Bring back the PT Cruiser!

I think it is outrageous that they are discontinuing the PT Cruiser.

These cars should receive status as historical landmarks, like the
bungalows of Chicago!

http://ptcruiser-aka-uglymichelemobile.blogspot.com/

 

I think the PT should have been built with better parts. I have a 2002
that had a front wheel bearing fail at 15 K .My wife has an 03 with one
otter tie rod failure ,and at 60 K the rear trailing arm bushings are
shot.
My son has an 1989 Aries with 200 K that I bought new and it has two
sets of shoes & pads ,and had the timing belt changed twice so far. I
owned allot of K cars in the 80's and only thing you had to do is not
let them over heat They should have used better materials on the
Cruisers .One good thing is used parts will be easy to find .There was
only one change to front fenders & head lights.
I belong to a PT CROUSER club in north east Ohio and allot of members
also own Chevy H H R s. I call them the big brother to the PT s.

Jerry


http://community.webtv.net/awoodbutcher/MyWoodWorkingPage


http://community.webtv.net/awoodbutcher/1974Tryke

 

Its a love it or hate it design- the best kind. Now that the "hate it"
side has spoken, here's a comment from the other side: Frankly 10 years
with only a very mild facelift is a good, long run for a car these days
and proved beyond doubt that the "love its" outnumbered the haters by a
huge margin. Anything in the way of a major re-design would make it no
longer a PT. Its such a niche design that I think its fair to let it go
(and let the ones we PT owners alredy have become more collectible ;-)

What I REALLY wish is that Chrysler had any comparable-sized replacement
for it. The Caliber is such a cheapened down vehicle that it reminds me
of the 80s all over again.

Speaking of the 80s- for the guy who thinks PTs are not built as well
as a shitbox 80s K-car: step away from the computer and go actually
drive a real car. Granted, there were plenty of Eaton-inspired cost-cuts
that the PT would have been better without, but its still a well-
assembled and very solid car. Very tight, very quiet, devoid of the
acres of cheap, hard, grey/black Honda-esque interior plastics that the
Caliber suffers. In short, Light years ahead of any of the
sloppily-assembled, "random collection of parts from the supply bins to
create a new model" K-derivatives.

 

I've had many cars ranging from Audi's to Volvo's to Olds and many more.
I got a 2001 Limited Edition PT in late 2000. Still have it. It's THE
most trouble free car I've ever owned. Still no squeeks or rattles.
Early year PT's had so much content that were standard then and options
now, plus things you can't even get on PT's now. Daimler did an
excellent job of dumbing down the PT. The reason I don't have a newer
one is because they have so little in them compared to early models.
I'm still impressed with the ride, fit and squeekless body. We mainly
just drive it now to car shows and to local cruise in's.

It's still one of the most unique cars on the road. I've been the Audi,
BMW, Volvo, MercBenz route. Never again. I sure wish Chrysler would
put the same attention to detail and quality that's in my almost 10 year
old PT into the new 300's.

= = = = =

 

Anything in the way of a major re-design would make it no

Look at the change in design in the Corvette. And it's still a
Corvette.

 

I had read in some article a couple years ago about a possible evolution of
the PT. Since you couldn't modernize it and it remain a retro design, they
considered a possible blending of key 30's Chrysler Aero model design
elements into it. Also going up a size using the Sebring platform and
offering a V6. That would have possibly been a very cool car.

 

Your nickname rules! We need to pay homage to you in a future blog
entry.....

http://ptcruiser-aka-uglymichelemobile.blogspot.com/

Rock on!

 

Thank you, thank you very much.

 

But it still LOOKS like a Corvette. The lines are a clear heritage all
the way back to the first straight-six vettes, Mako Sharks and Stingrays
too. What are they going to do to change the PT significantly? Pick yet
another 40's Chrysler and refresh the style? The HHR is a decent
modernization of an old GMC panel truck, but there are only so many old
shapes to choose from before you run out. An evolutionary re-style of
the PT would take it too far from its roots, IMO.

 

Still looks like a Corvette? i think I'll disagree on this point.

Check 'em out through the years.

http://www.web-cars.com/corvette/1953.php

 

No need for me to go look, I can visualize every major Corvette body
style just fine. They all have a certain commonality, an evolution of
the theme. The "Stingray" theme exaggerated some elements of the style,
the "Mako Shark" others, the C4, C5, and C6 each evolved the theme their
own way (well, the C6 is really more like a C5.5 because its so similar
to the C5). But they're all instantly recognizable as members of the
same family. You can do that with a new design as you evolve it, but the
PT's whole appeal is that it cloned a particular vintage model in
miniature. You can't really evolve that. Well you could, and some might
like it. But I would rather pick another retro theme altogether than try
to evolve the PT in a way that the original design couldn't/didn't go.
Someone said that the "next" PT might have been slightly larger and a
clone of an Airflow model. That would have been absolutely wondeful IMO,
but it wouldn't have been an evolution of the current PT.

 

The other thing is that the Corvette is intended to be a modern style
(and has been, since the Sting Ray). You can make some pretty radical
changes, and so long as you leave some pretty general styling cues
intact, it's still "the same car". Something deliberately retro
becomes either boring or self-parody pretty quickly (we'll leave the
question of whether the Mako Shark Corvette was self-parody
alone...).

I keep wondering what's going to happen when it's time for a major
facelift on the Mustang.

 

Well... They've borrowed from every previous mustang except the
MustangII, so I guess it'll come back next :-D

(ducking as all the Ford guys throw 9" ring gears in my direction....)

 

I'm not even a Ford guy, and I'm tossing one at you!

 

I remember back in the mid 90s I ran across an online Mustang mailing
list and the home page had words to this effect:


To register for the Classic Mustangs list (1965-1972) click here.

For the Modern Mustangs list (1979 and later) click here.

Don't even ask about the Mustang II because nobody cares.

 

I agree. They could upgrade it's drive train with that in the Caliper
and I'm sure it would continue to sell well.
Cerberus seems determined to finish the destruction of Chrysler, that
Daimler started.