I have a 92 Lebaron Convertible that I have owned since Feb 94 that I bought from a lieutenant in germany and have kept since. On the positive side, it runs well, has a year old Robbins top, about 8,000 miles on it’s current set of tires, and a 6 month old exhaust system excepting the resonator. On the negative side it has 153,000 miles and the transmission went into jerking after about 15 miles of driving on a state highway. I’m taking a guess that the bands are in worn shape if not worse, I let it cool down and tried to drive it again but it wouldn’t shift out of first so I shut it down and had it towed back to the house. I’m looking at $1075 + $475 core charge, and about $350-$400 to swap it out. She wants it retired and replaced with something newer. Is it financially viable to keep it at this point?
Does the engine reun real good? What else can you get for the cost of repairing the trans? How long would you plan on keeping it if you repair trans? Verses what you plan on spending to replace it , how much do you drive it etc. Ask yourself thes and other questions and then make the informed decission.
I had planned on giving it to my 8 year old for his high school vehicle, can’t go wrong with a red convertible in high school! It runs well, overall cost wise that is the lowest for a rebuild with a 3 year warranty with the labor to swap it in and out, about $1500 worst case. I don’t think I’d find any kind of a decent vehicle for that price unless I got extremely lucky. As far as it’s yearly mileage it is the second car and does the around town stuff with the occasional 2 to 3 hour trip to seattle or my home town, probably 6,000 to 8,000. Her side is the car has hit the point of no return and we’d be better off with something new.
You said she wants it replaced. So drop it and go on to something else. It will shift out of first when it is driven a few miles. Transmission is gone according to the repair places who you will be talking to. It’s always financially viable until you have something go bad after you fix the transmission. Then it becomes a money pit that you can’t get rid of. You got your full use out of it.
If you wanted it for yourself I’d say fix it, but as a keeper to foist on your poor kid 8 years from now, no way. Yes, everybody should have a 10 year old clunker as their first high school car, but a 25 year old clunker? I don’t think so. Find something from this century and keep it in good shape for the kid.
Financially, you are correct. You won’t get anything much better for $1500, but I have doubts about keeping this jewel as long as you are hoping. I hope you can afford something much newer.
The problem I see is the condition it is likely to be in eight years from now. Driven or stored, it will not be the same in eight years.
Agree; it’s time to say goodby to this one; I drove a 12 year old Chevy in college and thought it was ancient. You probably can’t get parts for it at that time. Or Chrysler may no longer exist!!