PT CRUISER - Everything You Need to Know | Up to Speed

The PT Cruiser: A Big Ol' Mess

When you take a Hatchback, a Hot rod, a Truck, a Station wagon, an old person's car, a young person's car, retro styling, factory flamed decals, and Brian Setzer, what do you get? A big ol' mess is what you get.

Car engines roar (explosion sound) None of you asked for this episode, but we did it anyway. This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the PT Cruiser.

You gotta jump and jive and then you're ready Gotta jump and jive and (intro music playing)

A big ol' thanks to Omaze for partnering with us on this episode. Right now, Omaze is giving away a brand new BMW M8 Competition Coupe. That means free, all right? You don't pay taxes. You don't pay transport, nothing! You get 617 HRSPRS, all wheel drive, and an 8 speed transmission with Merino Leather seats and a limited edition paint scheme plus, 20,000 freakin' dollars cash.

Every donation gives you a chance to win and benefits the Ronald Reagan Medical Center at UCLA, the same people that saved my life. Every donation will help them buy ECMO heart machines, which are crucial in saving lives of heart attack victims.

To show your support for me being alive, and uh- your support of other people in the future remaining alive, and your chance to win an awesome car and bunch of cash Go to Omaze.com/donut for your chance to win. If you win, I will go to lunch with you, you have to pay though'cause you're a twenty-thousandaire.

Thanks Omaze (beep).

In the late 70's Chrysler was hurtin'. The third largest automaker in Detroit was waging a losing war on two fronts. On one side was the oil crisis, which caused fuel prices in the US to skyrocket. On the other side, Japan saw America's need for more fuel efficient cars, and they freakin' delivered, and America freakin'gobbled 'em gobbled 'em up.

Is that a Civic? (chewing) What is that, a Corolla? (chewing) What is that, a Sentra? (chewing)

I don't have any room left in my belly for American cars. By the time American car companies realized they had to switch thangs up, the Japanese brands were already ahead.

