Sandy, Here's a good one on Canadian Capris.

ponydude · Post by **ponydude** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:25 pm

What about Chrysler and the alternator? What do ALL cars have on them now?
Oops. I forget to mention torsion bars. My wife's 98 Blazer has them.
I once bought a 1957 (telling my age) Chrysler Imperial for $25 for the engine. One of the options was a 45RPM record player. Anyone remember these?

ponydude · Post by **ponydude** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:37 pm

Couldn't find any reference to the RS Turbo.

ASCMCLRN · Post by **ASCMCLRN** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:06 am

So much to touch on in this thread. During the late 70's Chrysler was doing poorly then Lee Iacocca was able to turn the company around with the likes of the K-car and even paid back the Government the money they lent to bail them out. Imagine the airline industry doing the same present day lol. Chrysler was doing well for sometime. They had purchased AMC with the popular Jeep, Dodge Ram trucks selling well, introduced the Viper, and so forth. When Daimler "merged" with Chrysler in '98 they were doing fine. Things changed and the financial success of Chrysler caused Plymouth to be dropped in 2001. Next the dwindling of Mitsubishi sales was the end of the Diamond Star cars. IMO Chrysler still has a bright future with the Hemi's, Jeep, Dodge trucks, 300, etc... Today many car manufacturers arent doing so well. They really need to re-think their spending, savings, and perhaps some protection for US companies and it's workers.

As for front wheel drive Chrysler wasn't the only one GM did the same removing the rear wheel drive Impalas, Bonevilles, and so forth. Ford was wise enough to hold onto rwd and it proved beneficial.

Regarding the Charger and the 4 doors. All 3 US manufacturers failed here. Ford decided in the mid to late 90's that there was no market for 2 door cars. For instance they eliminated the Mark series and replaced it with a 4 door LS.

Nick

Post by **negusm** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:46 am

The USA 1982 brochure is UP!

http://www.ascmclarencoupe.com/Literature/Brochures.htm

Difference I saw:

The console is optional instead of standard on some US trim levels.
The really big deal is the Turbo RS was still available in Canada and not in the US (emission reasons).
Also the v8 was an option for the Canadian RS whereas the US brochure says it was standard.
The 4 speed manual overdrive transmission is also in the Canadian brochure and not the US.

1985 Motorsport Capri · Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:45 pm

mike,
wasnt 1982 the 1st year that the rs came standard with a v8 in the us?

Post by **negusm** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:02 pm

1985 Motorsport Capri wrote:mike,
wasnt 1982 the 1st year that the rs came standard with a v8 in the us?

If you paw through the data books, the advanced fact book for 1982 shows that the RS was not going to be standard with the v8 engine (remember you had both the 302 and 255).

However, the final product fact book shows the 5.0 as standard on the RS and the 255 as an option with an automatic transmission.

So yes, somewhere in 1981 they switched things. Probably nearly all 1982 RS Capris got a v8....I haven't paid attention to see if an 82 rs has popped up with anything but a v8. But the brochure shows that there might be a chance for a Canadian 1982 Capri RS without the v8 or turbo 4.

-Mike

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:56 pm

ponydude wrote:What about Chrysler and the alternator? What do ALL cars have on them now?
Oops. I forget to mention torsion bars. My wife's 98 Blazer has them.
I once bought a 1957 (telling my age) Chrysler Imperial for $25 for the engine. One of the options was a 45RPM record player. Anyone remember these?

We had a couple of them! A 1957 LeBaron 4-Dr Hdt. and a 1958 Crown Southampton 4-Door Hardtop, that both had the 45 RPM record players.

ponydude · Post by **ponydude** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:24 am

Sandy, thanks for the memories and support.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 3:37 am

I guess I should clarify, a bit. My Dad was a 1/3rd partner in an I.C.P. store, so we got a new Imperial every year, at year's end, it went to Mom for a year, and Dad got a new one. Therefore from 1957 to 1978 there were always 2 Imperials in the driveway. In 1968 I bought my 1st. My 2nd came in 1976 and then a 1982, which was my last. It was part of my Dad's compensation pkg.

It was a small, very small dealership. 3 car showroom, 4 lifts in service, a wash pit & a small parts Dept. and a Service write up desk. New car inventory space held 35 + 3 on the floor, and 9 Demos.

But.....it was located in a very affluent town, so they actually sold more New Yorkers & Imperials than a normal dealership of that size. Several years they were #1 in the zone in Imperial sales. Very affluent town, even today. No home there today sells for under 2 mil. No, we didn't live there, we lived 1 town south, which was like middle class.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 3:41 am

Funny Story. My Mom ALWAYS did Thanksgiving Dinner. At that time we had a pretty good sized family. Of course they all bought from Dad. Cousin #1 was a Doctor & #2 was a Judge & #3 was a Lawyer. Dad's Sister was a Lawyer and his other sister was a Vice Principle of a high school. They'd all come in their Imperials for Thanksgiving. So, at every Thanksgiving, we had 8 Imperials in the driveway. One day AFTER the holiday, Dad checked the Micro-Fisch (Recall ?) to see how many new, unsold Imperials were in dealer's inventory in the zone. There were 7. We had one more in the driveway than was in the entire zone. (That encompassed 21 towns)

ASCMCLRN · Post by **ASCMCLRN** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 5:10 am

Sandy,

I was under the impression that the Imperials were very limited and made every so often. Any info on these cars are greatly appreciated. I know I can search the internet but I want to hear stuff we can only learn from you if you dont mind. Thanks guru!

Nick

No, they were not made "every so often" - they were made as dealers ordered them, as in any other MOPAR product. Just that they were very poor sellers, & most dealers carried just 1 in stock, at a time. That was to show. People test drove that one and ordered what they wanted. When the in stock Imp was sold, they'd order another one. Dad's dealership STOCKED about 5 at a time, and sold all 5 in about 7 weeks.
But there were many reasons they turned over so many, which I will not bore you with.

Post by **negusm** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 5:36 am

http://www.ascmclarencoupe.com/Literatu ... Canada.htm

1981 Canadian Brochure is UP!

Things different from the US brochure: Base Capri doesn't get Chrome headlight frames. Rear defroster was standard on all. Capri Turbo RS was available. Power windows aren't mentioned. No rocker panel mouldings either. I am sure if you look hard enough there are more.

-Mike

GQ 1949 · Post by **GQ 1949** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:05 am

Look at that black majic's interior

it looks better than
some of the new cars interior, talk about top of the line

GQ.

Post by **negusm** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:16 pm

http://www.ascmclarencoupe.com/Literatu ... Canada.htm

1980 Canadian Brochure is UP!

Things different from the US brochure: Power Disc brakes are not mandatory on the Canadian Ghia models. The Canadians got a standard rear window defroster. The Canadians got a manual transmission with the 4.2L v8 (US says only automatic).

Post by **negusm** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:58 am

1979 Capri Brochure is UP!

The 3 speed automatic transmission was optional while the US required it for the v6.