1989 Plymouth Reliant

What, a "sedan"?!?

For those who know me, it's usually "Jeeps" that I drive, and I have a VERY strong preference for "wagons" or "vans" if it comes to anything else....so, a "sedan"....PUH--LEEAAHEEZE, give me a break!!! What the heck can you haul in a sedan? THAT'S why I like trucks, vans, or wagons! So, why a sedan? Well.....$75 may have had a LOT to do with it! :) Actually.....that was ALL it took....$75 and I owned the car....and drove it well over 100 miles to get it home...AS WAS! So, now the saga of fixing this little "plugger-mobile" up and seeing what she does! This is a preliminary page and not my "final" place for this car on this site, but just got the first pics back and wanted to give it something.  I have added a "Shelby" pic to this page as well, thought you all might like to see my "Shelby"! :)  Plus---some bit about the car and circumstances! First, though is a "nice" pic....looks like it's worth $75 there, doesn't it! ?)

Well, that's "after" giving her a little cleanup....BELOW is how she looked the day after I got her home....and was how she looked when I first saw her......kinda needed a little bath, didn't she?

Now, you've probably noticed that this isn't exactly "showroom" quality by this point.....but hey, I paid less for the whole car than some people pay for a single tire, so what the heck....I love it! OK....here's some basic specs: 2.2L engine(FI, of course), auto tranny(which needs some work....sticky shift and NO reverse at present....am hoping a fluid/filter change(going with proper Chryco type rather than the Dexron junk used in there) as well as band adjustments will help...if not, it's rebuild or replace with a used tranny....STILL...for the price, I can't complain). It goes forward pretty well though(which is a nice thing for a car to be able to do!)...100+ miles of it got it to where she sits here! :) Um, and yes, apparently a deer wanted the front grill more than the car did, so that's a wee ugly there too, but hey....I probably won't have to worry about anyone wanting to steal this car! :) Here's another pic from just after getting her back(before cleanup).....front left lens is broken too(have already replaced that with a used one for real cheap, so that's fixed now!):

AND.....same corner of the car after cleanup is next. I had temporarily put "lens tape" on the broken orange part by then, but as noted a moment ago, I've just replaced the light assembly with one in good shape, so she looks even better now! A couple other problems with it included rear driver's side door not locking.....took the door panel off and got in there and found the "plastic swivel" thingie had snapped loose, so I reattached it and the doors all work fine now! :) Brakes need some work....probably just a line needing replacing and bleeding(there are supposedly leaks). Filled up with fluid, she works fine right now, though, so after dealing with the tranny, brakes will be another fix-it job on this car!  Muffler is needing patching or replacing...I'm going to "patch" it for now and consider replacing later.....the patch should fix the leak, which is making it noisier and maybe a little less peppy than it should ideally be. Otherwise, the exhaust looks pretty decent. Some rust on lower rockers and rear quarter panels(no mudflaps in the north country here and it is common for that to happen) so will mod up my own flaps and put them on, only AFTER doing some body filler work on the areas needing it....no problem, I usually buy that junk by the gallon, so "been there, done that...get to do it again"! Ok....take the looksie at her clean again and then more info.....

Notice that the wheels only have hubcaps on front...and that the two rear tires are actually different size(slightly smaller...both are 13", but rears are smaller sized!) than the front. Front tires are in pretty good shape, but rears are nothing to brag about....trip to a junkyard will likely yield the cure for that! Will look for matching caps while I'm there too! :) Ah....another "before" shot.......she really NEEDED a bath, didn't she!?! Notice the brown Jeep pickup hiding in the upper corner.....gotta have one of those hanging around! :)

Not much to brag about there, is it!?!? Well...now look at THIS:

Now....there is more to this whole car than meets the eye. I found the listing in a fairly local paper(well, ok...not THAT local, but around here, 100+ miles isn't that far fetched either!). I have been looking for a replacement 2.5L engine for my mom's '88 Reliant wagon(long story as to what happened there), and when I saw the listing for this car, I called on it. Initially, I was hoping it was a good 2.5L, but immediately found out it was a 2.2L, but the more I talked to the guy selling it, I was getting the impression it might be worth fixing up and not using for a "donor". And, yep, on looking at it, and driving it, that's my hope, is that it "will" continue its own life! Plus....even though I get pretty good mileage(16-17mpg) with my Jeep pickup(that's a FULL size pickup, mind you!), a little better for a commuter wouldn't hurt. PLUS, I would like something I can haul BOTH dog crates with, though a "wagon" would be nicer! I will make due one way or another! Well...the pic below is interesting. Not only is the car there, but there's more here too. First, remember that the rear tires are "smaller" than the front at present, so her sitting low isn't a lowrider effect! I'd actually "love" to do a lift and put some meaty tires on this, but that's the guy who likes to take his trucks out in the woods shining through and not reality! :) Notice the "snow" to the left of the garage! :) Yep, that's the Dodge van over there....buried in snow. AND....what's awful, is this is AFTER we'd already had about 2 feet melt! Seriously! Obviously the van wasn't going anywhere this winter! :)

