Yahoo Autos Junkyard Gem: 2004 Chrysler Crossfire
When Chrysler bought the American Motors Corporation in 1987, it gained not just the valuable Jeep brand (including the big-selling XJ Cherokee) but a huge jackpot of Renault powertrain and chassis engineering from AMC's partnership with the French company. Starting well before that time, plenty of Mitsubishi DNA made its way into Chrysler products as well, alongside vehicles with Rootes Group ancestry just to make things interesting. Then the "Merger of Equals" that created DaimlerChrysler happened in 1998 and a big infusion of Mercedes-Benz hardware got mainlined into Chrysler designs. Starting with the 2004 model year, an SLK-class-based two-seater hit Chrysler showrooms: the Crossfire. Here's one of those first-year Crossfires, found in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service wrecking yard recently.
The Crossfire's styling was taken from a concept car that appeared at the 2001 North American International Auto show; the idea was that the Crossfire would replace the Plymouth/Chrysler Prowler. The chassis was lifted from the Mercedes-Benz R170 SLK-Class, a mid-1990s design whose final model year in the United States was 2004.
That meant that, starting in 2005, American car shoppers could buy new R170-based Crossfires and new R171-based SLKs.
Starting with the 2005 model year, the Crossfire became available as a roadster. Production continued through the 2008 model year.
