- Joined
- Sep 2, 2019
- Posts
- 160
- Reaction score
- 170
- Location
- Arkansas
- Ram Year
- 2021
- Engine
- 5.7 Hemi (no e-Torque)
From what I looked up last night, FCA is gone there is no more FCA at all. And as far as who actually runs the show, I was under the impression that both Peugeot and Fiat were the main two corporations that merged that actually formed Stellantis so that all the companies Fiat owned and all the companies Peugeot owned are now all subsidiaries… including Fiat and Peugeot, of Stellantis.
But when you start talking about the 80’s, I don’t know a whole lot about that but that show they had on about a month ago on the history channel called the cars that built America or whatever it was called, they had a pretty good four part series that talked about the car manufacturers all the way back to the 1800s until now and from what I gather, Lee Iacocco actually helped Chrysler out a lot from the fiasco they had from the Chrysler cricket that suffered the same problems as the Pinto and I believe it was the Chevette, when he introduced the Cherokee and the mini van. From what I understand, that saved Chrysler from bankruptcy all the way back in those days before the next crisis that was Dodge and the transmission fiasco followed by the even bigger crap-storm… I guess we can’t say the grown-up version of crap?… but anyways, from Daimler Mercedes which lead to the further destruction of Chrysler when they handed them off to Cerebrus like a used up hook-er after running them thoroughly into the ground which is why I find it no question why Chrysler had to be bailed out in 2008 and had to be “partnered” with Fiat in the first place.
To me, the stuff Chrysler made back in the 1980s was just more or the Malaise Era stuff. But there was some good in there too. And their newer transmissions were junk until about 2001 until Daimler finally fixed them. I had liked the old Mopar cars and truck through about 1971. But I was very young then. After that it was mostly downhill. I liked the Córdoba and first Magnums in the late 1970s. But they lack any horsepower. What brought me back was a 1996 Ram SLT with 360 engine. That thing was a beast for its day. And it was what I always thought a 1/2 tone truck should be. I bought it used for about $13,000 in 1998. And I drove it until late 2002 when the transmission went out. Since these trannies failed all the time, there was no finding a used one and the truck wasn't worth enough to justify fixing it. So I bought the 2003 Quadcab I have now. It was and still is the best vehicle I've ever owned. I never even changed the plugs for first 200,000 miles. Before that, I think the only work it needed was a lower ball joint. Since then, I've repaired a lot of things on it. But the truck has grown kind of "geriatric" even though it still looks good.
After the 2003 Ram, I've bought eight other Mopars including the 2021 Laramie we just bought. These things inspire a kind of "love" no other vehicles do. At least that's the way it is where I live. Folks drive all brands where I live. But the ones that love their cars and trucks the most drive Mopar. It's kind of like being in a big club.