Chrysler desperately needed a new model that could compete. - This today is not a laser and light show, this is strictly a product, an engineering show and maybe you'll be bored by it, I don't know.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- What do you getwhen you take a Hatchback,a Hot rod, a Truck, a Station wagon,an old person's car, a young person's car,retro styling, factory flamedecals, and Brian Setzer?A big ol' mess is what you get.(Explosion)(Car engines roar)None of you asked for thisepisode, but we did it anyway.This is everything you needto know to get up to speedon the PT Cruiser.♪ You gotta jump and jiveand then you're ready ♪♪ Gotta jump and jive and ♪(Intro music playing)A big ol' thanks to Omazefor partnering with uson this episode. Right now,Omaze is giving away a brand newBMW M8 Competition Coupe.That means free, all right?You don't pay taxes. Youdon't pay transport, nothing!You get 617 HRSPRS, all wheel drive,and an 8 speed transmissionwith Merino Leather seatsand a limited edition paint schemeplus, 20,000 freakin' dollars cash.Every donation gives you a chance to winand benefits the RonaldReagan Medical Center at UCLA,the same people that saved my life.Every donation will helpthem buy ECMO heart machines,which are crucial in savinglives of heart attack victims.To show your support for me being alive,and uh- your support ofother people in the futureremaining alive, and yourchance to win an awesome carand bunch of cash Go to Omaze.com/donutfor your chance to win.If you win, I will go to lunch with you,you have to pay though'cause you're a twenty-thousandaire.Thanks Omaze.(beep)In the late 70's Chrysler was hurtin'.The third largest automaker in Detroit was waginga losing war on two fronts. Onone side was the oil crisis,which caused fuel pricesin the US to skyrocket.On the other side,Japan saw America's needfor more fuel efficient cars,and they freakin' delivered,and America freakin'gobbled 'em gobbled 'em up.Is that a Civic? (chewing)What is that, a Corolla? (chewing)What is that, a Sentra? (chewing)(Stretching sound)I don't have any room left inmy belly for American cars.By the time American carcompanies realized they hadto switch thangs up, the Japanesebrands were already ahead.Chrysler desperately needed anew model that could compete.- This today is not alaser and light show,this is strictly a product,an engineering showand maybe you'll be boredby it, I don't know.- Lee Iacocca, LeeIacocca! Put the plan into actiondeveloping the platform for the "K Car"and a designer at Chryslerby the name of Tom Gale,helped bring the K Car platform to life.K Cars like the DodgeAries, and Plymouth Reliantwere boxy and boring, no frills.But, they were exactlywhat parent company,Chrysler needed.Despite their subdued appearancethese cars sold fantastically well.From 1981 to 1988 Chryslersold 300,000 of these thingsevery freakin' year, butnow Chrysler had anotherissue to deal with.People now viewed theirbrand as boring, and paintedvarious shaded of beige.Beige is my favorite color.Oh yeah, why is that?Uh, it looks great on Cargo shorts,on Cargo vests, Cargo hats,cargo jeans, Cargo jackets.Hm, anyway by the late 1980'sPlymouth sister company Dodgewas rebranding and tryingto turn their image around.(Engine roaring)The Viper prototype debutedat the 1989 Detroit Auto Showand ooh Baby!People freakin' loved it!Seemingly overnight it transformed Dodgefrom the sleepy Grandpabrand it was in the 80'sinto a performance leader.Plymouth watched as theircool big brother got buffin the front yard and they were like,"I wanna be a big buff guy too".Tom Gale bein' a Hot rod dude at heartthrew around a couple of conceptsbut it was a project by a student at theArt Center College ofDesign by the name ofDouglas Foose AKA Chip!- You know the worlddoesn't need another Hot rod,but the greatest thing about this industryis it's a hundred percent passion driven.- His design, "TheHemisphere" was sleek,aggressive, and it hearkenedback to the 1930's eraof Hot rods.Tom Gayle was immediatelyintrigued by Chip's project.The final product, theProwler concept was fun,and radical and unlikeany other car on the road.It had a sharp angledgrill, aggressive lookand indie style wheels.The two seater would beconstructed with aluminum andcomposite materials, atechnique far outside of theK car makers' "wheelhouse".Get it?The debut of the Prowlerwas one up by numerous"over the top" reveals at that show.1993 was a good year to beat the Detroit Auto Show.Porsche unveiled theirnew car, The Boxster,and Plymouth's coololder buff brother Dodgeunveiled the Ram pickup.Once again, Dodge had hit a home runso Plymouth got jealous all over againand started designing amore practical versionof the Prowler,but with the same Heritage styling.So in 1997 the PlymouthPronto concept debuted,it was an affordable,fun, five door conceptthat had visible stylingcues from the Prowler,specifically the pointedgrill and split bumperand it came in a colorcalled 'Cool Vanilla'.Which is coincidentallythe stage name I usewhen I play sax in my band Sax Evasion.(Saxophone playing)(Cheering)A year later the ProntoSpyder concept was releasedthis two door roadster hada 2.4 liter turbo charged 4cylinder mid mounted enginethat made 225 hrspr and itwas small it only weighed2,700 pounds.Soon after Chryslerdebuted the all wheel drivePronto Cruiser with a Z!Are you kiddin' me, that's so cool!(Engine revving)Meanwhile, the productionPlymouth Prowler debutedin 1998 and was immediatelymet with criticism.Sure, people loved theradical styling but Plymouthdid a little oopsie in thepant and only offered itwith a very boring V6.(Record Scratch)Could've had a V8.Despite the lukewarm reception,Chrysler didn't considerit to be a failure.It was never meant to bea volume car, the Prowlerwas an experiment in theproduction of aluminum cars.That's what us in the bizcall Big Picture Stuff.(Tires Sliding)Chrysler debuted the PTCruiser concept at the 1999Detroit International Auto Show.PT stood for Personal Transit,by the turn of the new millennium(Explosion)You know, when we all died?Chrysler had created a lotof positive buzz aroundthe car and peoplecouldn't wait to find outwhat this heritage Hot rodwagon thing was all about,it was a tall and stoututilitarian Hot rodwith a bunch of space.It looked vaguely familiar, but alsono one had seen anythinglike it ever before!(Lightning strike)(Engine roaring)Engineers and designers used a VR and DMA,a cab type system to structure the PT.These programs were extremelyhelpful in developmentas engineers could use Virtual Realityto assemble componentsand ensure the proper fitbefore a physicalprototype was ever built.After years of hard work and testing,the dream of Chrysler and Tom Galewas about to materialize.Finally, you've beentalking about freakin' VRfor like a hour now.I missed you Buddy.