| Chrysler sold P-body compacts in near-identical Dodge and Plymouth flavors; we saw the '91 Dodge Shadow yesterday, and the very same self-service yard has this '92 Sundance. In the early 1990s, cars sold in the United States were required to have maddening automatic seatbelts if they didn't have a driver's-side airbag. Chrysler opted to spring for the airbags in the Shadow/Sundance. Here's another feature you won't see in most compacts of the period: hood hinge springs. Yes, Chrysler was willing to add several pounds of weight and (I'm guessing) $5 in cost to each Sundance, so that owners wouldn't have to fumble for a hood prop. Corollas, Sentras, and Civics got no such convenience. The problem was that these cars didn't hold up under the rigors of street abuse for quite as long as their (non-Mitsubishi) Japanese rivals. This one nearly made 160,000 miles. The Pabst-and-Marlboro diet of the car's last owner indicates that perhaps the process of depreciation had gone as far as it ever would.
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com |
No comments:
Post a Comment