Whoops, didn’t realize this thread was that old.
I dom’tbelieve this has an interference engine. I would not replace the timing belt unless it breaks or the water pump until it leaks. These were cheap, reliable transportation. excellent in the snow and I owned both a Reliant with the 2.5 and a Caravelle with the 2.2 and I preferred the 2.2. There was no noticable difference in power and the balance shafts on the 2.5 sucked more gas. If I needed a second car, I would replace the tires and us it for transportation. The idea that only 100 horsepower is unsafe is ridiculous. These cars will break any speed limit in the country. Trucks and campers slow up on the hills too. That does not make them unsafe.
When I had the 2.2 Caravelle I passed a lot more cars on the road than passed me.
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Some people are afraid to press the accelerator, these overhead cam engines perform well between 3000 and 5000 rpms. The push rod V-8 engines at that time had 140 horsepower and relied on torque but did not provide 26 mpg.
That is a skid plate car, looks like a Honda Civic.
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Any front wheel drive cars can compete in that event. Fun to watch, rear end of the cars sliding all over, sparks flying everywhere. Best event though is the trailer race, vehicles tow utility trailers, boat trailers with boats, or small camping trailers.
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It’s not that old, less then 24 hours old at the moment.
Only the car is 
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They were really prone to rust. Most here in the North East rusted away years ago.
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Unfortunately most cars of that era were prone to rust. A friend had a Civic that rusted through after two years,
I agree, but in retrospect, I wish that I had bought a K-car instead of one of GM’s notoriously-bad X-cars. My Chevy Citation was actually fun to drive because I got mine with the standard 4-speed manual transmission and the “handling” package. However, that fun was considerably diminished by the incredible amount of time that it spent at the dealership for warranty-related repairs.
GM had begun to include a couple of pages of pre-gummed stickers with the car’s VIN, to make it easier for the service writer when their cars were brought in for maintenance and repair. Within less than 2 years, both pages of pre-gummed stickers had been used-up because of how often it was in for repairs. If Lemon Laws had existed in those days, most of the X-cars would have been valid candidates for a settlement under those laws.
So, while the K-cars were surely as dull as dishwater, I think that they were a whole heap more reliable than the competing X-cars from GM.
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At least buy it and flip it. The junk yard is a waste! It must have not been exposed to salt which is excellent! It can get cheap antique plates in many States too!
I agree with you about the X car. The sporty versions were so much more fun than a K car with crap quality.The collector market for either one, though, is almost zero.
And a point @bing unintentionally illustrated with his comments… the cars you wanted to own as a kid or your family owned make them desirable as collector cars. But demand for those cars fades as the collectors die off. Model Ts don’t have a big market because those that wanted them are gone.
Real classics will always have a demand. 1930s Packards, Duesenbergs, Ferrari GTOs, Ford GT40s
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I also had a 1980 Citation, and like an idiot, i replaced it with a 1983 Renault Alliance. After that adventure i got a 1986 or 87 Plymoutth Caravelle with the 2.5 engine. Yes, it was very dull but in this case that was a plus. We kept that car for 14 years and 140000 miles. The car didn’t become troublesome until 《100,000 miles.
Car magazines of the day think you spelled that wrong… should be Renault Appliance
We used to joke they should have Kelvinator badges on them. They weren’t bad cars…but they were dull in every way.
Good for you! Catch up on the maintenance for the rubber items and enjoy the car. This is right in the sweet spot for the cars you like, right?
For $300 I would have bought it too.
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Similar to my 68 but didn’t come with the model.
Im wondering what the cost of that lovely accessory item was.
I drove K- cars (Plymouth Reliant, Dodge Aries) on several road trips to conferences. The university where I was employed had these cars as well as Chevrolet Citations and Ford Tempos in its fleet. I drove all three of these makes and I also owned a 1985:Ford Tempo. For the time period, the K cars were probably the best of the three as far as having the most passenger space. The Ford Tempo seemed to have the best acceleration of the three when the Citation had the 4 cylinder engine.
The Ford Tempo I owned was reliable. However, it was somewhat noisy at highway speeds. I bought the Tempo as a new car. Mrs. Triedaq didn’t like the car, so after three years and 50,000 miles we traded it in for a Ford Taurus. The Taurus with its V6 engine and 4 speed overdrive automatic transmission was much more comfortable and the mpg was almost as good.
None of these cars–the K cars, the Ford Tempo or the Citation are really collector’s cars. These cars filled a gap when the nation had a contrived gasoline shortage. However, for $300, I don’t think the OP can go wrong for around town transportation.
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