- What the?(Guitar music playing)- The PT Cruiser hada wheelbase of 103 inches,stood tall at 63 incheshigh and weighed just over3000 pounds.It was basically a a lil'box, and all the seatsexcept for the Driver seat folded downthanks to the use of a Twist Beam Axle andWatts linkage.Standard engine that we gotwas a 2.4 liter inline 4,that made 150 hrsprs and that was sharedby the Chrysler Cirrus, Dodge Stratus."I drive a Dodge Stratus!"And the Plymouth Breeze.The interior also had a very unique style,in it a four spoke steering wheel,deep set gauges, color matched dash panelsand a cue ball style shifter.Although it didn't look muchlike a truck, the PT Cruiseris designated as a light truckin order to pass stringent emission laws.They planned to build180,000 the first year,but then they ran into a problem.The Engine Bay only had.6 of an inch clearancefor the Engine becauseit had been engineeredto use every last bit of space.They had to slow productiondown and retrain everyonebut eventually the got the hang ofstuffing the engines in andproduction got back up tospeed.(Whoosh)- Hey guys what'sup, James here from the videothat you're watching now.I just want to interruptmyself to let you know abouta really exciting newproject that we got going onhere at Donut.It's called "Money Pit",we have a new projectcar, a beautiful NA Miataand every week we're gonnashow you how to work ona different aspect of the car.You wanna learn what parts of your car do?You wanna learn how tofix 'em and replace them?This is the show for you,and Zach Jobe my team highfrom High Low companionis just the guy to do itand luckily he's hostin' the show.So it's every Wednesday,it's really cool uhmake sure you watch itso that we're allowedto buy more cars and work on 'em.Encourage you to build along, let's do it.(Beep)PT Cruiser, you're probablynot even watching anymore.(Laughs)In it's first year ofproduction Chrysler sold175,000 PT Cruisers across58 different countries.It even won Motor Trend'scar of the year in 2001.Dealers couldn't keep'em in stock and soonthe waitlist filled up.Enthusiasm for the Cruisermatched and even surpassedthat of the new Beetle.It was relatively cheap,fun and had a cool factorwhich is how moms describe things.But the most exciting has to be♪ You gotta jump and jiveand then you're ready ♪♪ Gotta jump and jive and ♪The Brian Setzer V-Voom Setzer Cruiser,it featured a built in guitar rack,an amp in the cab and theword V-Voom on the fenderto promote Setzer's album." I would love to getmy hands on one of thosesweet sweet bad boys"In 2001 they debuted thePT Woody and Dream Cruiser.The Woody was a limited runof 1,000 cars in a 1960'ssurf wagon style and apparentlyit was a collaborationwith the East Coastbased Ron Jon Surf Shop.Cool.The Dream Cruiser wasnamed after an annual eventin Detroit, Every yearup to 1,500,000 peopleand 30,000 cars cruiseWoodward St., one of the best"Cruise Strips" in the US.They came in Inca Gold with gold coloredMatrix Leather seats,in Europe they werecalled "Street Cruiser".They only made 7,500 ofthese and had number plaquesin the middle console.(Engine roaringThe PT Cruiser was meant toappeal to a younger audienceit was cheap, customizableand most importantlyunique, but when Chrysler took a lookat who was actually buyingit, they were quite surprised.♪ I'm talkin bout thecat in the PT Cruiser ♪Turns out when you builda car that's meant to looklike it was a car from the 30'sthe only people that buy thatcar are the ones who livedthrough the 30's.It doesn't matter if thecustomers were old or not,PT Cruisers were still selling.2002 was the first year you could get yourPT Cruiser with flamedecals from the factory.Chrysler's like, " youngpeople like flames right?""young people like power right?"So they added a little bit mo of it!(Engine Revving)The PT Cruiser GT Turbo highoutput had an updated versionof the Turbo Charged 2.4 liter 4 cylinder,and now made 220 hrspr.It could do 0 to 60 in 7.5seconds which is not greatand for 28 Grand whichis about $41,000 todayit wasn't worth it.Again, Chrysler was sending mixed signals,on one hand they wanted to give the kidsthe mo' power baby,but on the other hand whatkid can afford a $41,000retro car?(Classical music)2004 marked the first yearPT Convertibles went on saleand fans had been holding their breathsince the concept debuted 4 years earlier.It took so long because insteadof retrofitting an alreadyexisting PT the Convertible hadto be completely redesigned.Nothing from the A-pillarback on the convertiblewas interchangeable withregular PT Cruisers.It was also very quiet, anotherthing that old people loveit was said that you could havea picnic table conversationwith your passengerwhile the top was down.Oh, just talk about asloud as you would talkat a (Beep) picnic table.The (Beep) does that mean?The regular PT was updated as wellwith the new front.From the outside it wouldseem like a small changebut to PT loyaliststhis was a freakin' slapin the face alright?So much so that they callany Cruiser from 2004 on"The Second Gen".Even though, technically there's only onegeneration over the lifespan of the PT.(Game Show music)PT car people are the mostintimidating type of car people,because why the (Beep) do they like it?(Engine running)The general public also began to turnon the Heritage Cruiser, maybe it was thelame corporate custom mods.Maybe it was that Michael Scottdrove one on "The Office".(Pop music playing)- It's Britney Bitch.- Despite all the short comingsChrysler sold a butt load of 'em.By the time production ended in 2010over one million PT Cruisers were sold.If there's one thing thatcan be said about thePT Cruiser, it's that it didn't looklike anything else on the road.It may have been a little bit out of touchbut their experiment withaluminum constructionwas a success.Thank you so much for watching,we got a lot of new stuff in the works.We're gonna have shows every single day,make sure you subscribe and hit that bellto make sure that youdon't miss any of it.Follow Donut on Twitter and Instagramat Donut Media,follow me on Twitter and Instagramat James Pumphrey.If you want some Donutmerch go to DonutMedia.comour newest item I'mreally excited about theseit's enamel pins that wemade with Lean Customsnow if you know anything about car pinsyou'll know that LeanCustoms is a really reallygreat name in the biz, we'resuper excited about these.DonutMedia.comI love you.