Some 1980s vehicles are becoming fairly hot in the collector car market lately but I don’t know if a car like this 1984 Chrysler LeBaron two-door coupe will ever really become hot or collectible, or even desirable to most of the population. But, you’re in luck, here in Scotty G’s cubicle at One Barn Finds Tower I’m all about unpopular, unusual, and oddball cars! Hey, who took my ‘Lectric Leopard EV LeCar coffee cup?! Jamie! This LeBaron coupe can be found here on Craigslist in Floyd, Virginia with an asking price of $2,000. Let’s check it out.
I have mentioned it before, but I had a similar LeBaron in Mark Cross convertible form in the mid-1980s and it was a fantastic, trouble-free, fun little car. It was actually my first nice car. Wait, I had a 1973 Buick Electra 225 in 99% mint condition a few years earlier, scratch that first-nice-car thing. It was, however, my first and last convertible. I can’t believe that with all of the cars that I own and have owned in the last 35 years since then I have yet to add another ragtop to the mix. That’s just crazy, I’ll try to work on that in 2019. This car has a black eye as you can see. Remember the days of changing headlights? As in, the entire headlight, not just untwisting an old bulb and twisting a new one in from behind the light? Any of you with old cars remembers that and it’s a semi-regular occurrence. Most of you probably stock spare headlights and keep one or two in the trunk wrapped up in a couple of old t-shirts in case one goes out while you’re on the road with your classic.
Two things would make this car a knockout in my opinion; if it had a 5-speed transmission and if it were a turbo. Sadly, it has neither of those things, but I rarely saw a two-door LeBaron even back in the 1980s let alone in 2019. I found another listing for this same car that says that it was sitting on blocks in a heated garage for 24 years, that would explain the fantastic visual condition. It also adds a few more photos for anyone interested in seeing more of this particular car. And, as if this two-door LeBaron wasn’t cool enough, check out this ad with one of the world’s coolest guys touting Chrysler’s lineup. The seller says that this car has new tires but they would be changed instantly to white walls under my watch. This car really needs white walls.
There are no engine photos, unfortunately, but this one most likely has Chrysler’s 2.2L inline-four with 99 hp. The reason I think that it has the 2.2L engine other than it having the much better – in my opinion- Mitsubishi 2.6L inline-four which mine had, is that the seller says that it has a 4.4L engine. Now that would be something! The posh, plush navy blue velour interior isn’t Corinthian leather but it looks like new and aside from a luxury car not having power windows it looks good in there. Mine had a digital dash and the tiny talking person who lived in the glove compartment. This LeBaron should also have that tiny white switch in the glove box to turn off that voice if the next owner wants to live on the edge and maybe drive off with their door open. I mean, ajar. With only 119,518 miles on this LeBaron, there should be many more miles left on this silver bullet. Have any of you owned a K-Car LeBaron?
Absolutely crappy car. We had this in the wagon format. Utilitarian absolutely craptastic driving experience. Two grand for this is an insult. $400 tops.
I can live with the non-turbo engine and the automatic.
What I think lets this car down is the silver paint. Iver much dislike silver cars.
I think it’s kinda cool!!! I’d drive it as a daily!!! The blue is unexpected but love it!!!!
I bought an 86 Mark Cross Convertible in July 2017 and managed to drive it home about 100 miles from northern NJ to NYS where it now resides under a tarp.
Here is a photo. I hope to redo it one day, but I have a ton of projects.
Oh believe me Miguel, you.can live without the turbo. Mom had a LeBaron
just like Royal’s that had the turbcharger
on it. One morning, after driving my BIL
to work, the car caught fire and burned
to the ground in her driveway! The
insurance company paid out pretty quick
when it was discovered that the factory
Mitsubishi turbo had an inherent defect
built into it that caused the car to catch
fire. Royal, if I had the cash, I’d buy that
car from you rather than seeing it sit
under a tarp in the New Jersey winter.
Maybe she’d get a kick out of having
her old ragtop back again. Even after
35 years, I still like the styling on these.
I know Mom does too.
