[DrDan68108]

Check out the latest (Oct. '13) issue of Hemmings Classic Car (not to be confused with Hemmings Motor News). Its "Detroit Underdogs" features the 1981-89 K-cars and their closest derivatives (Reliant, Aries, 400, Le Baron, 600 et al.). The author is very kindly disposed to these cars and their kollector...sorry...collector value.

My first reaction: Aw, krap...I shouldn't have sold my '84 Aries wagon!

It is nice to see this branch of the Mopar family tree get a little respect in the press. They seem to be the Rodney Dangerfields of Chrysler products.

 

[DrDan68108]

Although the DeLorean in Back to the Future looks cool, I think the movie makers missed an opportunity to use ironic humor: clashing the ultra-high-tech of time travel with a very ordinary looking automobile. I can imagine (wishfully) Marty McFly asking, "You made a time machine...out of a K-car?!" Admittedly, some would perceive it as making fun of the K. It might also have been to the Aries/Reliant what Knight Rider was to the 1982 Trans-Am.

Although I never tested it, I think my five-speed Aries could have hit 88 m.p.h.

 

[DrDan68108]

...The K-cars and Omni/Horizons were fun to drive but had a lot of problems due to the technology changes moving so fast and engineering trying to keep up. The best years are 1986>... as the head gaskets were better designed, fast burn combustion engine design, EFI, and so on. They were to compete with the Ford and Chevy FWD models which were total junk, ask anybody who owned a 1981 Escort or Citation! [K-cars] were cheaper in price, more reliable, and Reliant/Aries was the first 6 passenger car with a 4/5 speed overdive...

I had a love-hate relationship with my 1984 Aries Custom wagon. The hate: multiple problems with the fuel system, and a manual tranny that could have been more durable (early rebuild plus cable links that broke twice). The love: when the car ran well (which was most of the time) it got 40 mpg on the highway and some kick-butt acceleration. The plush bucket seats were super comfortable and I drove it 1100 miles without needing to down Advil from lower back pain. So it was like combining a 1974 Chrysler New Yorker with an 80's rice-burner econobox and '00's rice rocket.

One time at night in a seedy neighborhood, a creepy person approached me in my Aries just before the light turned green. I put the hammer down and popped the clutch....

The world has rarely seen a K-car smoke tires like a Hemi-Cuda.