And, ahhh.....again after the "cleanup" below. Looking better, isn't she!?! A little less snow too....funny what a few days above freezing will do(not like we get much of that here!). Now, as noted, I was looking for a 2.5L engine for my mom's 88, and if I'm considering this car for my own "plugger-mobile", I'm STILL looking for a good 2.5L at a good price....anyone know of one, let me know! :) We want to get my mom's car back on the road(she's driving a Buick in the meantime!), and now that I'm doing almost all the work on her(not to mention my own) vehicles, I'm the one who gets the fun of this! I recall when I was younger she'd had a '77 Plymouth Volare wagon that she had LOTS of trouble with. That car turned almost our entire immediately family "off" from any Chryco vehicles for some time. In '97 when I was helping my mom look for a "new" car(new really just means "running"), we were going around and came across an '88 Reliant wagon(will get pics later this year for that and post as well!), and both of us were rather reluctant as it was a "Plymouth", but we put our reluctance aside and checked the car out. VERY nice condition and a "wagon"(she prefers wagons too...she's got GOOD taste there!), and not bad for price(though a bit more than the $75 for the blue sedan on this page!). Turns out the car came from Indiana and was well taken care of(lots of paperwork in glovebox to show that!), and it started/drove nice, etc., etc. Well, during driving it(she was driving, and I was in passenger seat), I was checking out all the gadgets and how things worked and all, and she was seeing how it drove/handled. We were both quite impressed actually, and then I found "the map light".....in these cars it's on the passenger visor flip down. You've got to see these.....little flip down swivel lights...pretty cool idea actually. I said "hey, check this out" and she looked over, and on seeing the neat light....she said "cool, we're buying it!" Now, if that wasn't a selling point in 1988, it sure was in 1997! Well, ok, we both STILL laugh about that to this day, but it was a cool feature, and we both remained very impressed with the car, and after giving it a few days thought, went back and bought the car for the price we'd worked it to. The people selling it were a young couple starting sales/repair shop and definitely ones you appreciate dealing with. Anyway...that was at about 125k on that motor. She drove it for another good 75K, even flipped it OVER 200K(when it still ran as good as it did at 125K), and due to an ugly situation(apparently due to a faulty water pump replaced by a shop, though we couldn't "prove" it, the engine overheated and blew on her on a VERY cold winter night). So, now I'm looking at doing all the work on her car, and replacing the engine is #1 to get the '88 back on the road. A little detour with finding this '89 for myself, but hey, if I'm working on one, I'll know 2 of these cars pretty well. In the 75K she had the car, it ran beautifully.....it changed our attitudes toward Chryco from "stay away" to "darn good cars"......so, needless to say, I wasn't very reticent with considering this '89 for my latest plugger-mobile! :) Ain't she purty?

Oh, and the interior is in pretty decent shape too.....this shot below was BEFORE cleanup...that's pretty much how she looked when I got her! After cleanup, she was even nicer inside...which is pretty darn impressive! I've raised the rear riser on the front bench seat about 7/16" since then and the seat sits in a better position. I have to reattach the rearview mirror(waiting for a warm day....hopefully before July!). Hmmmm.....now, she needs a name, doesn't she!?! What do  you think? :) Read on......

I thought about it. I've got a "Jenny"(actually two) in the Jeep pickups. Also have a "Jane" in the shortbox Jeep pickup, and so "plain jane" wasn't likely to fit here. AND.....these are "K" cars, but so is my mom's. And, now I have to differentiate between her Tan Plymouth and my Blue one! So, I was thinking "K B" and "K T" or something like that. And, at first, "Kabie" was what I was thinking, but it sounds(and looks) too much like "Babie" and so I'm calling her "Kay Bea" now....looks better too! :) Below is a closer shot of the deer damage. My mom had hit a deer with her '88 some months before her engine blew and I'd replaced the whole front bezel section(full width part), but ended up with an Aries grill from the boneyard. I still have her "old" bezel part(broken...it was only cosmetic and light damage to her car) and I'll cut that up and "patch" this one with it(paint it blue too!). If I can find a Reliant grill, I'll put that on her car and put the Aries grill on this one.....heck, for the price and work of it, it doesn't matter to me.....the damage below is only cosmetic, but I'll deal with it as I can. The tranny/brakes/muffler/body patching come first. Oh yes, the usual, oil change, other tuneup stuff too. Below is with the orange lens tape on passenger signal light.....again, that's been replaced with a proper unit! :)

And.....another reminder of how awful a $75 car looks:

Yep....that's it...for now. BUT......I promised....a "Shelby" pic.....and you get one! This is my Shelby! :) She's an eskie(American Eskimo Dog), and pretty cool at that! I've long liked the name Shelby, so that was her calling in life...to be my Shelby! :) Yep, her and Jamie(the poodle) are the two dogs who get to ride in the car with me......anybody else gets the trunk(hey, sorry...remember that this is a sedan, so you don't get much choice!)! :) BTW....Eskies are known as "the dog beautiful"....I wonder if this $75 "K car" should be known as "the car ugly"!?!?! Well.....glad you stopped by, and hope you enjoyed the first dance with my new plugger mobile! Take care....

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