Junkyard Find: 1983 Chrysler E-Class
We might as well follow up last week’s Aries K wagon Junkyard Find with another member of the Chrysler-saving K family. I’ve been intermittently fascinated by the E-Class, so this Crusher-bound example in Denver caught my eye.
We laugh at the idea of a blinged-out K-Car with a vaguely Benzified name today, but the E-Class boasted a tremendous amount of interior space for its fairly small external dimensions, and the ride was much nicer than that of, say, the Diplomat-based ’82 New Yorker.
The E was bigger and plusher than the mechanically similar LeBaron, but not quite as luxurious as its de-Diplomat-ized ’83 New Yorker sibling. GM and Ford had nothing that could compare to the combination of fuel economy, interior space, and bling-per-buck of this car, though their rear-drive V8 machinery would obliterate the (non-turbo-equipped) Chryslers in a drag race.
No mention of Corinthian Leather, but it was an option on the E-Class.
Instead of the traditional Whorehouse Red Quasi-Velour™ interior seen in so many Detroit cars of this era, this car has Bodily Fluid-Friendly Blue Quasi-Velour™, straight out of the pages of a custom-van supply catalog.
I might need to go back and buy this tasteful emblem.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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My then girlfriend and now wife of 11 years had an 85 LeBaron 4 door, the 2nd cousin to this e-class, back in 1999. What I remember best about it was the bench seat in the front (manual no less) that was this same "bodily fluid" absorbent color. So when we went anyhwere and she drove, my knees were in the dash, as it wasn't a "split" bench. And it was the same "luxurious" edition, but didn't even have power windows, locks or a tape deck (OK, i'm carbon dating myself here). Car also had a full vinyl top, that the NC sun had not been kind to, and had taken on the smell of an old swimming pool. AHh, good times.
In addition to my own 85 NYer, one of my friends in HS had an '83 E-class. Red exterior and red cloth interior. It was impeccably maintained. If anything started to cause any kind of problem, it was off to the dealer to get fixed. Any hint of wear was set back to as-new. I went off to college a thousand miles away and one day he told me the E-class blew a head gasket and was done. He traded it in on a new 95 Neon to replace it. The dealer gave him $200 for the E-class. $200. I told him a a day and a case of beer, we could have had it perfect again. I would have given him $300 and pimped it around a few more years. I bleed Ford blue now, but the EEKs were pretty good cars for what they were.