000 miles before selling it.

It had four doors and was big enough to serve my family of five.

It was inexpensive to buy, got great gas mileage for the time and was never in the shop.

I believe it was Lee Iacocca's brainchild, and it helped save Chrysler.

What's not to like, sez me?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Afaik, K cars were almost Yugo expendable like $5/grand but unlike Yugos, you could fix them forever.

It does surprise me the Yugo had ever been available in the American market. It wouldn't be so pointless to sell Brazilian and Argentinian Fiats there instead, considering local versions of the Fiat Uno and its derivatives (Duna sedan and station-wagon, and the Fiorino pick-up and van) were exported even to Europe. And since the Yugo AFAIK relies on the same floorpan of the Fiat 127 and most Brazilian Fiats until '96 when the Palio started resorting to a rear torsion-beam axle, I'm not sure to which extent it would be so "unfixable" for my standards

[Piotrsko]

Never said the yugo couldn't be fixed, they were just so cheap you went and got a new one. You could get 2 or three for the price of a chevy. The K cars were bulletproof enough that simple stuff failed and a $5 dollar part repaired it.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Never said the yugo couldn't be fixed, they were just so cheap you went and got a new one

OK.

You could get 2 or three for the price of a chevy

When the VW Beetle was phased out in Brazil for the first time in '86, the Chevette became the cheapest new car in Brazil, even though the Fiat 147 which is similar to the Yugo was still around.