Professor Elam

Like Elizabeth Taylor, Kenny Rogers, and Diana Ross, chrysler is gearing up for a makeover.

Here is my reaction to what is surely the last hurrah for Walter Chrysler's brand, or what is left of it.  

Europeans tend to buy and feel nationalistic. Hence tariffs keep cars not made locally at higher expense in Europe to those that are made there. French cars sell in France, Italian makes of Fiat and Alfa sell in Italy, but where is the French or Italian car in the US, where is the Toyota in France?  VW is the emerging competitor to Toyota with its innovative diesel tech. As Jerry Flint observed in Forbes, American are big people, the FIAT 500 original got its name from the original engine displacement, 500 ccs or 30 cubic inches. Today's 500 is larger than that but it like the dealer says, two years could be a long long time. Chrysler GM are on govt life support and long lead times don't dove tail with two year election cycles, better have the ducks lined up by November 2012.

And exactly when did Chrysler stand for quality, Chrysler stood for great big engines and bullet proof transmissions in the sixties. Consumer Reports was right in the 1970s about the Dart and its slant six, read the wiki articles on the slant six, that's the ticket, the slant six in a Dodge Dart sized car with rear drive and an update on the real torqueflite tranny, not the sorry excuse in the minivan that fails again and again, 

make the suppliers partners, not whipping boys for ever lower prices and the resulting who cares appearance that garners

Mix

an all aluminum 225 cid (3.7 L) slant six with perhaps DOHC, hmm enlist Maerati, they aren't selling anything now anyway and in the FIAT family for engineering  if you have to,

a great five speed manual with a Hurst shifter

A Dodge Dart size, read BMW 3 series affordable imitation, sedan

Or bring back the great 2.2 turbo four, Consumer Reports found it even more reliable than the non turbo

Chrysler needs to go retro, at least there is some foundation of success there..

Gee where is Don Garlits and Linda Vaughn when you need them?

Note to younger readers, Don 'Big Daddy'  Garlits was known the Swamp Rat (Florida roots) in a very successful drag race career using chrysler engines. Linda Vaughn was Miss Hurst Golden Shifter, a pop  culture icon that promoted the Hurst brand