On 10/14 back in 1965 Oldsmobile (RIP) debuted one of the most advanced cars it every produced. That car was the Toronado. Front wheel drive and stylish looks made this car in the middle of the muscle car, it held it’s own. The first year of production was 1966. The engine was the 425 topped with a 4 barrel Rochester 4GC carb. Its bore and stroke was 4.125 x 3.97 with 10.5:1 compression and lay out 365 hps. It was a muscle car!!!!
1966 Toronado – Kool factor of 8.5 out of 10.
10/14/24 was a huge day the automotive development time line, but no one actually new it yet. That was the day in Allentown, PALee Iacocca was born. Savior of Mopar and instrumental in the success of one of the most important cars in the American auto industry – the Mustang!!!!
I find the interaction between automakers an interesting topic to investigate. Either out of just pure collaboration, strategic partnership or partial complete ownership the results of these relationship produce some cars that were awe-inspiring and some that were “what the ‘H’ were they thinking??!!! This car falls somewhere in between. The U.S., U.K., Japan and Italy intermix I found very interesting.
The Chrysler TC as jointly developed with Maserati and became available in late-1989 with only some 7,300 units manufactured in Milan, Italy when production ended in 1991. Lee Iacocca‘s friendship with the late Alejandro De Tomaso whilst at Ford, which had led to the development of the De Tomaso Pantera. With Iacocca in the 1980’s now heading Chrysler and De Tomaso now the owner of the legendary Maserati brand, the two men decided to create a sports car between the two companies which became the TC by Maserati with Chrysler having become an investor in Maserati at that time. The engine was assembled by Maserati and has a Maserati-branded cast valve cover with the 200HP 16-valve 2.2 L ‘Maserati’ engine’s cylinder head being cast in the UK at the iconic Cosworth plant and then finished in Milan by Maserati. The ‘Maserati’ engine used a specially-made 2.2 block, upgraded crankshaft and rods. A Japanese turbo-charger was used. The rest of the engine used common Turbo II parts manufactured in the USA. The special wheels were made in Italy by Formula One supplier Fondmetal.
The TC featured a removable hardtop with port holes or opera windows as they were referred to and a manually operated cloth lined soft top that was available in either tan or black. For the 1989 model year, interior leather colors were either ginger or bordeaux. Exterior colors were only available in yellow, red or cabinet. The TC’s dash, door panels, seats, armrest, and rear facia panels were all covered in hand-stitched Italian leather. Inside door jambs were finished with stainless steel panels and sill plates. The convertible boot over which the hardtop rests is a body color keyed metal panel. A special interior storage compartment came with an umbrella, tool kit, and small spare tire that allowed the use of the full-sized trunk even with the top down. Standard equipment included a 10-speaker AM/FM cassette stereo, power windows, 6-way power seats, power door and trunk locks, map lights, puddle lamps, cruise control, and tilt steering wheel. Total production for each model year was 7,300 cars with only 3,764 built-in 1989 and with extraordinary base prices starting at $33,000 in 1989 and rising to $37,000 in the last year of production only three years later in 1991. The TC was sold by only 300 selected Chrysler dealers.
The TC
89 TC – look familiar? Take a look at the LeBaron below.
The LeBaron – same shape and front end. Even the honeycomb wheels.
The question is – the TC a Maserati design or Chrysler design?
In my opinion the real watering down of the brand occurred in the 80’s under the ownership of de Tomaso, with the launch of Biturbo (and all the models based off of it) and the Chrysler TC by Maserati. TrollHater 5pts. Its possible. Look at how watered …
Anonymous said… I’ve only seen these in grandma yellow. Wikipedia sez it was available in yellow, red or cabernet. Which means…yellow, red or red. Go figure. February 2, 2014 at 6:44 PM · Tony Piff said… bah. i know ben …
Long before Fiat took the reins at Chrysler, the Chrysler TC by Maserati was a shining example of Italo-American industrial cooperation. Easily the finest luxury car of its time — perhaps even the entire 20th century — it is now …
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.
