1988 Plymouth Reliant LE review from North America

I purchased this K-car from a junkyard and listed below are the reasons it was there:

Radiator flanges were badly deteriorating.

Spark plug wires and associated starting systems (distributor cap, rotor) were deteriorating due to neglect.

The inside of the cylinders were very coked up from people trying to start it with water in the gas.

The exhaust system was plugged almost completely, the car would stall every time it was revved.

The driver side coil spring was cracked.

I purchased this car for 400 dollars from a junkyard. I was looking for a K-car to satisfy personal interest when I came across this Reliant K Wagon sitting in the corner. The paint was very shiny, and I walked over and took a look at it.

It had almost NO body rust!! There was evidence of body rust in the past, but it had been repaired by its previous owners.

The interior was very clean with the exception of the headliner which was torn just over the cargo area, which indicated to me that something large had been forced in.

The bottom of the oil pan was scraped up pretty bad and as mentioned before, a coil spring was broken. It looked like before I had gotten to it, someone decided to beat the hell out of it a bit.

Anyways, I brought it home, fixed the problems for under 500 bucks and I had a very decent running car for under 1000 bucks.

This car will not die, you can beat the ever loving crap out of it and it will still run. Going on almost 160K miles, this thing is a testament to its design. Never have I seen a car take as much punishment as this.