Brian Earnest
John Benz will admit it. He doesn’t really remember the unusual Chrysler TC when it first came out back in 1989. He’s not alone in that admission, as most car folks seemed to miss the TC—it came and went pretty quickly.
“No, I really don’t remember them,” chuckles Benz, a resident of Wautoma, Wis. “There is probably only another four or so in Wisconsin. They made about 7,000 of them and about 3,000 got imported to the States. So whatever is left is left…”
Benz eventually started seeing the handsome convertibles now and then at car shows. He liked the idea of having something unique, and the fact that the TCs—short for “touring convertible”—was part Chrysler and part Maserati certainly made them different. For their time they were expensive, a little exotic, and they were droptops in an era when convertibles were few and far between. They also only lasted for three model years (1989 to ’91), which makes them a little obscure 30-some years later.
Brian Earnest
When Benz stumbled on a low-mileage example for a reasonable price online, he figured he had nothing to lose. “I had Googled ‘Chrysler TC by Maserati’ and found this one out in Arizona,” says Benz, admiring his pristine 1990 TC. “So I had a friend of mine out there take a look at it, and he said, ‘If you don’t buy it, I’m gonna.’ Se we ended up buying it and flying out to Arizona and driving it all the way home, my wife and I.
“It had only about 14,000 miles on it and there’s 20,000 on it now … A gentleman and his wife had it and they lived in the state of Washington, but they also had a place in Arizona, where they would come for the winters. The only place they really drove it was from Washington down to Arizona. He would take it to parades and stuff like that, and now I take it to car shows.”
Benz’s car was originally ordered by a man named George Shoemaker, an adventurous retired career Army officer. He basically hardly touched the car during the years he owned it. Shoemaker wound up putting only about 500 miles a year on the TC.
“This one has a plaque on it from the original owner. If you did order it, they had the plaque made before they shipped it over [from Italy],” Benz noted. “And it came with all the necessary paperwork and the operating manuals and repair manual … All that stuff came with the car. The tires were brand new. He had just put new tires on it. The top was in great shape, and all the upholstery is great. All in all, it starts good, runs good, stops good. I have no complaints at all!”
Brian Earnest
Brian Earnest
An Italian American
The stylish, droptop Chrysler TC by Maserati, its official name, was similar in appearance to the Maserati Spyder. It toured the U.S. auto show circuit in 1986 and 1987 amid promises that it would soon be in showrooms. Some three years passed before it actually went on sale, which may be part of the reason for its short lifespan. The TC rode on a 93-inch wheelbase and carried a 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine that produced 160 hp in 1989. It sold for $35,500, but importation came to a halt in the spring of 1990 (all cars sold as 1991s were built in 1990).
Developers envisioned the TC as a “grand tourer,” taking on competition such as the $50,000-plus Cadillac Allanté and Buick Reatta. At the time, Chrysler owned a 5 percent stake in Maserati and Chrysler boss Lee Iacooca had forged a working relationship with Alejandro de Tomaso in which they’d build 7,300 TCs. The pair had previously worked together while Iacocca was at Ford where he launched the short-lived De Tamaso Pantera. The second time around, in 1989, they built the TC, which debuted with a slightly de-tuned 160-hp turbo four-cylinder from the Dodge Daytona known as the Turbo II. The Turbo II was then replaced by a Mitsubishi 3.0-liter V-6 with 142 hp for the TC’s 1990 and 1991 model years, with the automatic three-speed transaxle being swapped out for a four-speed A604. There was also an optional Maserati 200-hp, 16-valve 2.2-liter turbo four-cylinder mated to a Getrag five-speed manual. Only 500 TCs were built with this drivetrain.
Brian Earnest
The TC featured both a manually folding convertible top—either tan or black—and a detachable hardtop with porthole-ish “opera windows” utilizing a six-point latching system. Initially, the cars available in yellow, red or cabernet, but black or white exterior colors were added a year later, along with a new black leather interior.
The TC’s upholstery was all fancied up with hand-stitched Italian leather. There was a storage compartment with goodies such as an umbrella, tool kit and small spare tire. That meant that the trunk was full-sized even with the top down. Standard equipment included anti-lock brakes, 15×6 cast-aluminum wheels, power windows, 6-way power seats, power door and trunk locks, 10-speaker Infinity AM/FM cassette stereo, cruise control and a tilt steering wheel. The only option was a plug-in CD player.
Brian Earnest
Brian Earnest
The TC was only sold at 300 select U.S. Chrysler dealerships. A total of 3,764 were built for the debut 1989 year, but that modest number declined quickly to 1,900 in 1990 and just 1,636 in 1991. By that time, the price of the TC had ballooned to $37,000, which was about double the cost of Chrysler’s own LeBaron convertible.
Critics panned the TC as a gloried LeBaron and chirped about its “whatever’s in the parts bin” assembly. In truth, the TC was a very good-looking, nice-riding car with good performance for its time … and hey, it was a convertible with two tops! But the timing when it came to buying tastes was bad, and the American economy wasn’t great, either.
Almost New, 34 Years Later
Benz had a Chrysler dealership in Phoenix check out his TC before he made the long drive back to Wisconsin. The dealer put in a fresh battery and a new fuel filter. That’s the only thing Benz has done to the car. The most work he’s put in on the car is probably rigging up a little holder/hoist for the removable hardtop that now hangs from the rafters above the TC. Benz has just stuck with the folding convertible top so far.
“The hardtop… it is cool, just something different that you don’t see everywhere else. Most cars don’t have removable hardtops,” he says. “I rigged up the hoist here to keep it off the ground and make it easier to take on and off. It’s not real hard to take on and off, but I like of like the convertible top during the summer. It’s pretty tight; you don’t really hear and wind noise. It’s got power steering, power brakes and everything, so it’s pretty smooth and nice on the road.
“It’s great to drive. It’s got the V-6, full-size trunk; the spare is behind the front seats, so there is a little storage there. The radio and stereo and all that works. It’s kind of a joy to bomb around in!”
Brian Earnest
It’s also easy to see why plenty of folks mistake Benz’s TC for a LeBaron, particularly from a distance. Benz has retold the tale of the TC and where it came from more times than he can remember.
“People really don’t remember them. They look at ’em in awe and say, ‘What is that?’ They see the Chrysler emblem and the Maserati emblem in the middle and they say, ‘What in the world is going on?’ But I have a little placard that I put out at car shows so people can read all about it.”
The TC convertible turned out to be a bad idea for Chrysler. Getting the cars into production, built and shipped was an expensive process, and the company lost millions before pulling the plug on the idea of offering a pseudo-European convertible to Americans. The good news for enthusiasts these days is that the cars are relative bargains. They pop up for sale regularly and can be had for modest prices, considering their original cost was more than $80,000 in current U.S. dollars.
“Truthfully, I just like the appearance of it. I just like the way it looks!” Benz concludes. “I like to take it out and let people see it and let them learn about a car they never knew about.
“And it was different. It was made in Milan and if I go to car shows I can put it in the Import Class, if I need to. All in all, it’s been a really nice car and it doesn’t have many miles on it.”
Brian Earnest
Dig cars from the ’80s and ’90s? Here are a few more articles for your reading enjoyment.
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