The next PT again

Peter Valdes-Dapena’s CNN Autos article talks about the “beloved Cruiser” in its next generation. Unlike many writers covering the PT, Valdes-Dapena noted the Plymouth origins of the Cruiser, and put a good deal of thought into his article on the future of the iconic car.

The PT is important to Chryslr because it sells 120,000 units per year, largely to nontraditional buyers (that is, people who don’t normally buy Chryslers), and because it makes a good profit without cannibalizing their other sales. Indeed, had the PT been badged as a Plymouth, as it was supposed to be, we’d probably be seeing a larger PT right now based on the Voyager.

There’s a lot of talk on the PT needing a V6, and I firmly disagree; what it needs is not a bigger engine, but less weight. The PT is a small outside, but heavy, the result of a very low engineering budget (the money used to create the PT, with its unique rear suspension and flat floorpan, unique interior, pushbutton doors, etc., is the same amount budgeted to simply create a coupe out of the four-door Neon!). You can imagine how much lighter the PT could be (and safer) if they had devoted more
engineering time to it. With just three or four hundred fewer pounds to push around, the 2.4 liter engine would be much happier, and acceleration would be zippy enough for most people; then the 2.4 turbo would be able to have a ball, too. Look at the SRT-4’s acceleration; or the first-generation Neon. I think most people these days would be happy to have that kind of acceleration, along with a mileage boost, rather than paying more to get a heavier vehicle with a thirsty V6 to feed.

Likewise, while many have called for a larger PT, most don’t want to have it at the cost of the current size. I think most PT owners are very happy with the small size - it’s pretty big inside, and how much space do most people really need, anyway? The PT fits into very small garage spaces, with a footprint smaller than even the Neon, and is terribly easy to parallel park - yet holds a tremendous load of groceries and, with rear seats folded or removed, can carry surprisingly big stuff. A larger PT would be nice for those with bigger families, but not at the cost of the standard-sized PT - which is nearly as large inside as the first minivans!

As for moving to the Caliber platform, the Caliber might be pretty safe, but it’s hardly light, and
a PT with the Caliber chassis could well be even heavier than the current model, and really need a V6.

The new World Engine 2.4 produces about 170 horsepower as I recall - 20 hp more than the
current model - and should be able to get better mileage at the same time. Just dropping that engine in _might_ make the PT considerably faster, if the new 2.4 isn’t one of those “peaky” engines that only
makes power in a tiny little band at the top of the tach.

My solution

When you have a success, why destroy it instead of building on it? Chrysler needs a small car and they need a PT replacement. The ideal would be to re-engineer the current PT for lighter weight and, at the same time, to work on extracting from it a new sedan to compete with Yaris and Fit - a sedan which would have the strengths of the original, fun-to-drive Neon as well as the PT itself; a sedan which would cost less to develop and produce than one based on the Volkswagen Jetta; a sedan that would be 100% American in the public’s perception, not past-generation, discarded, and outdated German or Japanese technology. Instead of going to Chery and Volkswagen, Daimler should go to Chrysler for its Dodge Hornet. It’s been right there in front of them all this time: the PT Cruiser. Based off the Neon, the PT transcended the Neon in many ways; now is the time to return. Keep the innovative rear suspension; change the top hat; modernize the safety zones and look for weight savings, and you have a common platform for the Hornet and the next-generation PT. The Hornet would have the sportiness of the original Neon and the reliability of the PT (which has been way up
there in quality rankings), and because they’ve already invested so much in PT engineering, it would probably still be cheaper than adapting a Volkswagen to meet Dodge needs. It would solve the problem of where to get the next PT, would prevent the Caliber from becoming the 21st Century’s K-car - with four variants that are all four doors with a hatch - and would keep the PT fun and interesting.

At least give it a thought. I don’t think anyone wants to see Dodge selling recycled Volkswagens. It’s not bold, brash, or American - and if we wanted German cars, we’d buy one. From Volkswagen.

2007 Chrysler Sebring: another last chance

Chrysler used to own a good part of the market that is now dominated by the Camry and Accord; and while there are still American players in the solid mid-sized “default” family sedan market, Chrysler has been relegated to bit-player status for some time. The Spirit and Acclaim were often criticized but sold rather well; the Cirrus and Stratus (note Chrysler not very subtly displacing Plymouth at that time) were given many awards, but didn’t sell as well, and the second generation (now Sebring and Stratus) were fairly slow sellers.

Chrysler needs this generation to be a hit, at least by Sebring/Stratus standards, and they seem to have pulled out all the gadget/feature stops. From a hard drive based audio system letting your iPod stay at home to a refrigerated cupholder, the gadget freaks will find something to like, while those who sacrificed muscle for utility will probably appreciate the new six-speed automatic, with its nice low first gear for instant off-the-line movement. Yes, the 3.5 liter V6 has been detuned quite a bit from the LH and LX series, but it still has a good 232 hp and we suspect it’s good for quite a bit of low-end torque as well. Unfortunately, every model except for the Limited with optional 3.5 V6 gets a four-speed automatic, and the manual transmission has been completely dropped. (To be fair it never sold all that well in this series, but part of that was people not knowing it was there!)

The looks of this car, inside and out, have been subject to a lot of debate. So far, from what I can see, I really do like it, and I don’t say that reflexively; I think it’ll be just the thing for those looking to replace their Intrepids and Concordes, though the interior isn’t quite as nice as the 300M (then again, the price is a lot lower - or at least I assume it is.)

This one has to be a hit - or the twin Dodge Avenger has to be a hit. Chrylser has been in a small corner of this key market for far too long. It’s time to get some of those Accord sales back.

