Howdy Crossfire Gang!

First up, thank you for creating such a helpful & useful discussion forum 👍. The wisdom of this mob - plus my trusty mechanic Boris - have together solved a number of the issues that arrived with my new-to-me-but-2004 Crossfire Coupe. By way of thanks, please accept my Dodgy Crossfire Manual (details below) - enjoy! - along with this New Member Intro thread:

I live in Adelaide - also called 'Rads' - which is the capital of South Australia. Back in the 1960s & 70s, when I was a kid, Chrysler made the mighty Valiants just down the road from here. The Valiant was undoubtedly Australia's greatest car - as a youth I hooned around in quite a few different models - a quaint '63 AP5 with a 215 slant 6; the coolest '70 VG hardtop with the 265 - and these were happy days indeed.

Inevitably though, other good things - bikes/travel/wife/work/kids - came along; the years & then decades rolled past smoothly - and then suddenly, WHAM!! One morning I woke up and realised that I'm driving a silver Ford sedan - please don't judge me! - in fact the same damned one for over 15 years!! In a panic I hit carsales.com.au and look up Valiants for sale - but the prices are crazy, good ones cost an absolute fortune these days. I wail to my wife at the injustice of it all. She's supportive but points out some undesirable Valiant features - they drink like a fish, can't go around corners, don't have A/C and half the time won't even start. All true. Bugger.

Then I remembered that day in 2004. I was working as a sales geek for a local ISP who hosted a table at the American Chamber of Commerce ('Amcham') monthly business lunch. These were held at the Hotel Intercontinental, where there'd feature some new American product or service in the foyer; followed by two anthems, fabulous steaks & limitless red wines for the rest of the day. Good times. One day there was a Crossfire Coupe parked in the foyer; and I'd never seen such a magnificent thing in my life. It's the car I drew as an 8 year old kid - it even had bigger wheels at the back! The Chrysler dude loved it too. We admired it from every angle, then hopped in & yakked on for so long I missed the anthems and had to pony up a $100 penalty! Back then, the Crossfire cost $75K - way out of my league - and afterwards I never saw one on the road. Eventually, somehow, I forgot all about the Crossfire.

Fast forward to 2021 - carsales.com.au has good news (they aren't $75K any more) and bad news (there are only half-a-dozen Crossfire Coupes for sale in the entire country - none in SA). I wait a week or so & check again, then again ... they're too few, too remote, too high mileage ... or they're clearly thrashed, or they're yellow. For nearly a year I'm a persistence hunter, patiently stalking my prey and kicking the damn Ford every now & then. And at last, success!

I meet the lady owner & she tells me with fierce intensity this Crossfire's name is 'Esmerelda'; there will be no sale until I agree to that condition. Not a problem - Esmerelda suits her perfectly. The test drive is a high-speed blast through the Adelaide Hills with her hubby; he coaches me through his favourite twisties; he knows & slows me for the speed traps. After half-an-hour I'm getting right into it & we're grinning like idiots; then he frowns and asks me 'Hey you are serious about buying this car mate, you're not just taking the ****?' I'm laughing as I reply : 'Yep - in fact you chuck in the personalised plates & I ain't even going to haggle!' ... she is the one, the deal is done ... and now I'm very pleased to introduce my Esmerelda to you all:

My gorgeous 2004 coupe came with the vanity license plate '1 XFIRE' - yep both the quantity & the model name!


A traditional 'tag' on Sisters Rocks ensured good fortune & no tickets on our first Adelaide - Melbourne cruise.


Nice ***, Esmerelda!

+++

As mentioned above, I've created a Dodgy Crossfire Manual - Esmerelda didn't have one, and US cars are subtly different to Oz cars in many little ways. So I downloaded a copy from this website, and (ahem) 're-formatted' it, to improve both the printing and the perusing. The full PDF is located here - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/phv8u...f098omkip&dl=0 - and I've pasted some snippets below. You're welcome.

The cover page of my Dodgy Crossfire Manual.


Enjoy looking up Engine Compartment Fuses with Jimbo's Dodgy Crossfire Manual.


Don't be baffled by Vanity Mirrors - Jimbo's Dodgy Crossfire Manual and this nice lady can explain everything.

 

Welcome from the USA !!
An enjoyable post you created here with the introduction of yourself and 'Esmerelda'
Welcome to our forum with 20 years of shared info about these cool little cars

Gary

 

Congrats on your purchase of the 2004 Crossfire & welcome to our Forum!

 

Congratulations! Have fun!

 

Welcome and congratulations Jimbo! I am in Adelaide and my story is similar to yours. I brought mine down from Queensland though.

We should catch up mate! Send me a PM.

 

Cheers Gary 👍

And may I say, nice wheels too! Now I'm thinking Esmerelda needs a Roadster pal more than the wife needs a CX-5 ... wait up, nup - turns out I'm wrong about that 🤣

All the best, Jimbo

 

Thank you dedwards0323, nice to be here 👍

I see from your signature that my Esmerelda has a twin! Have taken some notes on the work you've done too - very helpful.

Have a good one, Jimbo

 

Roger that, M60A3Driver - my plan exactly 👍

(In Oz we call the big old American muscle cars 'yank tanks'; looks like you've taken that to a whole new level!)

Keep on truckin' - cheers Jimbo

 

Hi UnderTheSouthernCross (I Stand) - coolio!!

Just read your intro, your Coupe looks brand new - damn! Yep let's meet up for sure - look forward to that 👍.

Keen to pick your brain on subwoofers too - Esmerelda tweets nicely, but she woofs like a dog! PM on way - cheers Jimbo

 

Thanks Jimbo!
I miss driving that beast! (the M60A3 Patton MBT)
Just like the quote from the movie Fury... "Best job I ever had!"