The O24s, K cars ,and the "other" Mopars thread

[cooldude]

Hey, do you guys remember the O24s? I sorta liked them, in a twisted sort of way. They were so nerdy that they were kinda cool.

What about the K cars,and all them "other" Mopars that have kinda been forgotten, even by the Mopar enthusiast. Will there ever be any interest in restoring them? Can they be fixed up to be sorta cool? Will they ever have any following like the muscle era Mopars clearly have?

And, are there even parts available to do anything with them?

[Mytur Binsdirti]

  You'll have better luck finding parts for a 64 Mopar than for one of those things. What few are left are better off in junk yards along with other crap can 80s cars; K cars, Pontiac Aztecs, Ford Pintos and Chevy Monzas.

Yeah, I know that there are exceptions with the Shelby GLH, but they aren't that special. Bring one of those to a Shelby meet and you'll be asked to park in the general parking lot.

[Pete in NH]

The K and L body cars do have a following especially the turbo engine versions. Check out turbododge.com. Mechanical parts are readily available and fairly inexpensive. There are quite a bit of NOS Mopar parts out there if you know part numbers. Body sheet metal is another story, there is no reproduction sheet metal available and the L and K bodies are quite troublesome with rusted out floors. The 2.2 and 2.5L Chrysler fours are great little engines and seem to run forever, although they do have head gasket issues. The 2.6L Mitsubishi four is another story and best avoided with it's troublesome carburetor.

These cars are in a whole other class from our Chargers and other late 60's, early 70's B bodies but they are fun for what they are and did save Chrysler at time.

[TruckDriver]

I love the Shelby Charger's. I had a few. Very quick if they are the turbo version. 

[alfaitalia]

I had to goggle "Dodge 024" to even know what they were!...not exactly things of great beauty were they!

[chargerbr549]

I worked at a Chrysler dealership in the 80's when they were new and to be honest those were sad days for me, me and several of my friends were driving around in late 60's big block B bodies and then to see what Mopar was putting out, there wasn't even a comparison, not good. By the mid 80's Chrysler didn't even have a 2 door V8 rear wheel drive car. I know Lee Iacocca brought Chrysler out of its death spiral but I think he was a little too focused on front wheel drive 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder stuff. Just my opinion.

[Charger RT]

I love these cars. Especially the fuel injected ones 4 and 6 cylinder. I bought an 84 reliant wagon in 89 and it was a great car for my wife. I hated to get rid of it but with the family growing it was time for a mini van. My son and I currently have an 89 daytona we picked up with a bad engine and will be converting it to a 2.5 turbo. I drive a 94 spirit for my 90 mile daily commute it needs a trans right now so we have a 5 speed to replace the auto with. It should wake up the 3.0 in it. One of my sons daily driver is a 92 sundance with a 3.0 5 speed. He picked it up last year it had a bad engine in it. So we dropped in one I had sitting around. I also have two Daytona Iroc R/T one is a 92 the other is a 93. They are special they came with a 2.2 with a 16 valve head made by lotus for chrysler they have a T3 turbo all of them built were 5 speed and stock they made 224hp and 217tq. The engines and trans are very stout and with just bolt on upgrades can easily get up to 400+hp. This set up mopar only built 437 daytonas with it in 92-93. We receintly inherited my mother inlaws 89 mini van. It has a tired 3.0 in it but in 89 you could get these with a turbo 4 cylinder. The harnesses and computers are easy to find. So it might end up with a 2.5 turbo engine or we might just drop one of the srt4 engines we have in it.
Tim

[Aero426]

I had to goggle "Dodge 024" to even know what they were!...not exactly things of great beauty were they!

Still prettier than an Alfa 75.

[alfaitalia]

Lol...debatable. Both pretty grim imo. Was not the 75 sold as the Milano over there?

[Pete in NH]

I worked at a Chrysler dealership in the 80's when they were new and to be honest those were sad days for me, me and several of my friends were driving around in late 60's big block B bodies and then to see what Mopar was putting out, there wasn't even a comparison, not good. By the mid 80's Chrysler didn't even have a 2 door V8 rear wheel drive car. I know Lee Iacocca brought Chrysler out of its death spiral but I think he was a little too focused on front wheel drive 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder stuff. Just my opinion.

Keep in mind the cars of the 80's were the direct result of the gas shortages of the 70's. Federal fuel economy standards and the new 55 MPH national speed limit spelled the end of big V8's and large cars. Lee Iacocca focused the limited resources of Chrysler where the market was at the time. Of course by the early 90's people were forgetting all about the gas lines of the 70's and slowly but surely people got back to wanting more power and big vehicles.

[alfaitalia]

None of which really explains why they were quite so ugly!

