According to company sources, production of Chrysler's PT Cruiser ends Friday with the last of the compact cars that looked more 1940 than 2000 being built in Mexico.

The Detroit News has reported that the retro crossover was a quick hit when it was first built with cars on the Internet being sold for many times the sticker price in showrooms.

The News also said that Chrysler sold at least 120,000 per year from 2000 through 2008, keeping with the original model that hearkened back to the round-fendered runabouts of the 1940s. But Chrysler never built a second generation PT Cruiser to keep the excitement alive.

According to John Wolkonowicz, Industry analyst at IHS Automotive, "The PT Cruiser was one of the first retro vehicles that Detroit did. It was unabashedly brash and very American."

Joe Phillippi, an analyst with AutoTrends Consulting Inc., said, "When they first did it, they thought it would be an attention-getter, get them on some magazine covers, let it run its course and then go on to do something else."

Production would have ended sooner but Chrysler's new chief executive officer "looked at the bottom line and said we need cash and this generates cash," Phillippi said.

But sales slowed with the car now the oldest in Chrysler's line up that hasn't had an upgrade.

Wolkonowicz further said that likely it will become a collector's item, "a smile producer." (With Inputs from Agencies)