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A Super Rare 1988 Dodge Dynasty with the Fake Convertable Top

First, some backround information....

For a few years from the late 1980's through the very early 1990's, Chrysler offered a unique option to a few select FWD Mopars. This option was called the "immitation convertable package" and basically was an otherwise stock body with a unique rag top roof which was uniquely made to look like a convertable. This was a dealer item, however despite being a dealer option, it is listed in some of the Chrysler literature.

The car would have a series of ribs installed on the roof in select positions. These small ribs would be covered with the vynal/cloth material in a manner which would make the car appear to have a convertable top which could fold down. This truely rare option was almost never put on any Mopars, let alone the Dynasty. But in the pre-1990 days, the Dodge Dynasty was THE luxury Dodge model (as in 1990 this spot became fullfilled with the Chrysler Imperial...), surpassed by only the FWD 5th Ave/New Yorkers of the time. This rare model appeared on eBay for sale, and came from Richmond, VA. The car has only 50k on the clock, and is spottless. The car has the 3.0L V6 engine (my guess is that it would have had the 3.3 had that car been made two years later in 1990....). Enough talk, here are the pictures!

Notice the side lights in the botton of the front fenders. Don't know if this was specific to 80's Dynastys or just the upper prices ones of the 80's. I do know that they stoped those fender lights by 1992 for the Dynasty, and almost all of the higher priced AC/AY's had them, including the Imperials. Oddly enough, this car has the normal Dynasty grill, when in fact there were 3 grill styles for the Dynasty. One looked like the older FWD NYer/5th Ave and had vertical bars and a hood ordament. The other style came with most of the "Conversation Packages" (which was a rare options package) and had no horizontal bars, but rather lots of wide vertical chrome bars.

Note the unique "Dodge" wheels. I have yet to see these on any other FWD Mopar- reguardless of the year, model, or rather the wheels are alloy or hub caps. Some 90's Imperials got similar rims which said Imperial or Chrysler on them (I forget which), but these "Dodge" rims were not commonly used.

Here's the 3.0L V6 engine. In 1988 (when this car was made), the 3.0 was not commonly found in Mopar cars (but rather vans), as the amount of Mopar cars to get the 3.0 increased over this era.

You may notice that the car only has 50k on the clock. However you may not notice that the car's speed-o meter only goes to 85 MPH!!!! Aparently most of the Dynasty's of the 80's only went to 85 MPH in the dash cluster. By the 90's this was changed to 120 MPH. This was due to some wierd federal law of the 80's which kept auto companies from having speedos which went over 85 MPH. This (for some reason) did not apply to sports cars, and digital dash Mopars (generally speaking) had a switch on the back which would allow them to show over 85 mph so that the car would fit in in other countries.

Here's something to think about... the Dynasty's didn't get airbags yet (as seen by the steering wheel...), but while looking at the wheel, look at the headlight control switch... you see how there are two switches to the right of the headlight controler? One is for the rear ice defroster- the other is for the alarm system. Also notice the chrome and rubber pedals? By the 90's the pedals became all rubber/plastic and had no chrome. A change to cut costs I bet. There were a couple comnination of headlight switch assemblies made for the Dynastys. One with just the alarm and defroster, one with just the defroster, one for the defroster and fog lights, and lastly one with all 3.

This model got map lights on the roof. By the 90's this was replaced by an overhead console with two map lights and an area to store stuff. An optional "Naviagtion systems package" put an auto dim rear view mirror and a digital overhead console in the Dynasty. For other AC/AY's, this options package was the one which gave the digital dash (as the overhead console worked with the digital dash, except for the digital overhead console for the Dynasty- as the Dynasty never got a digital dash!). I've seen the digital overhead dash from an '89 AC/AY go on eBay for almost $50 (US).

Here's my favorite thing about this Dynasty.... see the two compartments here, and a third one (partly shown to the left....). Bet you can't guess what these are (well, besides the glove compartment!).

A cup holder! I thought it would be for fuses or for the owners manual or something.. but never figured a cup holder. Ashtray is to the left. They certianly thought of everything for this model! For 1990 (when the Dynasty got a face lift) they moved the cup holder to the arm rests as an option found most commonly in the upper priced models (like the Imperial).

Here is the side of the car. Notice how the outside doesn't say "Dynasty" anywhere! Nothing on the front, the vynal/cloth, not even on the trunk lid, and there doesn't appear to have ever been anything (juding by the lack of paint discoloring, glue, etc left over from where one would have been....).

Here is the rear of the car. Look at the roof for a second here. You can barely make it out, but you can see the cuts and ribs in the cloth to make it look like a convertable. Pretty unique... especially for a Dynasty. I'd love to own this baby (and if I did, she'd be kept 100% original like this, no reason to modify such a rare car when there are others with the same internals which could be played with....).

Some people I have talked with say that the fake convertable top may not have been a Chrysler option, but rather a dealer option which the dealers would pay to have done at your local fabrication shop. Either way, they are not common on any FWD Mopar of this era. I wouldn't mind having one on my car... if it weren't for the extra wieght. Perhaps the reason why this car sold for the price of a used mint shape Imperial on eBay! No doubt, these cars have class, and still take in the cash when in nice enough shape. Perhaps why the retail book value of my Dynasty was over $5,000 (US) in 2001! And I lack many the electronics package, the power shut trunk, or any of the vynil roofs.