I hope you can view this article. Has some great cars – although the saying “keep the shiny side up” doesn’t really translate – these just don’t have one.
I’d love to spend time wandering around Cuba, just to look at the cars.
The Cars of Cuba: Photos and stories from Havana.
This is from Hagerty Insurance Company.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
January 4th, 2012 
aunik_aronno
Mopar, Chrysler Group’s custom parts branch, has announced that a modified 2012 Chrysler 200 and an altered 2012 Dodge Charger have joined its lineup. The 2012 Chrysler 200 Super S and Dodge Charger Redline are dressed in the latest Mopar accessories, giving each an “in-your-face” look. While the Charger already possessed bold exterior attributes even before Mopar’s help, the Chrysler 200 gets a little more self-confidence courtesy of two different packages that can be added on.
“The Super S is Mopar’s interpretation of the Chrysler 200,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, Chrysler Group LLC’s service, parts and customer-care brand. “The extensive list of high-quality Mopar parts enhances the performance and appearance of our Chrysler 200.”
Two packages are available to dress up the 2012 Chrysler 200. The first is called Stage One, which is primarily an appearance package which refines overall styling on Chrysler’s smaller sedan. The Stage Two goes under the hood adding a cold-air intake and a cat-back exhaust system. A cold-air intake is added to boost engine efficiency and performance while a cat-back system gives that extra engine note that may be missing while rolling at lower speeds. Coil-over suspension is also added to enhance the overall ride feel.
The 2012 Dodge Charger Redline receives a few more options than the Chrysler 200 Super S. Mopar’s variant of the Charger is based off of the R/T model and can be dressed in three different packages. Stage One adds exterior styling cues such as a Mopar carbon fiber chin spoiler, “crosshair” grille, carbon fiber door scoops designed to enhance aerodynamics, and the interior also gets a few new accents. Stage Two is adds Mopar bolt-on parts to boost power, handling, and braking. These features include a cat-back exhaust system, cross-braces under the hood to enhance handling, and brake linings to bring the Charger’s Hemi V-8 to a halt quickly. Stage Three adds a 426 Hemi V-8 engine which holds the reigns to 590 ponies, 220 more than what’s found in the regular Charger R/T. Known as the “elephant motor” this lightweight aluminum V-8 shaves off more than 100 pounds from its cast-iron siblings. Cast-aluminum valve covers and billet fuel rails are also included in Stage Three of the Charger’s performance kit.
“Since the 1960s, the Mopar Brand has built a long history of adding power and performance to the Dodge Charger—and with the Redline, we Moparized the new Charger with modern-day performance and style while giving a nod to our storied past,” said Gorlier. “With three kits, Mopar offers a tailored choice for every customer.”
Both vehicles are set to debut at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week. Which vehicle are you most excited to see? Tell us which one you picked in the comment section below.
For all you MOPAR fans out there this is a great article by Auto Enthusiast. I’m not going to repeat it all here. Grab the link at the bottom of this post.
Mopar is a commonly used word in today’s motorsports and high-performance car scenes, but the origins of the term Mopar had absolutely nothing to do with high horsepower or checkered flags.
Chrysler was a young and growing company in the 1920s. It had bought out the Dodge car company in 1928 and the need for a dedicated parts supplier led to the formation of the Chrysler Motor Parts Division.
As the company continued to grow, Motor Parts Division featured a simple logo with the letters C, D, D and P (Chrysler, Dodge, De Soto and Plymouth) from the years 1933 to 1937.
Nelson L. Farley, a sales promotion manager, decided there had to be a better way of promoting the replacement parts. An “Activities Council” was created. Company records show the results of the Activities Council came to light in the spring of 1937. The group came up with “MoPar,” (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts). The first order of business was coming up with a logo to put the name on cans of antifreeze.
The first MoPar logo was oval and used yellow and red. The new logo and the new name were a big move forward in communicating to the customers. If you needed something for a Chrysler product and got it from the garage that sells the vehicles, it came marked as a MoPar item.
The original brand and trademark logo remained the same from 1937 to 1947. It was slightly changed in 1948. The second logo did not change for six years. MoPar parts were still factory replacement items, nothing more and nothing less.
http://www.amosauto.com/Articles/Mopar/Features/headline-for-web-5
Thanks for Reading.
Tim
Great looking posters. The Charger poster looks very cool.
You are going to have to start producing them for car show people.
