Plymouth to return?

[Blaine Peterson]

Its too bad that Chrysler (I'm talking about the last 20 to 25 years) hasn't been as loyal to Mopar fans as the Mopar fans have been to Chrysler. And now that its Daimler Chrysler, it seems that things are even worse. The more I learn about DC, the more concerned I get.
Its just my opinion but sometimes I really doubt these big corporations care about the little guy being loyal.
They just want to sell cars and make money. It doesn't matter to them if they sell their cars to a long time mopar fan or to Joe Blow.
If DC really cared about the loyal mopar fans they wouldn't have killed off Plymouth. They would have gotten crealtive with the division and made some cars for folks like us on this board.
Maybe I'm wrong, but that is how I feel.

I'll always have my old muscle Mopars and enjoy the loyalty I feel to them, but when it comes to Daimler Chrysler, I really don't feel much if any loyalty.
In fact I was at the AutoExpo (new models) at the Salt Palace the other day and saw Fords new Thunderbird. Never had a ford before, but I liked this retro T-bird alot. Enough to think pretty serious about perhaps buying one in the future.

If DC wants my business, let them bring back Plymouth and build something like a retro '69 Roadrunner, or '70 Hemi Cuda, or kick out a Dodge SuperBee, or ... well you get the idea.

[ehostler]

Say all the bad about Daimler that you want, just get your facts straight.

Daimler did NOT put the axe to Plymouth!! Chrysler cut Plymouth. The program to get rid of Plymouth started in 1992. I have a couple of magazine articles (from then) mentioning the Plymouth cut.

How long has it been that Plymouth had anything that was just Plymouth (outside of the Prowler)?? That happened long before Daimler came into the picture.


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Ed - MoPower

'96 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT CC 360 4X4
'68 Charger 383-4
'69 Coronet 500 Convertible 440-4

[This message has been edited by ehostler (edited January 19, 2001).]

[Blaine Peterson]

Thank you for helping me get my facts straight. I appreciate it!

I think the point I was trying to make (besides blowing off a little steam) was that I just don't feel that Chrysler (past), or the new Daimler Chrysler (current) really cares much about the regular guy that has been a mopar fan for years. There are alot of folks out there that have been and still are true blue mopar fans and I wonder if that is really apprecited by DC. I guess time will tell!

[Maxwedge]

I guess they might have judged the enthusiasm(read: Possibility of acceptance and puchase of a MOPAR RWD car) based upon the sales performance of Mopar Performance (Mopar). IF that is the case then you see, on the horison a RWD car. You can probably thank the Ram trucks with stirring up the enthusiasm for the RWD cars of the future. Also the types of guy (Bob Lutz former Race car Driver, Tom Gale a avid Hot rodder) for the descision to make a RWD car.
Most of this is speculation.. just my pennies worth of thought
Maxwedge

[montrose ram]

I feel the old Chrysler Corporations big mistake was getting out of the "pony car" business back in the mid 70s. This was a weird time of bell bottoms and disco. Hot cars were "out"--shag carpeted vans with custom paint jobs and mega-watt stereos were "In"! Maybe, just maybe, Chrysler saw it's loyal customers(Us young folk buying their Mucsle Cars)vannishing befor their eyes! From then on they were determined to let the bean counters run the company--ofcourse, they almost ran it into the ground! Fast forward to late 20th century--1998 to be exact. The decision was made to let the bean counters run the company--again. And AGAIN, with disasterous results! Others have documented "what went wrong" else where(check out rant Nov.29 achive www.autoextremist.com and a book has come out about how Chrysler got themselves in the position to be taken over. IMHO, Chrysler was beginning to find out what we"loyal fans" have always known. That their real strength was in so called "niche" markets and development of inovative products. They were on the verge of proving that you CAN grow a corporation with-in the niche sub-markets and not HAVE to sell a zillion global widgets. But they lost sight of this, perhaps carried away by their Mini-Van success, the Ram success and found themselves flush with money they really did'nt know what to do with. So they brought the bean counters in and asked THEM what to do. Ofcourse, they said, obviously, "GO global!!" As you can tell, I am not of the opinion that a company needs to rush to the Global alter to be saved! Somebody once said " Build it--and they will come!" That should be an Amreican company's motto.

[This message has been edited by montrose ram (edited January 21, 2001).]

[ehostler]

You can't put all of the blame on the bean counters. There was a required shareholder vote to make it happen. Almost all of the shareholders voted for this.

OK, so you say the shareholders are not loyal fans and just investors trying to make money. Well, I know that several people that are on this site were shareholders that did vote for the "merger". These people also claim to be loyal to MOPAR.

[mopardave]

I have to agree with ehostler. The shareholders would have had a voice in this. I would be willing to bet that the officers had the votes in place to dump Plymouth long before we knew about it. Plymouth will now join the ranks of the "orphans". Maybe that is best. The philisophy that started Plymouth in the first place would not sit well with the Germans. "We have named it Plymouth because this new product of Chrysler Engineering and craftsmanship so accurately typifies the endurance and strength, the rugged honesty, the enterprise, the determination of achievement and the freedom from old limitations of that Pilgram band who were the first American colonists." -W.P. Chrysler

This is not a statement that the Germans would make. Rest in peace Mayflower

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1928 Plymouth Model Q
1951 Plymouth P-23 Club Coupe
1966 Sport Fury Conv. (383)
1975 Duster Custom (318)
1999 Plymouth Prowler
2000 Dakota Sport V-8

[chocolatejosh66]

Hello MOPAR community,

I'm tearing down my 273 commando to replace the head gaskets, (lots of white smoke coming out of the exhaust), and I'm reading other posts about how headers are a pain in the butt for some people so the switch to manifolds and working on the car is so much more fun,(changing spark plugs, etc.) I have also found trying to get my headers off is a great task, mayby I will switch to manifolds and hang my rusty headers up at my cabin for decoration. Anyways, wish me good luck!

[ehostler]

Welcome to the board.

Next time, you may wish to start your own thread in the most appropriate forum. Hi-jacking a thread that died 8 years ago is not a good thing.

[Stoga]

Originally Posted by ehostler

Hi-jacking a thread that died 8 years ago is not a good thing.

That's for sure! I almost had a heart attack for a second hoping that Plymouth was back, even as a base model anything just to get the name back in circulation! One can hope, at any rate....
Then I saw the age of the thread...sigh....