Click here for full details (with photos) of the 2007 Chrysler Sebring.

The Allpar organization

Allpar is currently not really organized; it’s not a one man show by any means, but any collaboration is ad hoc and informal. Jim (Stratuscaster) handles 98% of the forum maintenance, thank Heaven, and a large number of people make regular contributions, but what we’re lacking now is:

• Local meets
• Well organized national meets
• Club sponsored discounts and special deals
• An established group to take over the web site when the time comes

The idea of having meets has been brought up many times, going back to the early ptcruizer.com days, but I’ve never had the time or the skill to pull it off. When it comes down to it, I’m an organizational change guy who did a lot of editing and writing over the years; half writer and half business professional. I’m not a mechanic and I have little experience in volunteer groups outside of student governments and newspapers (though I’m sure learning about volunteer soup kitchens now). I’d personally love to see us having meets. We have a fairly unique spectrum of people; the closest group I can think of might be the Plymouth Owners Club.

Of course there are clubs we have interacted with quite a lot, including the Plymouth Owners Club and the Walter P. Chrysler Restorers Club, and they are great to be in, but I think we can cover some of the same ground without competing with them. I don’t want to take anything away from them. Ideally we’d work with them as well as with groups like Mopars Unlimited of Arizona, the Connecticut Mopar group (whose name will elude me until I get another newsletter from them, but I am a paid member!), and the Slant Six Club of NY/NJ. But I think we can also cover new ground, geographically and ideologically.

On behalf of Allpar, I will kick in on-line resources, publicity, and, yes, money. Google will happily if unknowingly sponsor these efforts (I don’t mean to imply anything illegal, just that they bring in most of the money that gives me the time to work on the site). We’ll have to figure out a lot of things, including how the organization will work, where it will be legally based, who will lead it (hint: not me), and how to integrate it into allpar without driving me crazy. But I think we can pull this off.

We’ll be kicking off the first organizational meeting in person at Carlisle. If you can’t make it, or even if you can, please provide your ideas in a reply to this blog. Thanks.

Belgium Mopar Muscle meeting

On Sunday June 11th, I visited the 4th Mopar Muscle Meeting in Antwerps (Belgium), which was my first visit to this event.

It was definitely worth the voyage because of the cars, the interested people walking around, and the atmosphere in general, but I feel they deserved a lot more visitors.
The weather was superb but maybe because of the heat, people stayed away. As far as I can judge, about 50 or 60 cars got there, some of them vey fine indeed.
I will surely go back there next year. Its an event Allpar should put on its calender.

This Mopar-meeting is one of the several american car related events organised there, the other ones including a custom car show, and (in August) an event called “American Power on Wheels”, which is one of Europe’s biggest American car events, said to attract around 2.500 cars.

The location for all of these events is wonderfull: they take place at the long kay along the river Schelde which flows through the city of Antwerp. In effect, you are on walking distance from the city centre. The location itself and the way it is dressed up is not very refined which is all right as it gives the feeling of a spontaneous meeting. The atmosphere at those meetings is usually quite good, the relaxed Belgian way.

By the way: at the Mopar event, I was contacted by a Dutch gentleman, Mr. Ensing, who told me he was a former Chrysler-importer employee and he intends to organise a Chrysler (Mopar) event this September in Utrecht. I’ll keep you posted.

Car show

It’s been awhile since I posted a blog, and since we all dig looking at older cars, I figured I’d toss up a few taken at a local show this past weekend. Mopar turnout was light among the 100 or so entries, but here are some of the highlights, plus a couple other interesting critters.

Roadrunner(s)

There were a couple of Roadrunners at the event, this one has a 440 Six Pack, as seen right here:

..and the other…of which I actually took a shot of the *exterior*, unlike the above example. Doh!

Plymouth Special Deluxe

This was a really nice looking car….Mopar turnout may have been light but except for a 1930’s Dodge & a couple of pickups they were all Plymouths!

I always dig older cars that are actually driven and aren’t just trailer queens!

…Wait a minute….

That’s a Ford! What’s up with that? Hmm…wait another minute…what’s that on the fender?

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???? What’s in that engine bay…

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Chrysler Firepower, that’s what!

Segueing into other brands

Here’s a 1954 Kaiser-Darrin:

The most interesting parts of this car were the sliding doors:

Well, the fact that they were only built in 1954, and only 435 of them to boot, is rather interesting as well.

And now, for something North of the border:

Unfortunately, this was the last shot before I ran out of batteries (figures) but I did learn a lot about this car. The Meteor was Ford based but upmarket, meant to bridge the gap between Ford & Mercury. This was from 1946-61, then it was a decontented Mercury until Meteor was phased out in ‘77. This car came to the current owner in March of this year via eBay. It has 127000 original miles.

Interiors

I posted somewhere in the forums about the wish I have that they’d put white seats and door panels in the PT Cruiser, this Caddy and Vette inspired that idea:

Now that Vette interior is just beautiful (helped by the blue paint).

This one actually looked better in person :) I know they’re a bear to keep clean, but…I’d just love a white interior. White seats & door panels, body color dash inserts and the existing dark slate instrument panel would make my PT hard to leave - and render unneeded any aftermarket tweaks.

Downers and Uppers

Astute and frequent visitors may have noticed two outages today. The first, at about 7:30 am EST, was to install new power supplies. The second, at about 8 pm EST, was to upgrade the Internet connection. While we would have preferred that they do these on the weekend, these times are at least better than peak hours. The end result is that access “should” be more reliable and faster.