You know those lists of “worst cars ever made”? Deserving or not, the Chrysler TC by Maserati is a permanent resident on many. More Chrysler than Maserati, the car was the fruit of a relationship between Lee Iacocca and Alejandro de Tomaso, who originally met when the two created the Pantera for Ford. Iacocca had saved Chrysler from bankruptcy in the early 1980s, producing the well-selling K-car. In 1984, Iacocca directed newly-flush Chrysler to take a 5% stake in the struggling Maserati – an aid to his old friend de Tomaso, who owned the company from 1975. Maserati needed the money, and Chrysler needed a halo car. The TC was designed to fill that role. But Iacocca could not resist reaching for the K-car platform, his answer to product for years. The chassis was shipped to Italy and bodied there, then shipped back to the US at extraordinary cost, ensuring losses on every unit sold. And then there’s the matter of the engine: over the course of production, three engines were offered – two turbocharged inline fours, or a Mitsubishi six. Today’s example is a 1989, offered here on eBay for $1900 or best offer. Bring a trailer to Midlothian, Illinois, to collect her.
Chrysler couldn’t manage to fund new technology, or even to buy someone else’s exotic technology for its “halo” car. In fact, the car was three years late to market due to incessant squabbling between its two parents. When it finally arrived in 1989, the standard engine was the 2.2-liter Daytona-derived turbocharged four, good for about 160 hp. This one is reluctant to start, may be making lifter noises, leaks gas from a line, and leaks coolant at the radiator. When these first cars came out of the factory, this engine was perceived as a mistake early on, thanks to turbo lag and otherwise sluggish, rough performance – which is why Chrysler stepped up with two other choices. Chrysler’s old three-speed Torque-Flite auto drove the front wheels – another downer for buyers. Later cars received either a five-speed Getrag manual, or Chrysler’s new Ultradrive four-speed auto. These mechanical changes were compressed into the car’s three-year production phase, leaving buyers wondering what the heck the TC really was.
Inside, Chrysler tried for the luxe look, with ritzy leather upholstery, pleats everywhere, real wood accents, and plush carpet. But the gauge panel is a disappointment, plain and ill-made. The hardtop is electrically released via a rocker switch, and a manual ragtop hides beneath. On sunny days, that innocent opera window intended to swank up the roof was known to burn the rear storage compartment carpet by concentrating the sun’s rays as it passed overhead. This interior is on the rough side: I’ve seen better furniture on New York City street corners for free.
The TC’s resemblance to the LeBaron, which beat it to market by several months and cost thousands less, did it no favors. All this said, every car has its fans. Here’s your club, and parts are available here. Values depend on engine type, but early cars in good condition can be had for around $6000. This example needs plenty of work to bring it up to snuff. Have you ever owned a TC? What did you think of it?
These look good but that is about it.
I’ve always liked the design, but it’s *so* close to the LeBaron of a similar time, it’s tough not to favour the lesser of the two.
The problem, one of them anyway, was the fact that this had an MSRP of 33k when it came out in 1989. That is about $86,500 in today’s dollars, which means it was probably the worst new car value proposition of all time. It probably would have been a little bit better received if the price would have been about half that.
Or if they actually designed and built a car worthy of the price tag.
The link to the eBay ad in the writeup shows it was sold, but the seller has re-listed it for the same price with a couple of new pictures.
Steve R
Woe it was. Three years late to market, and then, a few months later the ordinary Chrysler Le Baron convertible showed up, half the price, with a back seat, and, if you bought the V6, a really good car. In fact, if you want into the collector car market, inexpensively, and want a convertible, for 1/10th the price of a Mustang you can get one of these. With leather (well Chrysler’s version which is “bonded leather”, a thin skin of leather bonded to fabric and GM used it, too, wore through at 100,000 miles, unlike the real stuff in Audi which at 200,000 miles still shows no wear). Like the Allante, and the Reata, and the Fiero, good ideas, some bad execution in the early years, and once they got it right, abandoned. So if this has the V6 it would be a great car, if not, it still would be fun,
The J-body LeBaron coupe/convertible actually came to market first, in late ’86 for the ’87 model year, whereas the TC belatedly debuted a whopping two years later in late ’88 for the ’89 model year.
The original plan was for the TC to launch first as a halo car, which would then lend some cachet to the LeBaron when it debuted later with similar styling; despite appearances, they don’t share any body panels in common, and the TC is significantly smaller.
Instead, development and production snafus delayed production of the TC until long after the LeBaron launched, making the TC seem like a tarted-up LeBaron, rather than the LeBaron seeming like a more affordable TC as originally intended.
This Chrysler was a waste of financial resources. It looked very similar to a LeBaron convertible. I’d rather have a LeBaron. For a vanity project, it should’ve had a different look than the lesser LeBaron.
Although it’s already sold, it was probably worth the price, just for the de-tuned Turbo-2 long block (160 HP, with forged steel crank, very short duration roller cam with hydraulic roller followers and a fast burn combustion chambered head it would make a great replacement Long Block for my Shelby Lancer with a Cam change and a reprogrammed “Logic Module.” ). Timing and boost were conservative, as was the exhaust sizing and muffling. I’m betting the Timing Belt has jumped time and some teeth are missing….
The parts alone were worth the admission price to repair/replace the parts on other TCs that need them.
The seller re-listed it.
Steve R
The Getrag 5-speed manual was available in the TC’s first year, and AFAICT was only ever paired with the “Maserati” 16-valve turbo engine in a limited run of 500 cars for that first year. Automatics in that first year got the regular Mopar Turbo II mill, then the next two years only offered a Mitsubishi V6 with a 4-speed auto.
That 16v engine was really the only thing “Maserati” about any of these, but even that was just the cylinder head, designed and cast by Cosworth with cams by Crane, finished and assembled at Maserati. Even the bodies were actually stamped and assembled at Innocenti, which De Tomaso also happened to own at the time, tho’ to be fair he was also using Innocenti to build Maserati Biturbo bodies at the time.
Here is the link to the relisted e-bay ad: https://www.ebay.com/itm/116856691708?_skw=1989+Chrysler+TC+Maserati&itmmeta=01K9521PJ2FE5Y0X6DCSWKFSHQ&hash=item1b35339bfc:g:tcQAAeSwDB5pAnO6&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA4FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1cC1eladKd%2Bvi54OBUimFY77ZUCFN5pAuB5xdcYX%2BD15AM1v5GQo88oq1Rx5%2BW36fv8PuabHfHmW2a%2FNYu3bUA%2BIlgn5EFBJ2ZT1VeJxin%2BzW83%2F0pBRd%2BSlpn015LnohARk9jGkQCjTRIyqSMescKx3MEJzyfbbRORaMVuLeQUWrVj2TTYFTQT9OweqIKmSBp%2Bh40rynUXESxejovGClcZhds4XIpBX021wyxpFk4YoT9%2Fcvrr0HolE3gw6gxkVZO7cnlARGCVnBOJJZAmWGT1%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5zphqLJZg
those are junk i had the same condition, car color, motor everything i could not give it away
I was a parts and service director of both a Ford and Chrysler when these came out. (Same owner) Luckily for me. None of our customers bought one. So I never had to deal with these. Although there was plenty of winning at the Chrysler service meetings.
The TC’s biggest problem was that Chrysler inexplicably allowed the TC’s styling theme to be applied to the much cheaper LeBaron. The TC’s production delays meant that the LeBaron arrived first, forever dooming the TC as a “fancy LeBaron.” To add insult to injury, to many eyes, the longer LeBaron wore the look better than the stubby TC.