Lancer

In 1985 my office moved to provide us with company cars, leased in the company name with the one proviso that they be American cars. I chose to break the lease on my BMW 318i in order to take advantage of this generous offer. It was expensive to break a lease, but it seemed worth while. We had dollar limits of course, but I knew I’d find something perfectly suited for me out there. As a 43 year old newly single child, I needed something appropriate to replace the BMW and I found that in the new Dodge Lancer ES, a turbo charged, 5 speed wonder that was so fast it scared me when I first drove it.

The Dodge Lancer was another K-car spinoff introduced in 1985 as a more direct competitor to Europe and Japan's sport sedans, which were becoming popular in the mid-1980s. The Lancer was available only as a 5-door hatchback and was known internally at Chrysler as an "H" body. Chrysler would also introduce a version called the LeBaron GTS, differing mainly in grilles, taillights and other various trim. Base engine was a Throttle-Body Injected 93 hp 2.2L (135 cid) I4 engine, with the Multi-Port Fuel Injected 146 hp 2.2L (135 cid) Turbo optional on the ES model. Either engine was available with a 5-speed manual or a 3-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission. There were base Lancers or higher-lever Lancer ES, and all models were very well equipped and had full instrumentation (and of course digital dashes were optional)..

After 1987 there would be no direct successor to the Dodge Lancer.

We used to trade off cars among the executives when we made car company calls so that we tried to be driving a Ford when we went to Ford and a GM car when we went to GM, in case anyone noticed.

One night my youngest son borrowed the Dodge and ran it into a high curb at a very fast speed which he admitted to be 60 mph, so it must have been much more.

The car was never the same after that. The transmission was destroyed, and even after a total transmission exchange, it never worked correctly. I’ve had to drive in reverse down a four story parking lot late at night because the tow truck couldn’t go into the lot. I had to go several miles in first gear to get it out of an airport parking lot (the same problem about a tow truck getting into a car lot) in order to get it to a safe place.

I was never happier than the day I was able to return the car and the company never again offered to lease cars for anyone. Mine was not the only expensive accident in the group.

But it was really fast!