the Daytona, Caravan, Voyager, Sundance, Shadow, CSX, Spirit, Acclaim, Saratoga, FWD
         LeBaron, FWD Caravelle, FWD Lancer, 600, E-Series, Aries, Reliant, Executive,
                                     Limousine, and more! -Quoted from EEK

For cars based on the Mustang chassis (originally the Lynx), the GM platforms, especially the F-car, U-car, and the Lumina chassis, and the Diamond Star Trio. 

So, why am I focusing on a boring car like the Chrysler K?  It is by far the most wide use of a single design, and I really like the Spirit R/T.  The others just show that other makers do the same thing.

Well, what is a platform?  A platform is essentially the frame that the car is built on.  Picture it like this, if you took two nearly identicle skeletons, you could mold very different looking people on them. While they would have the same height, arm length, leg length, etc, one could have a 42 inch waist, brown hair and blue eyes while the other has a 32 inch waist, blonde hair and green eyes.  Same base, different people.

The auto makers do this to save money and design time.  If you use the same frame for 4 different cars, now you can produce four cars without the extra engineers to design 3 extra frames. If demand is less than the capacity of the production line, now you only may need to run 2 lines for 4 models, instead of 4, saving labor and equipment costs.  This helps the auto makers offer different cars at a reduced cost.  Chrysler saved a immeasurable amount of money with the K-car and General Motors offers 4 models in many different configurations, appealing to the younger sports car crowd with the Pontiac GrandPrix, and the older luxury buyer with the Buick Regal (product differentiation with the same product).

Additionally, a platform will also share engines, transmissions, etc.  For example, the Pontiac Firebird and Chevrolet Camaro not only share a frame, but engine and transmission choices, further reducing cost.

This project focuses on examples to show the commonality between many of these platform cars.