Photo: jlord8 / Instagram
Back during the early 1980s, Chrysler was (once more) in need of saving from government loans and a big gamble – its K-car architecture was a crucial automotive design platform during the era.
The Chrysler Corporation introduced it as a major departure from traditional solid-axle RWD configurations with a transverse engine format, FWD, plus independent front suspension and semi-independent rear. The first models to use the new platform were the Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries, the company's smallest cars to use the classic six-passenger dual-bench seat configuration with a column shifter so profoundly beloved by US customers.
While the two models weren't huge hits initially, now they are widely regarded as compact car saviors rather than nails in the coffin. That's because the initially modest range of compact and mid-size sedans plus wagons using the K-car architecture eventually grew into a family of almost fifty different models, some even with AWD, and thus, they played their part in the company's vital resurgence.
Still, it's not hard to imagine why some people might think they are pretty obscure. However, nothing is too shady, old, or obsolete for the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Meet Jim, the virtual artist better known as jlord8 on social media, who continues to pendulate between resurrecting departed nameplates and old-school car CGI.
He recently tried his digital hand at bringing back the El Camino Ute atmosphere with a swing at a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Coupe Utility with supercharged V8 power under the hood, 650 hp, and enough space in the cargo bed for things to fly out when the virtual owner performs a hypothetical burnout and quick sprint to 60 mph (96 kph). But even if the owner of "imagination land" is usually biased towards GM and Ford because he's the proud owner of a 1986 Buick Regal T-type and 1995 Ford Thunderbird SC (Super Coupe), that doesn't mean he's not into Mopar stuff, too.
Granted, this one is titled "Here I go again, resurrecting nameplates that probably shouldn't be resurrected," and he used the Opel Insignia (a GM design) for bringing back to life the Dodge Aries nameplate as a modern station wagon. But the fan reaction was overwhelmingly positive, some even going as far as calling the family hauler plain and simply 'gorgeous.'
Well, we might not go as far as considering it 'stunning' but this "most muscular Aries" ever indeed made some people ask if this is supposed to be a Magnum SW placeholder for when Dodge dedicates itself entirely to electric vehicles. Of course, it's not hard to notice the inspiration from Dodge's Charger Daytona SRT Concept and the potential for this reborn Dodge Aries to be a zero-emissions station wagon. So, is this worthy of a new moniker – the 'E-Car' Dodge Aries?
While the two models weren't huge hits initially, now they are widely regarded as compact car saviors rather than nails in the coffin. That's because the initially modest range of compact and mid-size sedans plus wagons using the K-car architecture eventually grew into a family of almost fifty different models, some even with AWD, and thus, they played their part in the company's vital resurgence.
Still, it's not hard to imagine why some people might think they are pretty obscure. However, nothing is too shady, old, or obsolete for the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Meet Jim, the virtual artist better known as jlord8 on social media, who continues to pendulate between resurrecting departed nameplates and old-school car CGI.
He recently tried his digital hand at bringing back the El Camino Ute atmosphere with a swing at a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Coupe Utility with supercharged V8 power under the hood, 650 hp, and enough space in the cargo bed for things to fly out when the virtual owner performs a hypothetical burnout and quick sprint to 60 mph (96 kph). But even if the owner of "imagination land" is usually biased towards GM and Ford because he's the proud owner of a 1986 Buick Regal T-type and 1995 Ford Thunderbird SC (Super Coupe), that doesn't mean he's not into Mopar stuff, too.
Granted, this one is titled "Here I go again, resurrecting nameplates that probably shouldn't be resurrected," and he used the Opel Insignia (a GM design) for bringing back to life the Dodge Aries nameplate as a modern station wagon. But the fan reaction was overwhelmingly positive, some even going as far as calling the family hauler plain and simply 'gorgeous.'
Well, we might not go as far as considering it 'stunning' but this "most muscular Aries" ever indeed made some people ask if this is supposed to be a Magnum SW placeholder for when Dodge dedicates itself entirely to electric vehicles. Of course, it's not hard to notice the inspiration from Dodge's Charger Daytona SRT Concept and the potential for this reborn Dodge Aries to be a zero-emissions station wagon. So, is this worthy of a new moniker – the 'E-Car' Dodge Aries?
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