These days I think you're more likely to find a pay phone that one of these things.
This 1993 Plymouth Acclaim came up in my Marketplace feed this morning for sale about an hour southwest of us here on the far west side of Cleveland, Ohio. Just 52,000 miles on her now 33-year-old analog ticker, a 4-cylinder engine, power windows and locks, cruise control, all-new brakes and "good tires." Somewhat interestingly, they don't say whether it has air conditioning, which, back in the day, still wasn't a given. In fact, A/C was an option on the Acclaim. So, let's assume it doesn't have it. Asking price is $4,300.
These K-car-derivative little cars were never my thing. Actually, I don't think they were anybody's thing back in the day except for those who wanted or needed inexpensive, no-frills transportation. That said, its reddish hue seems extravagant, if not indulgent given its overall ethos.
It seems Chrysler, the brand and corporation, has always been at a crossroads between death and despair. Through the '70s, Chrysler Corporation was still suffering from the consequences of poor product planning and a series of missteps that left the company in increasingly serious financial trouble. By the end of the decade, Chrysler was gasping for breath and facing bankruptcy. Lee Iacocca, the K-car and a controversial government-backed loan guarantee helped pull the company back from the brink.
By the early 1990s, though, it seemed Chrysler was making a go of things. Their new LH-series cars were arguably the best thing to come out of Detroit in years, and it certainly seemed things were on the up-and-up. The 1993 LH lineup—the Dodge Intrepid, Chrysler Concorde and Eagle Vision—was genuinely innovative, with its "cab-forward" design and substantially improved packaging. Curiously, Plymouth didn't get an LH although, technically anyway, Plymouth was more like a low-cost sub brand of Chrysler (the division) rather than its own separate brand.
Plymouth was left with badge-engineered, increasingly dated offerings like this Acclaim. Although, and I always thought this odd, the Plymouth Prowler made its production debut for 1997, ostensibly as a halo car meant to inject some excitement into the Plymouth brand.
So, they come out with a super-low volume, ultra-niche two-seater just when the division is capsizing? Plymouth was discontinued in 2001. The Prowler survived the brand by becoming the Chrysler Prowler for 2001 and 2002.
And then there was the rest of Chrysler's rather remarkable corporate soap opera: the Daimler-Benz merger that created DaimlerChrysler in 1998, the sale of Chrysler's controlling interest to Cerberus in 2007, the 2009 bankruptcy and Fiat's subsequent involvement, and finally the 2021 merger that created Stellantis.
Chrysler built these cars through the 1995 model year, although production actually ended in December 1994. The Acclaim was replaced by the Plymouth Breeze for 1996. Its Dodge counterpart, the Spirit, also ran through the 1995 model year, its direct successor was the Dodge Stratus.
Fun fact: Did you know that Chrysler has essentially become a one-nameplate brand? In the 2026 model year, the U.S. lineup includes the Pacifica and the lower-priced Voyager, but for 2027 Chrysler is folding the Voyager into the Pacifica lineup as the Pacifica LX. So, effectively, it's down to one model nameplate—the Pacifica.
As far as this particular thing goes, if you're looking for a cheap car, I think your money better spent elsewhere. On a 33-year-old car, age can be every bit as important as mileage. Rubber, seals, hoses, belts, cooling-system components, suspension parts and other age-sensitive items don't care how slowly the odometer has accumulated miles.
And that four grand you drop on this could become six or seven thousand in the blink of an eye.
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