Se-bring the Redemption!

"VeeKaChu" (VeeKaChu) 09/28/2014 at 16:29 • Filed to: VKs Garage

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I've been trying to clean up/make space in my garage for a while now, and had been sitting on a set of rims from a car I traded away years ago. In need of a quick infusion of cash, I thought about running them over to a recycler who pays pretty well for aluminum...

I'd never done a successful Craigslist deal; I've pimped my !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! superpowers for a while, with nary a bite. Still, calculating that I wouldn't starve to death for a couple of days, I decided to throw the wheels up for sale. 36 hours later I had a response; nine hours after first reading that, I had cash in hand! That shit is soooo easy!

Here's the thing though- those wheels were off of a 2001 Chrysler Sebring Convertible, a car that I actually owned and drove daily- and it was my SECOND one. That's right, haters- I not only owned two consecutive Sebring verts, I also drove them out in public with the tops down!

My second one was even a bit of a 'project' car. I gave her a mesh grille, new kicks, a strut bar, I even found an after market CAI that would fit, and then !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to try to eek out any increase I could... "Sooo, lipstick on a pig?" I hear you say. Absolutely, and I'll freely admit it.

Look, I "get" the derision the vehicle receives, and admit that much of it is well deserved. I'll also cop to not being in any sort of "Car Guy" mode when I got my first one in 2000- I just wanted a convertible, and didn't really care what anybody thought. But criminy, just after I'd gotten the second one, my decades dormant "enthusiast" genes kicked back in, which led to all of the futile efforts mentioned above.

I slowly came to the realization that Chrysler, in addition to making the car incredibly difficult to work on or with, had also consciously crippled the platform specifically to prevent consumers from juicing them up in any meaningful way. Their intention was always that it would be an attractive "cruising" vehicle for the 50-up Moose Lodge Set, and performance be damned.

I will say it *was* good in that role... it was a pleasant enough ride, and wee-hours top down cruising did bring a quantifiable measure of stress relief. And the seats were comfy.

Through an unlikely series of events that I won't go into here, my next daily driver was a 2007 Civic Si sedan, which- from an "upgradability" standpoint- is the antithesis of the Sebring. Nearly every moving bit on that car can be swapped out, and it's the vehicle that inspired me to begin my powder coating endeavors. And like the Sebring before it, I'm on my second one.

Which brings me to the point of the post- I've been out of the Sebrings for about 4 years, but I still had the OEM chromers off the last one, in a stack in a corner of the garage. I suppose that I got lucky in that the deal described at the top of the post went down so quickly, but I was doubly please to hear that they would be used for snow tires here...

The irony is delicious! (and personally, I think they'll look good on that car!)

Craigslist ProTip- When I was assembling my "for sale" post, I put in as much info as I could find about the wheels, e.g., that they were a "205/16", but it was in the very last moment before hitting submit that I realized I needed to put in a bolt pattern, and looked that up. Turns out it was exactly that "5X100" figure that the eventual buyer had searched on, bringing him to my post. Point being, every bit of data about a product for sale is important, and we can never have- or give- too much information. Facts are fun!

Guilty Secret Reveal- For as much as I'm aware that the "enthusiast" world derides and despises the Sebring platforn- both coupe and vert- I didn't think the first generation looked that bad. I've resolved that if I ever become a "man of means" and live to build my super-unlimited dream garage, I *will* take a 1G Sebring convertible, rip out the back seat and mid-mount a Hemi in that sucker. Oh yes I will.

Steve in Manhattan > VeeKaChu 09/28/2014 at 16:38

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A long-ago girlfriend dragged me to Sanibel Island for a vacation. I talked her into spending the extra cash to upgrade from a Sunfire to a Sebring convertible. For cruising around in the early evening, going to dinner, taking her to the outlet malls (my concession for getting the Sebring) the car was perfect. It's not a Saab Turbo, it's not meant to be. If you want a cruiser, it's just fine.

VeeKaChu > Steve in Manhattan 09/28/2014 at 16:47

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I've read that aside from the target demo of coiffure-disregarding oldsters, the Sebring verts did enjoy success in the rental car market, for the very reasons you've described. I.E., one could enjoy the short-term benefits of a pretty comfy, smooth-rolling open car, without the actual irritations- and stigmas- engendered by ownership!

Steve in Manhattan > VeeKaChu 09/28/2014 at 16:49

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On that vacation, I recall that every 10th or 11th car we saw was a Sebring - immensely popular as a renter.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > VeeKaChu 09/28/2014 at 18:10

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Nothing wrong at all with a Sebring convert. A decent enough looking car, that when three years old could be bought for low to mid teens loaded. I'm talking V6, leather, premium sound, and it was still under warranty. If you wanted to get into a late-model vert for pretty short money, that's the way to do it IMHO.

VeeKaChu > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom 09/28/2014 at 22:41

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Well that's exactly what I loved about my '98 Limited, a first gen (shown)... but it was still a pig in many respects, and the 2nd gen was even worse -and slightly uglier to boot.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > VeeKaChu 09/29/2014 at 09:11

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Silver lining: that car could be had with a manual trans. (there's your unicorn)

VeeKaChu > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom 09/29/2014 at 13:08

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Lolz, better yet, they sold a first-gen variant in Mexico (where they built 'em) with a 2.4 L DOHC I4 TURBO ! And though that motor still likely didn't break 8-seconds to 60, I think the fact that they didn't offer those domestically reinforces my assertion that Chrysler went out of their way to keep it dumbed down for the core demo "cruisers". And I think that's a shame, especially for the house that brings us Mopar...

Admittedly, that era wasn't really good for anything much in the way of "factory-built" performance, outside of your Camaros and Mustangs and Vettes (and oddities like a Grand National), and even with those you really had to work at them to make them respectable. We really are in a new "Golden Age" of off-the-showroom-floor performance, and for myself, I'm glad I've come back around. Driving into and home from work is the best part of my day, every day!