I wanted to share the story of my Crossfire ownership and how it came to be. It's long so open up a cold one and enjoy!

I forgot the Chrysler Crossfire existed. Like a celebrity that becomes famous and quickly disappears from the headlines, this is how I thought of the Crossfire. What started as a normal day taking photos and posting vehicles to our online database here at work turned into a morning (and 4 days) I'll never forget. But first a little backround on myself.

I'm Cliff, 29 years old and a father to three children. My passion for cars borderlines obsessive compulsive and sometimes makes life very difficult. From a young age I had always been obsessed with "the car" and specifically "the fast car". That car for me was the Corvette. My Grandfather worked at the Moraine Plant, GM in Ohio for decades before it closed, my other Grandfather sold Chevrolet's and Buick's, my Father had been a salesman, Finance Manager, and ended up being the New Car sales Manager for a Chevy dealer for many years, my mother worked the title office at the same dealer as my father, my uncle worked detail and accessories for a neighboring Chrysler lot and so on. As you can see here, it only made since that I followed in my families footsteps.

After various jobs in customer service and retail, I finally landed a job working as a lot-tech at a Honda dealer. Being the lowest of the low in every category known to man, you get an overwhelming sense of sass and ***hole-ness about yourself. That attitude landed me 3 raises and 2 promotions in the matter of 10 months. After my one year anniversary and an ownership change, I became the Lot-Tech Manager, which is a glorified baby-sitter with a polo shirt. Shortly after that with I was promoted again to inventory control/photographer at our Ford location. With that job came one great opportunity, to drive every single car in our inventory.

Fast forward to last week, I'm doing my usual inventory counts and started photographing the cars when the new lot-tech manager drives up to my photo-booth in a pretty red sports-car. It was low, wide, and mean looking. I had not seen one of these cars in ages and immediately had to take it for a test drive. That car was my 2004 Chrysler Crossfire.

{insert devilishly large grins and childish laughs} This thing is a blast to drive! Certainly this can't be a Chrysler. The last Chrysler I drove had the playfulness of a brick in water. I've owned 39 cars in 14 years and this is like nothing I've driven. It's spot on handling, big brakes, throaty exhaust, and menacing looks reminded me of the days I fell in love with the car when they were new in 2004. It was 2004 all over again, it was playing Forza Motorsport 4 on my Xbox, hooning an SRT-6 online smashing the competition. I was a kid in a candystore. You get the picture.

After a 20 minute drive, I came back to my desk and started researching the Crossfire. I had done this in the past, but it had been years so I knew I needed to brush up on my knowledge. I came here as I had done in the past and immediately looked for problems, maintenance, and troubleshooting posts on the car. What I found surprising mainly centered around how "normal" the cars were when it came to repairs. It's no more detrimental to my wallet then say, my 2005 Accord. It has the same costs of ownership as that Accord. A low mileage engine for both cars runs around $2,000 if God forbid mine were to blow up. The oil Change and tire balance and rotation at my cost at work runs $50 on the Accord and about $90 on the Crossfire. Replacement parts (OE) aren't to much more. Brake pads, Serpentine belts, and filters are all within my range of what I'd call "normal". But the car is far from normal.

I went and talked to my used car manager about the Crossfire. He was the first of many to point out every single negative about buying it. "It's a Mercedes underneath". "It costs X amount of dollars to do this or that". "You won't like it". "Electrical Problems". "Mustang's are faster". Almost everyone was putting the car on the same level as a 1990's Daewoo. But what they didn't know is I was already primed with some knowledge and know-how for the car and confidently ready to buy "if" the used car sales manager would sell it to me. I have access to what we pay for trade ins and so own so I knew what we had in it... Only $2,000.

After a lengthy conversation with a service tech who inspected the car, we concluded that for its age and mileage, anything under market value for the car would make it a great investment. It had flaws, sagging headliner, ashtray won't stay shut, cupholder was MIA, and some dents and dings. With 100,000 miles on the odometer, it was due for some servicing as well. The used car manager and I agreed on a price, $4100. A great price in my book. The car wasn't finished in service after I signed papers for it and had wondered what in the world was going on back there with it. I walked to service and found the used car manager had put in the deal a fresh oil change and four new tires! That totaled almost $1200 in itself. When it was completed the next day, I took delivery and drove it home to show my fiance. She wasn't impressed either. LOL. It took some convincing and a couple of rides to prove her otherwise.

The reason I wanted to share this with you boils down to community. If it were not for this forum, I might have passed up on the car. Knowing I won't need a dealership for 90% of my ownership is a blessing. For that 10%, I have a good tech here at work that seem very knowledgeable in the car as well. I love the car even with its flaws, it shines up nicely and runs just as well as my Accord. It's very fun to drive and I attribute that to the previous owner and what they had done before they traded it. New shocks and brakes surely help keep the spunk alive in an eleven year old car.

I've got some work cut out for me. Re-doing the RCM, getting a second key (next week), doing the plugs and wires, coolant exchange, and the transmission service. Everything I want to do or need to do I found here so I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the car and to this forum. Without you, people like me may have passed up the car due to simply not knowing much about it. So there is my story! Enjoy your Crossfire!