As you saw yesterday, I’m finally getting into the junkyard groove in my new hometown. This Denver self-service yard has some great vintage import iron, and today we’re going to check out this early front-wheel-drive Mitsu-Dodge as it awaits its date with The Crusher.
Back when GM and Ford were building Chevettes and Pintos, Chrysler was slapping Dodge nameplates onto Mitsubishi Mirages and continuing to put most of its efforts into hammering together Cordobas and Volares. The complete gallery for this bit of badge-engineering history may be found here.
You can imagine how ungodly slow this car would have been with an 80-horsepower engine and a slushbox, but Malaise Era econobox performance standards were low.
Down On The Junkyard: 1980 Dodge Colt
October 2nd, 2010
October 2nd, 2010 - 3:52 pm
Ahhh, but behold the (5.0 killer) Colt Turbo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmkpcM6IC3s
October 2nd, 2010 - 4:59 pm
These colts were actually pretty decent cars, by the standards of the day. Sure, they were slow, but they sure were cheap! And at least the rebadged Japanese versions weren’t as horrible as Pintos and Chevettes. The Lab Rats LeMons team had one of these at a South race a couple of times, and it seemed to be pretty quick on the track. Of course, stripped of all but engine, suspension, and chassis, it probably weighed about 1600 lbs.
October 2nd, 2010 - 7:02 pm
My grandmother had a Plymouth Champ. Come to think of it my other grandmother had a Pontiac Phoenix. I’m guessing my grandfathers drove a Plymouth Horizon and a Pontiac Ventura.
October 2nd, 2010 - 8:57 pm
I dig the grill on it… Reminds me of the 1984/1985 Mercury Topaz grills.
October 2nd, 2010 - 11:11 pm
At least the Colt was a contemporary design at the time, whereas the T-body had already been sent to the heavenly scrapyard by Opel.
October 3rd, 2010 - 5:25 am
This would be even sadder if it was a Twin-Stick.