[polywideblock]

remember when these and stealth rt's etc were in mopar action all the time 

[cooldude]

I think the mania that the car companies place on regarding styling and the aerodynamic focus is a little , well, stupid, on a car that probably wont be going fast anyways.

I mean, how much difference will aerodynamic styling really make, if the mother in law only drives to Church, or the  store, at an occasional top speed of 45 mph?

She could be driving a car that is styled like a brick (73 Dart, for example), and it wouldnt really make any difference at all on gas mileage, you know?  

I wish car companies would give up on this rather ridiculous mania for aerodynamic styling, and build some pretty cars once again. As it is, just about all the cars the average person can afford, all look like turtles. They all look alike.

There is no excitement in buying a new car these days.

I mean, why trade in the old turtle car that is finally paid off, just to go in debt for many years, working and slaving week in and week out, living in a ground hog day world... and doing without a really huge amount of stuff, go through hardship and the extra expense of full coverage insurance and more finance company fees and on and on and on with the hassles... just to buy a new turtle car that looks just like the old turtle car?

Its sort of nutty, if you think about it.

But if Chrysler would build a car that looked a lot like a 69 Roadrunner again (and not a turtle), then, well, maybe I might think differently?

[alfaitalia]

Actually aerodynamics affect the performance and therefore the gas mileage pretty much from walking pace. The old school thought that it does not make much difference at slow speeds just is not the case. Obviously the faster you go the more it matters but its still matters at 5 mpg. If you have ever had a go on one of those streamliner push cycles you would have been amazed at how much easier the bike is to rides with the fairing than without it.....feels like a fraction of the effort....all that at sub 15 mph.

That said a car does not need to look like a turtle to be aerodynamic. It can have quite a bluff front end and still have a reasonable CoD....if the rear design of the car lets the air leave the surface with only minimal turbulence. Look at a raindrop big wide curved front, thin pointed tail...the perfect aero shape. A lot of the turtle shape cars are just following the design trend of the moment.

Obviously a lot of folks do like the cars of the 60s and 70s....you only have to look at the range of retro inspired vehicles offered at the moment. Not just Dodge but the big players like VW (Beetle) and Fiat (500).

[Aero426]

Lol...debatable. Both pretty grim imo. Was not the 75 sold as the Milano over there?

Yes.  Great driving cars.    Looks were a matter of opinion. 

[cooldude]

What about the little Rampages and Dakotas. Think any of them will ever have a collectors cult following and be worth any big money?

[Aero426]

What about the little Rampages and Dakotas. Think any of them will ever have a collectors cult following and be worth any big money?

The Rampages have a following, for sure.   They have collector value, but I don't think they will ever be worth muscle car money.   

[68RT440]

I think it was last year or the year before at Carlisle, my dad and I saw an Omni in the show. It wasn't a Shelby, turbo or anything special, just a run of the mill crème colored Omni with woodgrain paneling, whitewalls, etc. The car looked like brand new, which grabbed our attention. We walked over just to check it out thinking it was a survivor...nope, the guy said it was rotisserie restored using all NOS parts. The car has the paint dabs, tags, stickers, you name it. I never saw anything Mopar from the 80s concourse restored. It just goes to show that there's something for everyone out there.

[HPP]

I dont doubt there will be fans of these for years to come. They will never approach values like the muscle era cars, even if they do rise in value over time. Heck, VW bugs aren't particularly expensive but they have plenty of fans of them worldwide.

[Aero426]

It is easy to be critical of the cars that saved Chrysler (and made them a lot of money).     At the time,  no one knew we'd have minivans pumping out 300 HP and 700 HP Challengers.    The K cars,  L bodies, Shadows and Daytonas were good transportation.   The performance models were all relevant for their time.     Nice examples are sought after like anything collectible.     

[71charger_fan]

I loved my Shelby Charger and miss that car. It was a very fun car to drive. Plus, it had a huge cargo capacity in the hatchback.

[timmycharger]

My brother had a 1983 Plymouth Turismo, was black with the orange 2.2 graphics and the rear window louvers. Based on some of the garbage that was on the road at that time, it wasn't all that bad.    I just remember the shifter having a very long throw and being sort of vague.

[BDF]

Ground Effects K Car = Performance & excellent fuel economy!

https://ixquick-proxy.com/do/show_picture.pl?l=english&rais=1&oiu=http%3A%2F%2Fcarphotos.cardomain.com%2Fride_images%2F1%2F945%2F2861%2F2361430002_large.jpg&sp=ea418f82512ef848341780006f567e90

[Ponch ®]

K-Cars (and im talking about the "grandma-edition" ones) do have a small but almost fanatical following.

In fact, there was a thread here about the goofy 'president' of the SoCal k car club.
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,127544.0.html

Like i said in that thread..they are fiercely knowledgeable about every minute detail of their mopars of choice.

[RCCDrew]

Yep, I'd love to have another Shelby Charger.