Also read Bob Smith's correspondence with Bob Marcks, including a designer's sketch of these unique cars.
History of the "Little Limos"
In May, 1981, Bob Marcks, a Chrysler executive in charge of Chrysler's Special Vehicle Projects since 1980 conferred with Bob Lutz, and presented the idea of creating a LeBaron-based limousine to fill a niche ignored by Ford and General Motors. Major features of the car were front wheel drive and good fuel economy because of downsizing.
With the blessing of Lutz, Bob Marks developed this limousine as a show car. This was not his first effort at building new and different vehicles. He previously developed, produced and marketed the well received Chrysler K-car convertibles, the first production drop-top cars since the 1976 Eldorado and later was instrumental in the "stretching" of the 1991 Y-bodied Fifth Avenue and Imperial.
The prototype of these "mini-limos" was the 1982 show car shown below, an Executive Sedan done in dark red Mica paint with a dark red vinyl top and red Kimberly cloth interior (a short nap velour.) It garnered a great deal of attention; so much, in fact, that Chrysler agreed with Bob Marcks that the car should go into production on a limited basis.