2011 Charger Poster
Bill Burdette submitted this great information:
There is a bit more to the story of the Cricket. Chrysler thought that since GM had purchased Holden and Adam Opel, they should do a ‘me too’ and buy the Rootes group. This consisted of Talbot, Hillman, Simca, and Sunbeam.
The reality is Chrysler was left with a Dog of a car company. They thought the Cricket might catch on due to its image as a gas miser, but it really wasn’t too great on MPG. The build quality was awful, and customers found that the other MOPAR ‘captive import’, the Dodge Colt built by Mitsubishi, was a terrific car with great MPG, and priced a bit cheaper.
One great thing did evolve from the Rootes group for Chrysler; the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon. These were billed as America’s first FWD 4 cylinder car that could compete with imports. Basically, it was a Talbot Horizon that had been on the market in the UK for many years. Chrysler did do dome re-engineering for the US market by adding a FWD version of the bullet proof Torque Flite auto trans (A413), and used VW Rabbit 1.7l 4 cylinder engines rather than the ‘shake and bake’ Peugeot motor in the UK version. Omni and Horizons were a hit, and reasonably reliable (my first new car was a 1982 Horizon TC3 that was reliable to 120K miles and then fell apart).
Lee Iacocca ended up giving the Rootes group away to Peugeot in the late 1970s in exchange for some stock and 4 cylinder engines for the Europe marketed MOPARs.
I’ll stop here so I do not go onto the era of the great K CARs HA HA.
THANKS BILL!
Oh yes this will be an interesting series.
We are going to start of with a well-meant attempt by Chrysler to meet the oil crises from 1973 to 1980. Introducing the Cricket!!!!
1973 Cricket
This car was actually a US spec’ed Hillman Avenger.
It featured the Avenger’s 1.6 liter pushrod engine. This car’s top speed was 84 mph and took a merely 19.8 seconds to get to 60 mph (I bet you were thinking 100 mph!!).
The car was horrible slow and because it was detuned for as part of the US requirements it ran poorly.
Here some of it features:
– Quick Rust fenders and body parts
– PVC coated foam interior for safety
You are going to want one after you see this ad:
[vodpod id=Video.15696452&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]
Thanks for reading.
Tim
…if you love it.
One of my readers sent me the video below. It’s the second in a series of 3 of a California K-Car club, headed out for car-a-van. Now generally the Chrysler K-Car was and is a but of many jokes. It wasn’t their best plan but these cars have a following.
I’ve gone on similar runs with my Vette and Mustang, same amount of planning, etc, ( we just get there a ‘bit’ faster – :^P). This video show that it’s true…It doesn’t matter what you drive…if you love it.
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You guys are rocking with your K-Car enthusiasm.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
For this entry let’s visit 1961.
There were 17 auto makers that year. The race for production numbers show Ford and Chevy nearly tied.
Ford – 1,338,790
Chevy – 1,318,014
Not even close in third place was Rambler with a total 377,902
Here are the rest of the companies placed:
Plymouth – 356,257
Pontiac – 340,635
Oldsmobile – 317,548
Mercury – 317,351
Buick – 276,754
Dodge – 269,367
Cadillac – 138,379
Chrysler – 96,454
Studebaker – 59,713
Lincoln – 25,164
DeSoto – 3,034
Metropolitan – 969
Checker – 860 regular automobiles (non-cabs)
Some Notable Notes:
– Studebaker added a four speed option for its Hawk offering
– In the chassis lubrication war Ford produced pre-lubed, 30,000 miles grease fitting and Cadillacs offered lifetime lubrication.
Know what a Fitch GT was? Let me know and win free gift.
1961 Dodge Dart Pioneer Station Wagon
1961 Rambler Cross Country Wagon
Thanks for reading.
Tim
I was recently talking to a coworker of mine who own a 1949 Pontiac Silver Streak Delivery Van (link – http://wp.me/pKHNM-Bx ) and we were discussing his 6 volt system and the troubles with low amperage.
Well I just ran across a couple of interesting articles dealing with that subject. Now I will tell you I am not “the guy” for electrical work – nope not me (I had a bad experience – ok – a couple of bad ones). But even this one I can understand.
Increasing the power supply often means that you need to convert to 12 volt and maybe 15 years ago yes, but now 6 volts are readily available. So here is what you do (sorry no pics)
Take two 6 volt batters and link them in parallel by connecting the two negative terminals to each other and the two positive to each other. The main positive cable goes from the positive terminal of the first battery to ground and the main negative cable is connected to the negative terminal of the second battery. Of course in some case you may have to modify the batter shelf, but it will sure help kick up the cold cranking amps.
Thanks for reading
Tim
