30 discontinued Chryslers

A trip down memory lane

In the decades following its creation in 1925, Chrysler has sold many models under both its own brand or others it has acquired or created, including Dodge and Plymouth.

Several of them lasted for a long time but have passed into history, and we’re going to look at 30 of those here.

To qualify for this chronological list, every nameplate had to be introduced in the 20th century, and to have been used for at least 10 years, though not necessarily continuously. Enjoy!

1. Chrysler Imperial

Introduced in 1926, the first luxury Chrysler was an imposing machine available in several body styles and powered by a straight-six engine.

Later Imperials followed the same basic format, though the cylinder count soon rose to eight. In the mid 1930s, Imperials had similar styling to the very aerodynamic Chrysler Airflow and its De Soto counterpart, but in every case buyers were put off by the futuristic appearance.

After several more models had come along, the story was interrupted in 1955 when Imperial became a brand in its own right. This lasted for 20 years, and was repeated briefly from 1981 to 1983.

A new Chrysler Imperial was introduced in 1990, and remained on the market until 1993. A concept of the same name was displayed in 2006, but did not lead to a production model.

Photo: 1928 Chrysler Imperial Series 80L Touralette by Locke

2. Chrysler New Yorker

Chrysler’s New York Special was a sub-series of the Imperial in 1938. A year later, it became a separate model known as the New Yorker.

Early New Yorkers were large, luxurious flagship vehicles. A process of downsizing began in 1979, front-wheel drive was introduced four years later, and for part of the 1980s Chrysler offered only four-cylinder engines – a stark contrast to the mighty V8s of the past.

The process was partly reversed for the final New Yorker, which was more than five metres long and had a 3.5-litre V6 engine.

Production of that car stopped in 1996, and the model name – at the time the oldest still being used for any North American car – was finally discontinued.

Photo: 1942 Chrysler New Yorker

3. Chrysler Saratoga

The first Saratoga made its debut in 1939 as both a large, curvy saloon and a two-door coupé, and remained in production until the US entered the Second World War.

A similar-looking model arrived in 1946. Its replacement kept the name going until 1952.

That seemed to be the end of the Saratoga story, but the nameplate was reintroduced in 1957 for one of many Chryslers based on Virgil Exner’s Forward Look styling. Another Saratoga was sold mostly in Canada from 1961 to 1965.

After a very long gap, the final Saratoga came along in 1989. This was a rebadged Dodge Spirit, not sold on home soil but exported to Europe for six years.

Photo: 1957 Chrysler Saratoga Hardtop Coupe

4. Chrysler Windsor

To begin with, Windsor production closely followed that of the Saratoga, including the switch to Forward Look styling in 1957.

Unlike the Saratoga, though, the Windsor remained in continuous production after the Second World War until the ’60s.

It was removed from the US market after the 1961 model year, but was still being built and sold in Canada as late as 1965.

Photo: 1959 Chrysler Windsor

5. Chrysler Town & Country

Chrysler used the Town & Country name for three-quarters of a century, though not without interruption.

The first version, available only in the 1941 and 1942 model years, was a large station wagon with wooden doors and body panels. The second, launched in 1946, was also a ‘woodie’, but it was offered as a saloon or a convertible.

From 1951 onwards, the Town & Country was all-steel (though often with simulated wooden trim) and always sold as a station wagon.

There was no Town & Country in 1989, but the name returned the following year and was used for what became five generations of minivans (MPVs), the last of which was discontinued in 2016.

Photo: 1947 Chrysler Town & Country Sedan

6. Dodge Coronet

The Coronet name was used over seven generations and 27 years for a series of cars which occupied various positions in the Dodge line-up.

The first version was launched in 1949, along with the Meadowbrook and the Wayfarer. These were not separate cars, but the same one in different trim levels, the Coronet being the best appointed and most expensive.

Of the three, the Coronet name was the only one which survived for long. In North America, it was applied to several models (including muscle cars) until 1976, with one hiatus in the early 1960s.

The last Coronet was a rebadged Dodge Diplomat built and sold in Colombia by Colmotores. The arrangement survived GM’s acquisition of Colmotores in 1979, but only for two more years.

Photo: 1966 Dodge Coronet 500 Hemi

7. Plymouth Belvedere

The first Belvedere was the two-door hardtop version of the short-lived Plymouth Cranbrook, launched in 1951.

The Cranbrook was discontinued after just three years, and Belvedere took over as Plymouth’s largest model at the time.

