I love these cars...they are both ugly and awesome at the same time, and I know it would make me smile every time I put the top down and went for a cruise, but here's the catch. I'm not mechanically inclined at all. I'm not naive, I will have problems creep up with any 40-year-old car, but my questions are:
1) Are these K-Cars pretty reliable (for a 40-year-old car)?
2) I realize body parts will be tricky, but will engine, suspension, etc parts be equally difficult to find?
3) I'm looking for the turbo version, so are there any years that are better than any other years?
4) Is there anything I should be on the lookout for that tends to wear out and break down?

Surprisingly, most of the examples I've found are low miles, and I realize low miles is a double-edged sword. Yeah, it's in good shape. NOOOOO, all the rubber is dried out and cracking. Not sure how to deal with that, but it's on my mind.
This will only be a fun, nice car to cruise around in. If it sees over 3K of miles a year, I'd be surprised.

Anyway, if my father knew anything about cars, I would ask him, but he couldn't even add wiper fluid, so I'm asking you.

Thanks,
Lloyd

 

You looking to buy? I prefer the H body's, I have a 88 convertible. The head gaskets on the 2.2/2.5 motors weren't the best from the factory. If you get the turbo version it probably will need a rebuild. If it's really worn out you will need a new one. As with any old car as time goes on parts get harder to find.
Well this is one to do it in, Top down and tunes up!

 

Well, the K cars were the base for a LOT of other cars so mechanical is fairly easy to get. I actually autocrossed an '89 Omni with the 2.5 for a bit. Keep in mind that some K cars were actually built by Mitsubishi. There were not that many convertibles built though. They were rare until 1990 or so and the body style you showed was discontinued by then. The ones that were around were 2 door cars with the top cut off.

Mechanically, the Dodge Omni /Plymouth Horizon is mechanically the same. So are the early minivans. There are plenty of these cars, at least sedan and coupes, in the bone yards but rust up north has dissolved a lot of them. I think they are fairly easy to work on compared to newer cars. Find yourself a solid survivor car. Even if it needs mechanical work, the body is what you want. Especially if you get a convertible as THOSE body parts will be hard to find.

One caveat though. The mid 80's models had driveability issues that cleared up when they went to fuel injection in 1988/89. I had an '86 Omni that ran, when it felt like it. My '89 was reliable enough I raced it.

 

Occasionally you will see them listed on ebay/craigs list etc. And a lot of the times they have low miles for their age.

 

Appreciate the notes...do you feel like the turbo is a higher risk than the I4 engine? I'm never gonna speed in this thing (even if it could), but live in Colorado, so wasn't sure if I would have power issues with the altitude and thin air up here.

Thanks.

 

You'll be better off with the 2.5 liter engine. That's what I was running. I mostly flat footed it through the course most of the time. The later GTC is more common, but you want what you want so go for it.

 

The turbos are more fun, Except for the torque steer. And today you can find rebuild kits for turbos easily. It was not that easy pre internet trust me! And if you were not aware Chrysler and Maserati came out with the Chrysler TC(touring coupe). Due to many issues it was not a success mainly because it came out after the newly redesigned Lebaron with a higher price tag. If you are lucky (like I was) you can get a good deal on one.

 

Yeah, I've seen some of low-mile TC's out there, but nothing is funnier than a Chrysler K Car with faux wood attached to its sides. Sorry, just makes me smile every time I look at it. Just don't want to find out after I buy the T&C K-Car that the engine and suspension parts are hard to come by or that the Turbo is a problem, and just go with the simple i4 engine....or if it's just a miserable car. Like I wrote earlier, if I knew how to fix anything, I wouldn't care, but since I'm going to have to rely on people who have actual mechanical skills, I'm hoping to stay away from cars that will require a lot of maintenance.

Thanks.

 

Comparing apples to oranges, I did have a 1992 Dodge shadow with the 2.2 I4 engine .... I had it rebuilt so it ran really well.
And it was a cheap engine for both labor and parts to pull it out and rebuild.. ..... It is possible it was the 2.5 engine ... I dunno, there was no turbo.

That car just performed exactly like you would expect it to. My wife drove it and performed flawlessly around town or on the freeway.
When I drove it I would kick in the 2 bbl carb, and my son would say WOW! I had no idea it would run like this .... I felt it was my duty to blow the carbon out of it after my wife drove it daily all week

Again I say comparing apples to oranges .... this thing needed a new top really bad and was next after the rebuilt engine.


Again I understand apples to oranges .... we do have to admit it was the same basic platform the vehicles were built on.

When I drove this vehicle with the top down .... I felt like Magila the Gorrila driving a clown car.
My head and line of vision was above the windshield.

Now with the top closed, I just felt claustrophobic ....

I am a total of 5' 6" tall .... A short dude. My body from waste up is normal, I have a adequate ***** .... just my legs are short ....

So that is my whole point ... sit in it and see if you are comfortable.
With short legs I bring the seat forward and that put my head above the windshield.
A taller man with long legs, would move the seat back and that will actually lower the line of site and not be looking over the top of the windshield .... hoping that makes sense.

So that is my advice, check it out sitting in it in a driving position and see if you would be comfortable.

The transmissions of the era had a bad reputation ... they were the same that was used in Dodge Caravans, the vans had too much weight in them and failed early.
The cars were light and they actually held up.

 

The car is not local, so I’m going to do my due dilligence, and get someone to look at it because I have no idea what I’d be looking at.