A luxury K-car? Kind of an oxymoron, don’t you think? Like the author, I had many K-cars( and vans) and they were all great vehicles, but I never for a minute thought of them as luxury cars. Just a comfy, reliable people mover, and it worked. Luxury? Maybe a little.
I’d buy it because I’ve never seen one before and want to make sure other people get the chance to also. Navy Blue or Burgundy velour are just about my only favorite things about 1980’s cars.The color is an off factor though. As with Miguel, I HATE silver cars. They blend into the road, and it looks like the factory didn’t even paint it before they shipped it!
David P. Reeves, my hatred of silver cars goes to the fact that I have almost always lived in a hot climate and silver paint only lasts a couple of years.
Other colors can be saved, but silver always looks like crap.
I have developed a distaste for silver/grey cars as well over the years too, Miguel. Such that when my 86 Olds Calais goes in to be painted, it’s probably not going to be med grey metallic.
To show you how things have changed, in the mid-70’s, I had my mustard colored MGB painted silver. At the time, there were almost no silver cars. It was a Corvette color, I believe.
Im looking for an 84 Chrysler E Class sedan if anyone knows of one. Would consider Dodge 600 from the same year.
I had an 89 LeBaron convert.
2.5 turbo.
Turbo already shot when I bought so had a tire shop get a working turbo from wreckers. 2.2 and 2.5 had same turbo.
Had it for 16 years. It was a very fast car.
When tranny started to go, I tried to sell it. Nobody wanted it. Drove it to wrecker where I got 295 bucks for it.
My Mother’s late husband bought one of these brand new. Unfortunately, he died a month later, but he wisely bought credit life on the loan. My Mother drove that car for 20 years and had over 200 k on the odometer. She refused to quit driving it but eventually listened to us about safety. I know these weren’t known for durability, but she was blessed with the one she got. Maybe she had someone looking out for her.
I think that the price is a bit high but if there’s some hands on inspection of this one it might be worth it. And yes, a great daily driver. Getting close to a timing chain at that mileage, so don’t be surprised.
My cousin had one of these when we first graduated high school. One night we were out at waffle house and the transmission went out. Drove the car in reverse about 15 miles down back roads at about 3 in the morning trying to get home. Luckily we didn’t run into any police.
I don’t think that his car has the “voice announcement” feature. I believe that feature was only available with the digital instrumentation option. This car has analog instrumentation. That being said, these are known to be very reliable, comfortable cars, however, when was the last time you actually saw one on the road ?
Voice Alert was in fact available with analog instrumentation. It was a stand alone 66 dollar option. We had a 84 Chrysler sedan with both analog instrumentation and voice alert
My late mother in law had one of these back in the early 80’s. She loved the car, but knew *nothing* about taking care of it, and her husband was too distracted/absent/lazy to take care of it either.
The engine in the car blew at 24,000 miles when it was 2 years old, and she was absolutely livid. When I asked her how often she changed the oil, she had a pained look on her face and said, “No one told me I had to change the oil! I just put gas in it!”.
While the 2.2 K-car engine was not exactly a paragon of engineering excellence, she had driven that poor thing 24,000 miles on its factory original oil fill. The oil had turned into a tar-like sludge. It’s amazing it lasted as long as it did.
I was always arguing with my Chrysler about the door being a “jar”. it is not a jar, a door is a door. I had a loaded T&C wagon, slow, bad handling, drank a quart of oil for every tank. Used to joke it was crystal powered because of the hood ornament. Don’t miss it, but it had character. Blew up on I10 in Mississippi, coming home from Lolapalooza in N.O. Took off plate and abandoned at the rest stop. Hitchhiked back to FL with 3 other guys. Home by 6. Great fun and story. Will never forget.
They had the reminder inside the car that stated Your Door Is Ajar!!
Sweet find, Scotty! My Dad had one of these, a Maroon two-door with a four speed manual transmission. He bought it for $200 as I recall. The “4.4” engine sounds twice as cool as a mere “2.2.” I can’t help but imagine this Lebaron having swallowed Volvo’s sweet B8444S transverse V8 (Yamaha) engine. That would earn your K-Car some respect. Just kidding, of course, but why not dream big? Did the little person in your dash ever remind you that “A door is (in fact) a jar?”