A Prodigal Sports Coupe is Born

Without giving away my age, I can tell you that when I first espied the rear lines of the Chrysler Crossfire I was instantly transported back to 1965 and my favorite car of that year, the Rambler Marlin. Some 39 years ago this sleek battler of Plymouths own fishy coupe, the Barracuda, caught everyones attention with its 2-door boattail fastback design.

The boattail design the Marlin featured narrowed as it met the rear bumper. And as with todays Crossfire, this design created wide shoulders that extended laterally over the rear wheels - not unlike a stretched version of todays Crossfire. And by the way, my passion for automobiles commenced at a very young age, so put the calculator away.

Now that we have verified that history repeats itself

My first glimpse of the rear lines of the Chrysler Crossfire instantly brought back memories of one of my favorite cars, the 1965 Rambler Marlin. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, American Auto Press)

The Crossfire is the first all-new vehicle to emerge from the union between auto giants Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz, now known as DaimlerChrysler.

An offspring of the two companys merger, the Crossfires DNA is 39 percent Mercedes-Benz and 61 percent Chrysler. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, American Auto Press)

In my view Chrysler has done an

Chrysler has done an outstanding job designing both the exterior and interior of the Crossfire. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, American Auto Press)

As Chryslers Trevor Creed, Senior Vice President of Design said, "in addition to romantic shapes and sleek, athletic lines, we gave Chrysler

Although the interior of the Crossfire seems tight at first, theres just the right amount of room for comfort. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, American Auto Press)

And upon climbing or more accurately lowering oneself into the Crossfire, all of what Trevor Creed had to say becomes a reality. This is one tight fitting cockpit, at least in terms of headroom. As such the Crossfire has done more to ignite my NBA dreams than anything I could ever do on a court. This car could make Bill Gates feel tall. But after settling into the firm, supportive,

The lack of steering wheel controls and small center stack buttons made using the audio system a minor irritation. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, American Auto Press)

Chrysler has fashioned a very sharp looking interior to match the Crossfires eye-catching, sculpted exterior. Front and center in the Crossfires interior - and I mean that literally - is a dynamite center-stack console unit finished in a glossy metallic surface. The glossy finish appears much more durable than a similar design theme, sans gloss, found in the Mazda6 that I recently tested. The Mazda surface was highly susceptible

The rear-wheel drive Crossfire is fitted with a 215-hp 3.2-liter, 18-valve SOHC engine. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, American Auto Press)

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