Dodge Daytona and Chrysler Laser: the definitive history (book review)
Greg McCausey has to be complimented on being the first person in many years to recognize the value of one of the famous extended Chrysler K-cars, and for being able to sell his idea for a book on them to a serious publisher. With the ignorant blogging and mass-market magazine rabble constantly slamming the ol’ EEKs with cheap shots, Greg’s recognition of the Daytona and lack of sarcasm are refreshingly fresh.
When it was still in production, even towards the end, the Daytona (and of course the lesser-known, less-popular Chrysler Laser) was quite a vehicle — even the base model got a relatively torquey (compared with similarly sized Japanese and American cars) 2.2 liter engine; the seats were plush and comfortable, the ride smooth, the cornering capable; and the turbocharged engines impressive, from the original Turbo I (sans intercooler) right up to the 224-hp Turbo III and variable-nozzle, no-waiting-for-power Turbo IV. To his credit, McCausey not only covers all these options, but discusses them realistically, including both strengths and weaknesses. In many car books, only the top engine option gets real coverage, and any deficiencies are smoothed over; but not here.
McCausey deserves credit for remembering the Laser, which had a fairly short run before its nameplate was transferred to a Plymouth-badged Mitsubishi Eclipse. The people at Chrysler have always had some issues with their name-logic; and their apparent contempt for (or ignorance of) the difference between brands came out strongly in their switches of cars or nameplates from one brand to another, willy-nilly — but that’s neither here nor there. We also won’t discuss the reasons why Chrysler would see a Mitsubishi that competed directly with a Dodge.
The book is fairly long, at 179 pages, with an incredible number of details, most (but by no means all) of which came from various web sites including allpar, the Shelby Dodge site, and the writer's own moparautos.com. Much of that is taken up by tables of options, clearly moved into a word processor straight from the Web; this book has a number of hallmarks of the self publisher, and appears to have been reproduced via laser printer (though it has a professional looking cover and binding). The color photography is reproduced well (albeit again via laser technology rather than offset), but the black and white photography suffers from “laser printer syndrome” and some of the scans have clear JPEG artifacts; on the other hand, other photos are quite clear and well reproduced. Many, if not most, of the photos were taken at auto shows, so the average photo is moderately cluttered and has the hood up; and quite a few cars have “not quite stock” items, such as different wheels, paint variations, etc. Some of the cars didn’t have the interior cleaned before shots were snapped, and aftermarket stereos were not uncommon. If the reader looks at the photography as covering decades-old daily drivers, these shortcomings are not an issue, but those seeking a restoration guide might want to exercise caution.
That said, we have to be fair — finding mint-condition, factory-specification Daytonas and Lasers would be quite a feat decades after their production, almost as great a feat as getting permission from various publishers to use their old photography and still selling a book for under a thousand dollars. This is especially true for some relatively rare models, such as the Laser and 1991-92 Daytonas. Greg had to use photos from other people, which were sometimes low resolution and did not look particularly good; he has been working on replacing these with higher quality photography and has been considering a more expensive hardcover with more color photos.
Most of the Chrysler sales materials reproduced in the book are in black and white, and there’s some graininess in the reproduction. That said, for the new owner or someone seeking to upgrade or fix their own car, there are a lot of unusual resources, including numerous pages showing various wheel styles along with their popular nicknames, production figures broken out by engine, availability of options by year and model, and a VIN decoder.
Six pages were devoted to the Daytona’s successors, and there are two photos, unfortunately not in color and not as sharp as I’d have liked, on the turbocharged V6 engine that never made it to production (though it did make it out of the factory).
Some technical issues of varying importance were pointed out by Mopar Action’s Rick Ehrenberg: the Daytona’s ride and handling shortcomings (such as they were — and there were issues in the Turbo III cars) came primarily from lack of torsional rigidity in the body, due partly to the large hatchback, which is one reason why T-tops weren’t standard; the engine history is missing a few items (such as the switch to 11mm bolts); and the fuel injection was from Huntsville, not Bosch. For the most part, though, the book seems to be correct.
There are reasons why Daytona owners remain enthusiastic and why they keep their cars, made from 1983 (model-year 1984) to 1993, fifteen to twenty-five years later, even though most could easily afford a newer car with better paper specifications. The Daytonas had their own strengths as well as flaws, and while we could have a knee-jerk sarcastic reaction at the mention of the term “K-car,” the fact is that they were competitive when they were made, and have some qualities current cars are missing. The saddest part of the Daytona may well be the lost potential, since there was quite a bit Chrysler could have done, had it been willing to invest a little more money, to keep them ahead of the pack — Greg has photos of the proposed four wheel drive system and an experimental turbo-six, for example.
Overall, we could lay down lots of criticism on this book, or we could write a balanced ending, and we’ll take the extra time to do it right. The fact is, the book integrated existing sources (and possibly new information) to make an easy to read history of cars that were critically acclaimed and fairly innovative when they first hit the road, and have been forgotten by most people (its owners excepted). Yes, there are a few mistakes and some of the photos are what you’d expect from a gifted amateur at a car show; some photos are sharp and clear, others blurry and shaken; and very few have the ideal backgrounds that compliment a car and make it stand out. And, yes, you can find a lot of this information on the Web. However, the Daytona/Laser book is, frankly, the best paper-based reference we’re ever likely to see on any Chrysler cars of this era; it’s very well written, in an engaging style, and McCausey pulled in numerous sources to have a fairly well arranged, well documented compilation. It's worth a buy, and it’s also a terrific gift for your Daytona-owning friends.
You can get it from the writer’s web site or from amazon.com