In later generations, it was smaller than the Fury, but these were still big cars, sometimes powered by Chrysler’s enormous 7.2-litre V8 engine. The name was used until the end of the 1970 model year.

In 1967, Richard Petty became NASCAR champion after winning 27 races in Belvederes, 10 of them consecutively.

Photo: 1956 Plymouth Belvedere Convertible

8. Chrysler 300 letter series

The first car in this series was the C-300 of 1955, named after the then astonishing output of its 5.4-litre V8 engine in gross horsepower.

The C-300 is sometimes referred to informally as the 300A. Its successor was the 300B (pictured), and the series continued through four generations with a more or less sequential change of letter every year, though ‘I’ was missed out.

In 1965, the 300L was easily outsold by the non-letter 300 of the same year. Chrysler decided it was time for the letter cars to be abandoned, so there was no 300M in 1966.

That name was used, though, for a luxury car produced from 1999 to 2004. Unlike any of its predecessors, this had a V6 rather than a V8 engine, along with front-wheel drive.

9. Chrysler LeBaron

LeBaron was a New York-based coachbuilder which made bodies for several manufacturers, including (from 1931 to 1941) Chrysler.

Chrysler bought the firm in 1953, and used its name for several of its Imperial models from 1955 to 1975.

The first car badged as a Chrysler (rather than Imperial) LeBaron was introduced in 1977. Three generations were built almost continuously until the name was dropped at the end of the 1995 model year.

Photo: 1982 Chrysler LeBaron

10. Plymouth Fury

From 1956 to 1958, the Fury was a variant of the Plymouth Belvedere with a large and powerful V8 engine.

A possessed Fury of this period was the eponymous villain in Stephen King’s horror novel Christine and the subsequent film of the same name, both released in 1983.

Company policy dictated that for the next seven generations the Fury would occupy varying positions in the market, being sometimes mid-sized and sometimes full-sized.

The last car called simply Fury was produced in 1978, but the Gran Fury continued for several years more, as we’ll be discussing later.

Photo: 1958 Plymouth Fury

11. Plymouth Valiant

Initially known simply by its model name, but later badged as a Plymouth, the Valiant was a compact car which first appeared in 1959.

Renowned for its interior space (despite the relatively modest overall dimensions) and reliable engines, it went through four generations before being discontinued in North America at the end of the 1976 model year.

That wasn’t quite the end of the story, though. In other markets, the car was known as the Chrysler Valiant, and that nameplate was still being used in countries as far apart as Australia and Mexico into the 1980s.

Photo: 1966 Plymouth Valiant

12. Dodge Dart

The Dart went into production as a full-size car in the 1960 model year, but by the time it reached its fourth generation in 1967 it had become a compact.

In the US, the Dart was replaced by the Dodge Aspen in 1976, but it was manufactured in other countries for several years after that.

The last 20th-century Dart was built in Brazil in July 1981. It was used as a stunt car for a while before being abandoned, then later saved and restored.

The Dart name was used again for a saloon built in the US from 2012 to 2016. Variants called the Fiat Viaggio and Fiat Ottimo were assembled and sold in China for a little longer, but were abandoned in 2017 due to poor sales.

Photo: 1961 Dodge Dart Phoenix D-500 Convertible

13. Dodge Polara

Unlike the Dart launched in the same year, the Polara started out big in 1960 and stayed big until Dodge stopped building it 13 years later.

In each of its four generations, the Polara was well over five metres long, and from 1962 onwards the range always included a V8 engine of 7 or 7.2 litres.

This sort of thing lost its appeal during the 1973 oil crisis, leading to Dodge abandoning the Polara for the 1974 model year.

The name survived for nearly a decade longer in Brazil, where it was used for a local version of the very much smaller Chrysler Avenger until 1981.

Photo: 1960 Dodge Polara

14. Chrysler Newport

The Newport name was first used for six phaeton show cars built around 1940, and then for trim levels of existing Chrysler products in the 1950s.

It became a model name in 1960. Newports from then on were mostly full-size cars.

The final version was popular on its introduction in 1979, but sales fell dramatically, and it was discontinued in 1981.

A revival was announced in 1984, but nothing came of it.

Photo: 1968 Chrysler Newport

15. Chrysler 300 non-letter series

Unlike those in the roughly contemporary letter series, these cars were known simply as 300.

They were still large and powerful, but they were also cheaper than the letter models. This made them more popular, and Chrysler had to build far more of them in order to meet demand.

The first non-letter model was introduced in 1962. The 1966 car was the only 300 on the market, after Chrysler abandoned the proposed 300M.

