The luxury two-seat convertible that would enter production in 1989 as Chrysler’s TC by Maserati, had a long gestation period that could have doomed the car before it had the chance to take on the Cadillac Allanté and Mercedes-Benz 560 SL that it was to compete against. This car debuted at the 1986 Los Angeles Auto Show, and at that point, Maserati’s role in its branding had yet to be finalized. We see the result of that uncertainty in this contemporary small 12-page brochure, where it was dubbed the “Chrysler Corporation Sport Coupe Built By Maserati.”
While the design was nearly finalized, there were some aspects -in addition to the name!- that hadn’t yet been decided. Most obvious was the emblem: rather than using the Maserati trident inside an outline of Chrysler’s Pentastar, this version simply placed a wreath around the complete Pentastar.
The original 1986 show car emblem, and the emblem used on the production TC from 1989-1991.
This emblem was used on the grille and in the center of the trunklid. And while the lace-pattern 15 x 6-inch aluminum alloy wheels didn’t change, the show car’s wheels appeared to have plain center caps, while the production model’s caps bore the Penta-dent.
The trunklid of both pre-production and production models had the “built by MASERATI” insignia in the right-hand taillamp trim, but the latter also had “CHRYSLER’S TC” in the left side.
Another change was visible in the interior, where the show car (top image) sported a Pentastar-shaped analog clock, a la Maserati, that didn’t make it to production (bottom image from the 1990 TC brochure; the airbag was new that year); the vent arrangement was also altered.
Here’s another image of the 1990 Chrysler’s TC by Maserati, to compare to the image on top.
See if you can pick up other differences between the production TC and the show car; click on the brochure images below to enlarge.
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