Chrysler’s versatile K-car platform allowed the carmaker to produce almost countless variations, including even a stretch limo.
You remember the Chrysler K-cars. Introduced in 1981 as the Dodge Aries K and Plymouth Reliant K, the K-mobiles were affordable, practical, and reasonably handsome. They were just the right car for working-class American car buyers in challenging economic times, and they hauled the Chrysler Corporation out of bankruptcy.
From there, the versatile K platform spawned numerous variants for the product-starved automaker, from minivans to wood-paneled luxury convertibles. But maybe the most interesting and implausible variation to spring from these modest beginnings was a stretch limo version, the Chrysler Executive Limousine of 1983 through 1986.
The Executive Limousine was a stretchier version of the similar Executive Sedan with the wheelbase extended from 124 to 131 inches. (The long-wheelbase version sold in far greater numbers than the sedan.) Both were created by marrying the rear of a LeBaron coupe to the front section of a LeBaron four-door shell, with a standard coach-trade limo stretch in the middle and steel reinforcement beams in the floorpan to support the addtional weight and length. Construction was handled for Chrysler by the Motor City’s go-to specialty car vendor, ASC, which also produced the company’s convertibles.
Despite its compact size, the Executive Limousine included all the expected limo appointments, including a center cabin partition with power glass divider, a rear-compartment audio system, and a pair of jump seats to accommodate up to seven passengers (in theory, anyway). With a base price of $21,900 at introduction, the Limo was by far the most expensive K-car ever offered, but a relative bargain in the stretch-limo market. Nearly 1500 examples were produced over the four model years, and a surprising number of them, it seems, are still around today.
As a volunteer in Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, I saw a lot of the Secret Service transporting the candidate in a car like this–at least in outward appearance. The Chrysler K-cars were among those the Secret Service modified for secure transport in those pre-SUV years.
or vice versa – Both were created by marrying the front of a LeBaron coupe to the rear section of a LeBaron four-door shell.
As a member of the National Limousine Association and the owner of a vintage limo service in the Washington DC area, I attended the 1986 NLA convention, and saw one of these for the first time. I was not impressed. They just screamed “cheap”, from the sliding glass division window, to the A/C vents that fell out on touching them, and the velour covered panels at the edges of the division panels had already warped. I will admit, they did have the second most uncomfortable jump seats [those round jump seats in the NYC Checker taxicabs were the worst]. My partner and I were not surprised when the 1987 NLA show didn’t have a K car limousine on display.