The non-letter run came to an end in 1971, having survived for 10 model years and three generations. There have been Chrysler 300s since then, but they are not considered to be part of the same series.

Photo: 1971 Chrysler 300

16. Plymouth Barracuda

As launched in 1964, the Barracuda was simply a fastback version of the Plymouth Valiant.

By 1970, when the third generation arrived, things had changed substantially. The Barracuda was now available only as a coupé or a convertible, and it was no longer built on the same platform as the Valiant.

Chrysler’s 7-litre Hemi V8 and the even larger 7.2-litre RB engine were available in the second and third generations. These were very powerful cars, with outputs of 400bhp and more.

The oil crisis which shook the US motor industry made them suddenly irrelevant. Barracuda production ended in 1974, and was never resumed.

Photo: 1973 Plymouth Barracuda

17. Dodge Monaco

In its early days, the Monaco was a full-size luxury car, usually powered by a large V8 engine.

This was fine when the Monaco made its debut in 1965, but the arrival of the third-generation model at the start of the global oil crisis was, to say the least, unfortunate.

A fourth version, launched in 1976, was smaller, but that didn’t help. It was discontinued at the end of the 1978 model year.

After a long gap, a fifth and final Monaco appeared in 1990. This was a rebadged Eagle Premier, a car which more or less fell into Chrysler’s hands when it acquired the American Motors Corporation (AMC) in 1987. Neither version was popular, and both were abandoned after 1992.

Photo: 1972 Dodge Monaco

18. Plymouth Road Runner

During its first two generations, from 1968 to 1974, the Road Runner was a very powerful but relatively inexpensive muscle car.

The most dramatic version was the 1970 Plymouth Superbird, a homologation special developed for NASCAR racing which featured an aerodynamic nose and an enormous rear wing.

Other than the fact that it was fitted with large engines, the third Road Runner, produced only in 1975, was quite different from its predecessors. Performance levels were down, and the car had a much less sporty body with a very prominent boot.

The name remained in use from 1976 to 1980, but only for the high-performance variant of the Plymouth Volaré.

Photo: 1969 Plymouth Road Runner 440

19. Chrysler 180

Chrysler Europe was created in 1967 by merging the UK’s multi-brand Rootes Group and France’s Simca.

The two divisions collaborated, not always happily, on a new model usually known as the 180, though different engine sizes prompted name changes to 160 and 2-Litre.

A large saloon in European terms, the 180 was launched in 1970 and survived Chrysler Europe’s takeover by PSA Peugeot Citroën eight years later.

The car lasted for a full decade in most markets, and was still being produced in diesel form by the Spanish Barreiros company (which had become part of Chrysler Europe after Rootes and Simca) in 1982.

20. Chrysler Avenger

Unlike the 180, the Avenger, another Chrysler Europe model introduced in 1970, was entirely a UK effort.

It was marketed initially as a Hillman (pictured), but became a Chrysler during a 1976 facelift, and then a Talbot after the PSA takeover.

Production of both the Avenger and its shorter hatchback derivative, the Sunbeam, lasted until 1981.

The Avenger was sold in the US under the name Plymouth Cricket, but it wasn’t well received by American customers and was quickly dropped.

21. Chrysler Alpine

Although the styling work was done in the UK, the Alpine was mostly a French car developed by (and initially sold, from 1975, as a) Simca.

It was a medium-sized front-wheel-drive hatchback launched at a time when such things were still uncommon, even though Renault had had one on sale for 10 years.

In 1976, the Alpine (credited as the Simca 1307) was voted Car of the Year, easily beating the contemporary BMW 3 Series.

The brand name was changed to Talbot after Chrysler Europe was acquired by PSA in 1978, and the car remained in production for a further eight years.

22. Plymouth Gran Fury

The Gran Fury came about in 1975 because of a marketing decision rather than any technical development.

Plymouth, which had previously used the Fury name for large saloons, transferred to a smaller model, a replacement for the Satellite. The existing Fury, being larger, was simply renamed Gran Fury.

The new name was discontinued in 1978, then used for another large model in 1980, and finally for a smaller one (which was nevertheless still more than five metres long) from 1982 to 1989.

Gran Furys were therefore produced almost consistently for 14 years, though with a two-year gap early on.

Photo: 1986 Plymouth Gran Fury

23. Dodge Diplomat

Although the Diplomat is said to have been manufactured in two generations, it in fact continued almost mechanically unchanged for a dozen years.

