The Chrysler R platform is a 4-door sedan from Chrysler, built from 1978 to 1981, as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry. Under the bonnet: 225 cuin Slant 6 I6.
Where it came from
The Chrysler R platform was introduced for the 1979 model year. The first example of downsizing of the full-size Chrysler sedan line, the R-body is an evolution of the B-body intermediate chassis. Competing against the downsized General Motors B-body chassis and the all-new Ford Panther chassis, the R-body is the longest-wheelbase of the three.
In contrast to Ford and GM, Chrysler only marketed the R-body as a four-door sedan. Produced for only three years, the production run of the R-body chassis was far shorter than its competitors (GM B-body, 19 years; Ford Panther; 32 years). For 1981, Chrysler ended sales of the R-body chassis that April, marketing the M-body chassis for its largest sedans from that point forward.
Under the skin
Power comes from 225 cuin Slant 6 I6; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It shifts through a 3-speed A727 automatic / 3-speed A904 automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 118.5 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the C-body; its successor was the M-body. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the GM (General Motors) Saab 900, the Toyota Supra, the Mazda RX-7 — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Chrysler catalogue sit the Chrysler Falcon and the Chrysler Chronos.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Chrysler R platform has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.