1989 Maserati TC

Chrysler and Maserati created an exclusive partnership that resulted in sport luxury touring automobiles reminiscent of the early Thunderbirds of the 1950s. The body was produced in Italy with a hand-crafted leather interior and paired with an American 2.2-liter transverse-mounted Chrysler turbocharged four-cylinder motor with a heavy-duty three-speed automatic transmission based on the Chrysler TorqueFlite units. Production lasted from 1989 through 1991, with 7,300 examples sold during that time.

During the 1980s, Lee Iacocca was head of Chrysler, and Alejandro de Tomaso was the owner of Maserati. Their friendship and the resources of both companies resulted in a memorandum of understanding, Chrysler eventually becoming an investor in Maserati, and ultimately resulted in the TC sports coupe aimed at helping Chrysler shed its image of solely building blue-collar automobiles. Although many components were sourced from the LeBaron and rested on a shortened Dodge Daytona chassis, numerous delays due to mismanagement and disagreements between Chrysler and Maserati engineers resulted in development taking five years to complete. The agreement had been signed in 1984, but the resulting Chrysler TC by Maserati was not ready until 1989.

The Turbo II engine was a Daytona-specification turbocharged 2.2-liter straight four-cylinder unit developing 160 horsepower and backed by an A413 three-speed automatic. Five hundred examples were built with a 16-valve head version of the 2.2-liter engine and Getrag manual transmission. The 16-valve head 2.2-liter engine is often referred to as the 'Maserati' engine due to its Maserati-branded cast valve cover, custom-made 2.2 block, upgraded crankshaft and rods, and various other modifications. The cylinder head was cast in England by Cosworth, the pistons were sourced from Mahle GmbH in Germany, and the camshafts were designed by Florida-based Crane Cams and were assembled in Modena by Maserati. The turbocharger was sourced from IHI.

The Turbo II engine was replaced in 1990 by a Mitsubishi-sourced 3.0-liter V6 unit with 141 horsepower and a four-speed A604 transmission.

Fichtel and Sachs designed the struts and shock absorbers, and a Teves anti-lock braking system controlled the wheels designed by Fondmetal of Italy.

The TC had a manually operated cloth-lined convertible top in either tan or black colors, a detachable hardtop with beveled-glass opera windows, and a six-point latching system.

The Italian influences extended to the interior, with hand-stitched leather on the dash, armrest, rear fascia panels, door panels, and seats. A special interior storage compartment housed an umbrella, a small spare tire, and a tool kit. Standard amenities included power windows, door and trunk locks, puddle lamps, cruise control, map lights, a tilt steering wheel, 6-way power seats, and a 10-speaker Infinity AM/FM cassette stereo. All drivetrain alternatives were no-cost options; the only available extra-cost option was a CD player that was a plug-in attachment to the Infinity AM/FM cassette stereo.

The 1989 Chrysler TC models had either ginger or Bordeaux interior leather colors. Exterior color options included red, yellow, or cabernet. The Bordeaux interior only came with the cabernet exterior, both of which were exclusive to the 1989 model year. In 1990, black and white exterior colors joined the list of colors, along with a black leather interior.

The Chrysler TC by Maserati had cost Chrysler nearly $600 million to produce, and just 7,300 TC models were built. They were sold at 300 select Chrysler dealers, with the 1989 versions having a factory base price of $33,000. This rose to $35,000 in 1990 and to $37,000 in 1991. Most were sold during the first year, accounting for 3,764 sales, followed by 1,900 in 1990 and 1,636 in the final year.

The Chrysler TC was not alone during the period, joined by the Pininfarina-designed and partially hand-built Cadillac Allante (1987 to 1993) and the Buick Reatta. The Allante was significantly more expensive than the TC, and 21,395 were built during its seven-year production lifespan. The Buick Reatta was produced from 1988 through 1991 and had a similar price point to the Chrysler TC.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2017