It first appeared in 1977 with a choice of saloon, estate and coupé body styles, and either a 3.7-litre slant-six engine or a 5.2-litre (and later 5.9-litre) V8.

The claimed generation shift in 1980 was essentially just a restyle. Sales in that year were less than half of what they would have been in 1978, and never recovered to their previous level, but Dodge nevertheless persevered with the car until 1989.

Photo: 1977 Dodge Diplomat

24. Chrysler Horizon

Like the earlier Alpine, the Horizon was styled in the UK but developed in France (with some input from the US), and was named Car of the Year in 1979.

Despite this early accolade, it was not generally thought of as a great car, and was soon overtaken by more modern rivals.

European production, latterly under the Talbot name, continued until 1987, by which time the Horizon was no longer worth building now that the far better Peugeot 309 had arrived.

In North America, where the car looked similar but was in fact considerably altered and had different engines, things went more smoothly. Known variously as a Plymouth and as the Dodge Omni, the model remained on the market until 1990.

Photo: 1985 Dodge Omni

25. Dodge Dakota

The Dakota first appeared in 1986 as a mid-sized pick-up truck, but grew considerably over three generations.

The original version was mostly powered by four-cylinder engines, though a 3.9-litre V6 and even a 5.2-litre V8 were also available.

Very unusually for a pick-up, there was even a convertible version (pictured), but only from 1989 to 1991. A step too far for the market, perhaps.

The Dakota’s quarter-century run came to an end in 2011. In its last two years, it was officially known as a Ram, following Chrysler’s decision to elevate this from a model name to that of a separate truck-making division.

26. Dodge Viper

Also sold as a Chrysler in some markets, the Viper was a 1990s example of what’s often known as a ‘hairy-chested’ sports car.

Its most famous feature when it first appeared in 1991 was its front-mounted 8-litre V10 engine. Other production cars have had larger motors than this, but only a very few.

As things turned out, this would be the smallest engine ever fitted to a Viper. The capacity was raised to 8.3 litres for the third generation in 2003, and still further to 8.4 litres for the fourth in 2008.

A fifth arrived in 2013, and survived until Viper history came to an end four years later.

Photo: 1995 Dodge Viper RT/10

27. Chrysler Concorde

For the 1993 model year, Chrysler launched three cars based on its new ‘cab forward’ LH platform.

The first, alphabetically, was the Concorde, a large front-wheel-drive saloon notable for its very aerodynamic body styling, powered by either an existing 3.3-litre pushrod V6 or a new 3.5-litre derivative with an overhead camshaft.

Five years later, the revised Concorde came along with even swoopier styling and a revised engine line-up starting at 2.7 litres.

In this form, the car remained on the market until 2004.

Photo: 1993 Chrysler Concorde

28. Dodge Intrepid

Although it was a separate model, the story of the Intrepid matches that of the Chrysler Concorde almost exactly.

The most significant difference between the two cars was that the Dodge was far more popular.

Annual US sales of the Intrepid were frequently well over 100,000, and hit a peak of 147,576 in 1995. Production of the Concorde exceeded 70,000 only once, in 1994.

The third of the early LH cars was the Eagle Vision, which was even less popular than the Concorde, and was built with that name only in one generation. The unsuccessful Eagle brand was cast into the outer darkness, and the second Vision was sold as the Chrysler 300M.

Photo: 1993 Dodge Intrepid

29. Chrysler Sebring

Named after the Sebring circuit in Florida, famous for its 12-hour endurance race, this car first appeared in the 1996 model year, shortly after the related Dodge Avenger, as a coupé and later as a convertible.

The situation became more complicated when the second generation made its debut in 2001. The same platform was used for a saloon and convertible, while a different one formed the basis of the new coupé.

That version had no Dodge Avenger equivalent, but the models were reunited for another generation in 2007.

What would otherwise have been a simple mid-life refresh in 2010 became something rather different, as the Sebring name was dropped after 14 years and the car became known as the Chrysler 200.

Photo: 1996 Chrysler Sebring

30. Dodge Stratus

The Stratus made its debut in late 1994 as a mid-size saloon usually powered by a four-cylinder engine (sometimes turbocharged, sometimes not), though a 2.5-litre V6 was also available.

Its replacement, launched in 2000, was larger, and was produced as both a saloon and a coupé.

The coupé, available with a 3-litre V6, was discontinued after the 2005 model year.

The saloon lasted a year longer than that. After it was replaced in North America by the second Dodge Avenger, it returned to production in slightly altered form in Russia, where it was sold as the Volga Siber.

Photo: 1996 Dodge Stratus