Supplied between 1982 and 1989, the closely chromed and stubbornly dated trying Fifth Avenue midsize luxurious sedan discovered an viewers of getting older and expertise averse automotive patrons for whom the automotive’s cranky stoicism was a advantage, and a vote towards smaller, trendy, extra environment friendly choices.
1983 Chrysler Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue Title
The Fifth Avenue identify had been beforehand used as a New Yorker trim degree, and the brand new 1982 Fifth Avenue was launched because the New Yorker Fifth Avenue, although the New York prefix was dropped for the next mannequin yr.
And by 1983, thanks partially to promising gross sales, Chrysler had totally embraced the Fifth Avenue’s dated methods, although the maker’s promoting for the automotive prompt in any other case.
1983 Print Advert
This advert for the 1983 Chrysler Fifth Avenue opens with the next three strains:
- “Unusual in its quest for engineering excellence.”
- “Uncompromising in its over the street consolation.”
- “The 1983 Fifth Avenue could be the most sensible luxurious automotive on this planet.”
Calling Baloney
Regardless of the lofty pretensions of the copy on this commercial, we should, in good conscience, name baloney on all three claims.
Allow us to rewrite the above statements in an effort to filter among the reality into the gross sales pitch:
- “Frequent, if not dated, in expertise.”
- “Fairly snug over most street surfaces.”
- “Reasonably priced, all issues thought of.”
Dated Know-how
The truth is, the Fifth Avenue was the other of contemporary or superior, it was, constructed from the stays of the model’s aged rear-wheel-drive mannequin lineup, but it was additionally, unexpectedly, a gross sales success.
Conventional Consumers
The massive on the surface, considerably cramped on the within Fifth Avenue caught the flowery of parents who discovered Chrysler’s transfer to crisply styled, front-wheel-drive, 4-cylinder automobiles a little bit rushed, and a little bit uncomfortable.
Plymouth and Dodge Variants
Certainly, the Fifth Avenue (cheaper variations of which have been bought by Plymouth and Dodge, and infrequently into law-enforcement and taxi service) was technologically antiquated. It’s torsion-bar entrance suspension, ox-cart leaf-spring rear suspension, and carbureted engines dated to the late Sixties. On the plus facet, the Fifth Avenue value little to develop, and may very well be bought at a lovely worth.
Fifth Avenue Costs
In 1983, Chrysler’s compact front-drive, 4-cylinder LeBaron began round $8800. At about $12,500, the bigger Fifth Avenue, with its commonplace landau roof remedy, accessible V8 engine, and conventional rear-wheel drive powertrain offered as a powerful worth to conservative patrons on the lookout for a automobile with old-school presence.
At roughly $40,000 in present {dollars}, the Fifth Avenue was priced extra according to widespread interval Buick sedans, than with the Cadillacs and Lincolns its patrons probably cross-shopped the Chrysler towards.
Fifth Avenue Gross sales
As for gross sales, these numbers probably made the accountants at Chrysler very glad:
- 1982: 50,509
- 1983: 83,501
- 1984: 79,441
- 1985: 109,971
- 1986: 104,744
- 1987: 70,579
- 1988: 43,486
- 1989: 26,883
Whole manufacturing: 569,114
The Fifth Avenue might have had a few further years of gross sales momentum, the automotive’s 5.2-liter V8, which turned commonplace for in the course of the 1983 mannequin yr, wasn’t holding tempo with emissions laws, and wound find yourself changing into a truck-only energy plant. Chrysler’s as soon as ubiquitous “Slant Six” engine had been commonplace going into ’83.
CG Says:
We suspect the automotive luddites who bought Fifth Avenues have been effectively served by the automobiles. They have been plush, seemed the luxurious half, and sort of a deal. The Fifth Avenue was not, nonetheless, “Unusual in its quest for engineering excellence.”
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1983 Chrysler Fifth Avenue Photos
(Click on under for enlarged pictures)
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