Junkyard Gem: 2006 Chrysler Sebring Touring Convertible

Fast, what was the most affordable new convertible Individuals might purchase in 2006? In case you guessed “Chrysler PT Cruiser” ($19,890 MSRP) you are proper, however the Pontiac Solstice price simply 25 extra bucks. After that got here the likes of the Miata, Mustang, New Beetle, and so forth, all priced beneath $25,000 of their most inexpensive ragtop variations that yr. The Chrysler Sebring was the most affordable midsize convertible in 2006, with a worth beginning at simply $26,115 (about $39,005 in 2022 {dollars}), edging out the Toyota Camry Solara SE by 825 bucks. Here is a kind of roomy-yet-reasonably-priced Chrysler convertibles, now completely used up and residing in a Colorado self-service wrecking yard.

Chrysler offered Sebrings from the 1995 by means of 2010 mannequin years, in three generations. The convertible model appeared early on, beginning in 1996; it began out on the identical platform because the now-long-forgotten “Cloud Vehicles” (Chrysler Cirrus, Plymouth Breeze, Dodge Stratus), then moved in 2007 to a Mitsubishi/DaimlerChrysler-developed platform that went beneath every part from Outlanders to Avengers. That makes at the moment’s Junkyard Gem one of many latest American members of the Cloud Automobile household tree, although GAZ constructed Sebring-derived Volga Sibers in Russia for a number of extra years.

By the point it received to this place, it had turn into a complete hooptie. Rattle-can paint, duct-tape trim restore, the works. Simply 16 years previous, but it surely’s executed.

The baling-wire restore to the torn convertible high exhibits ingenuity on the a part of a former proprietor.

Plywood seems to be conserving the roof from collapsing.

As a result of so many Sebrings had been invisible fleet vehicles, it is easy to overlook {that a} convertible even existed. Actually, the Sebring was the best-selling new convertible in America within the center 2000s.

When the 24 Hours of Lemons race collection first went to Sebring Worldwide Raceway in 2014, I used my huge powers as Chief Justice of the Lemons Supreme Court docket to get entry charges waived for Chrysler Sebring race vehicles. We received two Sebrings that yr, each convertibles.

The bottom Sebrings for 2006 received the two.4-liter straight-four out of the just-discontinued Neon, whereas the Touring, GTC, and Restricted trim ranges received this 200-horsepower DOHC V6 (initially developed for the Chrysler LH vehicles) displacing 2.7 liters.

Early U.S.-market Sebrings may very well be bought with five-speed handbook transmissions, however a four-speed computerized was necessary by the point this automobile was constructed.

That is a kind of junkyard vehicles that basically wanted some olfactory help. Subsequent cease: The Crusher!

The Sebring begs to be pushed.