While Sergio Marchionne ultimately united a large Italian automaking concern with a major American outfit, it?s worth remembering that Lee Iacocca, Chrysler?s Italian-American CEO throughout the 1980s and a major source of inspiration to Miami Vice?s Izzy Moreno, repeatedly attempted to inject the automotive passions of his ancestral homeland into Chrysler?s product line, starting in 1980 with the Omni-based Dodge DeTomaso, continuing with Chrysler?s 1987 purchase of Lamborghini, and ultimately culminating with the oft-mocked 1989 Chrysler TC by Maserati, the Pentastar?s entry in the European luxury-convertible sweepstakes.

At the time, Cadillac was treading the same waters with its Pininfarina-bodied, Hamtramck-assembled Allanté, which utilized a shortened version of General Motors? E-body front-wheel-drive platform shared with the Toronado, Riviera, and Eldorado. In retrospect, it?s a little hard to take the General?s troika seriously, but in the day, they were still considered viable luxury contenders. Remember, Lexus didn?t arrive on the U.S. market until the 1990 model year. The TC also rode on a specialized platform, dubbed Q by Chrysler, which traced its roots back to the K-car and shared much with the Dodge Daytona and Chrysler?s redesigned-for-?87 LeBaron convertible. The TC dispensed with the Chrysler?s headlight covers, trading them for a nose job that would seem to presage the Maserati Ghibli II of 1992, gained an optional Maserati-assembled version of ...