{"id":33191,"date":"2022-10-08T00:04:01","date_gmt":"2022-10-08T04:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=33191"},"modified":"2022-10-08T00:04:01","modified_gmt":"2022-10-08T04:04:01","slug":"junkyard-gem-2006-chrysler-sebring-convertible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=33191","title":{"rendered":"Junkyard Gem: 2006 Chrysler Sebring Touring Convertible"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quick, what was the cheapest new convertible Americans could buy in 2006? If you guessed “Chrysler PT Cruiser”<\/a> ($19,890 MSRP) you’re right, but the Pontiac Solstice<\/a> cost just 25 additional bucks. After that came the likes of the Miata, Mustang<\/a>, New Beetle<\/a>, and so forth, all priced below $25,000 in their most affordable ragtop versions that year. The Chrysler Sebring<\/a> was the cheapest midsize<\/em> convertible in 2006, with a price starting at just $26,115 (about $39,005 in 2022 dollars), edging out the Toyota Camry Solara SE<\/a> by 825 bucks. Here’s one of those roomy-yet-reasonably-priced Chrysler<\/a> convertibles, now absolutely used up and residing in a Colorado self-service wrecking yard.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chrysler sold Sebrings from the 1995 through 2010<\/a> model years, in three generations. The convertible version appeared early on, starting in 1996; it started out on the same platform as the now-long-forgotten “Cloud Cars” (Chrysler Cirrus<\/a>, Plymouth Breeze<\/a>, Dodge Stratus<\/a>), then moved in 2007 to a Mitsubishi\/DaimlerChrysler-developed platform<\/a> that went under everything from Outlanders to Avengers<\/a>. That makes today’s Junkyard Gem<\/a> one of the newest American members of the Cloud Car family tree, though GAZ built Sebring-derived Volga Sibers<\/a> in Russia for a few more years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

By the time it got to this place, it had become a total hooptie<\/a>. Rattle-can paint, duct-tape trim repair<\/a>, the works. Just 16 years old, but it’s done.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The baling-wire repair to the torn convertible top shows ingenuity on the part of a former owner.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Plywood appears to be keeping the roof from collapsing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Because so many Sebrings were invisible fleet cars, it’s easy to forget that a convertible even existed. In fact, the Sebring<\/a> was the best-selling new convertible in America<\/a> in the middle 2000s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When the 24 Hours of Lemons race series first went to Sebring International Raceway<\/a> in 2014, I used my vast powers<\/a> as Chief Justice of the Lemons Supreme Court<\/a> to get entry fees waived for Chrysler Sebring<\/a> race cars. We got two Sebrings that year, both convertibles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The base Sebrings for 2006 got the 2.4-liter straight-four out of the just-discontinued Neon<\/a>, while the Touring, GTC, and Limited trim levels got this 200-horsepower DOHC V6 (originally developed for the Chrysler LH cars<\/a>) displacing 2.7 liters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Early U.S.-market Sebrings could be purchased with five-speed manual transmissions, but a four-speed automatic was mandatory by the time this car was built.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is one of those junkyard cars that really\u00a0needed<\/em> some olfactory assistance<\/a>. Next stop: The Crusher<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n

The Sebring begs to be driven.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quick, what was the cheapest new convertible Americans could buy in 2006? If you guessed “Chrysler PT Cruiser” ($19,890 MSRP) you’re right, but the Pontiac Solstice cost just 25 additional bucks. After that came the likes of the Miata, Mustang, New Beetle, and so forth, all priced below $25,000 in their most affordable ragtop versions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}