Chrysler Le Baron sedan.
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While Chrysler used the Le Baron name starting in 1931, these are mostly forgotten except for a few hardcore car historians/nerds.
The actual first generation came out in 1977. That would be the larger older Le Baron that most people alive today actually won’t remember…
The first generation came out in 1977. It was also sold as the Volare at Plymouth dealer or as the Dodge Diplomat. As badge engineering was common among US manufacturers back then. These were rather large RWD cars with a slant 6 or a couple of V8 engines available.
In 1982 Chrysler introduced their version of the K-Cars already sold under the Dodge and Plymouth brands. In an extreme case of downsizing, his new Le Baron became a compact FWD car with small 4-cylinder engines. Everything at Chrysler became K-Car-Based for the next few years.
Unlike the cheaper brands, at least for a while, the Le Baron was available as a convertible. You could even order a super cheezy “woody” package. Even on the convertible.
And good old Ricardo Montalban had been retained as the brand’s spokesperson. Years after selling the Cordoba and its Corinthian Leather from New Jersey.
While the K-Car just looked like a super boring inexpensive car, the Chrysler version was trying way too hard to retain an older audience by making the car look like a 1970s American car. It looked like a shrunk 1970s Chrysler the size of a Honda and was a pretty weird sight…
The Le Baron convertible went on to become a really good-looking car after its first weirdo generation, while the sedan just stayed really boring. The next generation is probably not completely forgotten by most. By the 1990s, most buyers were used to more modern designs from Toyota, Honda, or Mazda. The “shrunk American car from 20 years ago” look of the Le Baron sedan made it appealing to mostly older buyers.
Of course, there is little chance for Chrysler to come up with a new mid-sized sedan anytime soon, even one based on the new STLA platform. The Le Baron name also has probably zero chance of a revival. Unfortunately, the futuristic Halcyon concept is probably not a preview of anything we’ll see in production. The illustration above shows what a new STLA-based Chrysler Le Baron could look like.
And yet. Wouldn’t that be fun…
Vince I’ve been a big fan for awhile and I enjoy these AI renderings, however they’ve become a bit overwhelming. Would you consider creating a new blog post category for them? They’re certainly not spy shots.
Agreed on the comment about overwhelming. It feels like these are just designed to pull in internet traffic when they have no basis in reality and are not tied to ANY news or rumors from the automakers.