Jalopnik: Aries

Government-Issue 1986 Dodge Aries LE

Murilee Martin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EDT

There was some grumbling about the first Chrysler K Car we saw in this series, but there's no way I can run across a Government K sedan and not share it with the world. The Taurus and Lumina elbowed aside just about all the "official vehicle" K cars way back in the early 90s (and, to be fair, the K wasn't the most reliable car ever made, especially when operated by lead-footed public servants), but this plain-gray-wrapper Aries managed to beat the odds and stay on the road. It appears to be owned by the same guy who owns the second-ever DOTS vehicle, and it looks like he's fixing it up. Those of you who feel strongly about the idea of DOTS K-cars (for or against) be sure to vote in the poll after the jump.

The K platform was quite versatile, but Chrysler only seemed to show off "K" emblems on a select few vehicles. There's a Turbo Caravelle in my neighborhood that I might shoot as well, since those hood louvers are extremely Turbo Mullet Era-esque.

The LE was the upscale Aries, and the standard engine was the 97-horse Trans Four. The plastic grille and the last of the Sealed Beam Era headlights really tend to remind us that the Malaise Era was only three years gone in '86.

The gray color may suggest Navy origins for this car, though a lot of San Francisco government agencies had gray Ks as well. Alameda had Aries police cars for a few years in the early 80s, if you can imagine such a thing. Now, on to the poll, and stay tuned for something older, sportier, and more German tomorrow.

LeBaron Turbo: Luxury and Performance

Mike Bumbeck — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:00:00 EDT

From the faded luxury sleeper department comes this Chrysler Lebaron turbo. Grandma picked up the turbo K-car off the showroom floor and passed it on to this guy, who installed a manual boost controller along with an exhaust and brought it out to the track. Running 20 pounds of boost the turbo K clicked off the quarter mile clocks in the mid-thirteen second zone. After being stamped into dozens of somewhat different variants that stretched across numerous brands, it was the K-car that saved Chrysler last time around. At the nexus of this cross-engineered platform jamboree was the Chryslerati, which saved neither Chrysler nor Maserati from anything but opera windows. – Mike Bumbeck

Death to the K Car! Woman Saws Aries in Half

Davey G. Johnson — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 17:30:00 EDT

Oh, the poor, maligned K Car. Long the butt of jokes, you nevertheless helped save Chrysler's bacon at a time when it was in mortal danger. And what respect are you paid? You're chopped in half in under a minute by a 22-year-old woman wielding a reciprocating saw. Kelly Breton took just 58.76 seconds to separate the vehicle's front from its rear at industrial tool supplier N.H. Bragg's open house in Bangor, ME. We have no idea if she ate cake afterward. [Thanks to prplhaze for the tip]

Woman cuts 1984 car in half,awing spectators in Bangor [Bangor Daily News]