The 1974-78 Chryslers were anything but a failure. As you say, except for 1978, they built over a 100,000 each year : 1974 - 117,373 1975 - 101,444 1976 - 101,691 1977 - 157,300 1978 - 83,514 1974 production was down by 49% from 1973 (a record year - 234,229), but that was due to the oil crisis. Both the Olds 98 and Buick Electra were down 50% But what hurt Chrysler in 1978 was the fact the competition, Buick, Oldsmobile and Mercury, had all downsized. Chrysler's new smaller R body appeared in 1979 and production bounced back to 132,936 for the model year (and then nosedived). By the way, the big 'losers' in Mopars big car world were the Plymouth and Dodge : 1973 : P - 280,330 ; D - 153,056 1974 : P - 130,502 ; D - 78,324 1975 : P - 91,158 ; D - 65,039 1976 : P - 50,757 ; D - 39,967 1977 : P - 55,756 ; D - 56,242 (And now you know why some Dodge C body lovers shed a few tears when they watch 'The Blues Birthers') A big part of Chrysler's sales problem back then was the fact no one knew if Chrysler was going to still be in business thirty days in the future. No one wants to own an orphan, and just the thought of a car company going under has killed off car companies . Kaiser was dealing with stories it was shutting down in the early 1950's. Rumours started flying about DeSoto coming to an end in late 1958, and sales took a nosedive. Less than three years later, right about the time DeSoto was laid to rest, the runour mill had Studebaker closing its doors. Move ahead three years and Studebaker was shutting down the South Bend operation. Rumours of Imperial's demise began appearing in the late 1960's. Plymouth would suffer a similar, although more prolonged, fate a couple of decades later. Chrysler Corporation built 1,124,000 cars for the American market in 1978. Then came the cash crunch and the bailouts. Production for the Ameican market fell to 943,182 in 1979 and 638,997 for 1980. Chrysler car production for the American market would not break above 1,000,000 units again until 1985. Few people appreciate the miracle Lee Iaccoca pulled off in the early 1980's. Bill Vancouver, BC On 6/1/06 6:48 PM, A. Foster at monkeypuzzle1@xxxxxxx wrote: > Chris; > That is one issue of that magazine that I need to get myself as I happen to > own a lesser Chrysler of that era. One question that I am wondering about is > did they actually use thinner sheet metal and glass on the 77 and 78 cars as > opposed to the 74 to 76 cars? I have been looking over a 78 NYB for parts > and it seems to use the same glass as my 75' Newport. > What I found extraordinary is how may of these final C body Chryslers they > sold. It looks like they consistantly sold over 100,000 cars a year from > 1974-77, it's true that they were outsold by the Cordoba but they were > hardly a failure. I am guessing that the downward spiral in 1978-79 had more > to do with the bad name that the electronic lean burn system, the > Aspen/Volare, and other poor quality problems gave them then the large cars > that they selling. 1978 was the year that the CAFE standards kicked in, and > there were no full sized big block cars available for 79 so I don't think > that the large cars can shoulder all of the blame. > Best Regards > Arran Foster > 1954 Imperial Newport > Needing A Left side tailight bezel and other trim parts > 1975 Chrysler Newport > Needs the heater repaired. > > > ----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com ----------------- This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm