You know Doc brings up a interesting point. Back then automakers I guess figured they could shove anything out onto the public and it would sell. You can paint a turd any color, and have all sorts of excellent marketing and 'sell' points but it is still a turd. Iocrappa used to say 'if you can find a better car, then buy it' then Chrysler went out and bought AMC. I hate to see Chrysler take a beating like it is as hate to see Americans losing jobs (gee, like Kenosha in 1989 when Chrysler promised state of Wisconsin that they would keep the plants open for 6 years, then after 6 months, decided to close them, putting thousands out of work in a economically depressed area) so hate to see hard working folks get laid off as many of those jobs will never be there again. Back to the Krap-cars however, keep in mind that AMC was also pushing Frogcars like Alliance (which won Car of Year award from Motor Trend in 1983) I don't think anyone at MT drove one, or had to have it towed to service or could not get it unstuck shifter out of third after less than 1000 miles. The bulletins, revisions were many and at one time I had all the bulletins from 1981 thru 1984 and was about size of a 1974 AMC shop manual, which is about size of Ivanhoe or War & Peace book.
There is a nice page on Bob's site (Arcticboy) about Renault
Interesting to see several things, like the Renault's were rather good looking and very similiar to what one sees today in car lines, just more squared. But they also had Richard Gere's gerbil under hood and Rod stewart's stomach pump for trans so thats where it ended.
Too bad the Alpine was never offered in the US, could have marketed it as maybe AMX/4 or AMX/5 perhaps.
On longevitity: at the Houston area pick a parts:
there is usually about 1500-2000 cars. In the 'new section' which is cars from 1992-current, it is loaded with Toyota, Honda, Niccan, BMW, Volvo and other cars that many have barely hit 100,000 miles. Disposable cars in other words and cheaper to replace than fix (you can toss in computers, cell phones, printers, and God knows what here) but interesting to see cars that are touted (by their manufacturer) scrapped, as having a long life barely getting pass the range of what a Cadillac now requires before tune up....
Granted who knows what type of life some had and just like AMC vehicles, I guess if you do regular maintainence they will last a long time, however, some like the K-cars were doomed from start. Here is a K-car forum, please be quiet and don't wake up anyone:
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2008 10:26 PM
Subject: [BaadAssGremlins] My Old Lady "K" Car Story
In 84 my father bought a new "K" car wagon with every option there was for 14,000$ in change. Needless to say he was robbed. He wanted my mother to have a new car as he knew he wouldn't live to much longer. He put 7,000 miles on it in the year and half he drove it before he died. In the next 15 years my mother put 3,000 miles on it. Now that's little old lady mileage. I personally serviced the car every 6 months and made sure she ran it and moved it once a week. When I got the car it looked like new since it was garage kept but needed a nice detailing job to look perfect. Since I already had 3 cars 2 of them my Hornets I gave the car to my son. Good thing he worked for a Mopar dealer because the car slowly fell apart around him over the next year, and parts were almost impossible to get. When he was offered a 200,000 mileage Honda that needed a little work for nothing he took it and gave the "K" car away to a friend who needed a car but had no money. He spent a few bucks on fixing the Honda and has been driving it almost trouble free for almost 3 years now I am glad I didn't keep that "K" car POS. Repairs and frustration would have broken the bank and caused me to burn the sucker.
"Doc"
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