They’re great at improvising repairs, and most all have had multiple engines. Remember, they can bring in parts from most everywhere but the US, so I imagine finding engines that can be made to work has not been that difficult.
@dagosa ; you are right about the K car. the later versions with rounded edges were some of the best cars Chrysler ever built. A
Then Chryco must have done some FANTASTIC increases in quality…because the early versions of the K-Car were dismal. They were a great idea (fwd mid-size vehicle)…but their quality control was awful. Fit and finish was a joke.
“…they can bring in parts from most everywhere but the US…”
I understand there is a fantastic business in well-used cars from the USA that are shipped to Mexico, Central, and South America. Once there, they can be turned around and sent to Cuba easily. When the folks south of the US border are finished with their older cars, they can be parted out or sent whole to Cuba.
“Then Chryco must have done some FANTASTIC increases in quality…because the early versions of the K-Car were dismal”.
The university where I was employed bought a fleet of the original K-cars back in 1981-82. I drove these cars to conferences and to an extension class that I taught which was 60 miles away. They seemed better than the Chevrolet Citations that were in the fleet. About 1985, Ford Tempos were added to the fleet. The Tempos had much tighter bodies than either the Citations or the K-cars. None of these cars could hold a candle to the small cars of today. However, the driver visibility of the K-car was better than a lot of cars today.
One interesting thing about the K-car was that it had to be designed to be less than a particular length so that more could be sqeezed into a railroad transport car. If the car had been one inch longer, one fewer cars could have been transported in the railroad transport car.
I had one of those K-cars as a company vehicle for a brief spell in 1986. I think it had the Mitsubishi 2.6? motor or old faithful as I remember it with respect to the crankcase ventilation system. I must have had at least a quart of oil in the hood insulation at all times. Needless to say I never paid for oil spray. But, if I had a million dollars I’d get me one of those K-car automobiles (with the smaller motor) - a rust free, cream coloured Reliant K wagon would be nice…
K Cars ? Reliable ? Any of them ? The older we are, the better we were. Triedag is correct. In comparison to today’s cars, few reliable “old” cars exist except in our selective memories. Items like carborators, lack of stainless steel, poor tolerances and general “old” or out of date engineering saw to that. Add to that, lack of parts availability and ethanol in gasoline and liquified winter road treatments that these things were not prepared to handle and you have a recipe for high ownership costs should you ever depend upon nostalgia for transportation. And, don’t forget air bags and poor crash test performance. You want to be a statistic instead of some one who walks away from a crash…drive an old car.
“You want to be a statistic instead of some one who walks away from a crash…drive an old car.”
Despite this, the collector car market is very good.
And most collector cars are either trailered everywhere or driven so few miles it doesn’t really factor into anything.
I think that most collector cars are driven, since most collectors are no so rich that they can own Trailer Queens. They are likely not daily drivers, but can be driven often. I am aware of an Austin Healey 3000 and Porsche 356 that are driven as often as the weather will allow; these are essentially fair weather commuter cars.
“Something that will stand up to grocery getting and highway driving…The older the better.”
OP’s words. I assume he wants an old car as a daily use vehicle.