When Ford and GM each had the means to develop their individual Michigan-built subcompacts for the dawn of the 1970s— the Pinto and Vega, respectively— Chrysler could not find the money for the large selling price tag for such a project. As a substitute, Chrysler’s European operations were being tapped for a few of designs that sold perfectly ample on the other side of the Atlantic, supplying us the Plymouth Cricket (recognised as the Hillman Avenger in the Uk) and the Simca 1204 (aka the Simca 1100 in France). American motor vehicle shoppers gave all those two designs the chilly shoulder, but then Chrysler uncovered genuine income achievement by making a offer with Mitsubishi to market the Colt Galant with remaining-hand generate. This became the Dodge Colt, with product sales starting in the 1971 model 12 months. While the 1971-1978 rear-wheel-generate Colts were after as commonplace as Corollas or B210s on American streets, they have all but disappeared today. That can make present-day Junkyard Locate, identified in a Denver-space yard previous week, especially fascinating.
This automobile displays signs of having been in the fingers of a pace-crazed fanatic operator, which includes an aftermarket steering wheel and one-piece racing seats with slots for 5-place harnesses. The primer-grey paint is yet another clue.
The rear-wheel-drive Colts were reasonably quick for their time, and they could be made genuinely quick with fundamental motor upgrades. This Mitsubishi Saturn 4-banger has a tube header, warm-rod ignition technique, and a two-barrel (Mikuni-designed) Solex carburetor. We can think you will find possibly some type of cam enhance below the valve protect, far too.
The shifter is absent, but the original transmission in this car or truck was both the foundation four-velocity or optional five-pace manual. A three-pace automatic was out there for $270 (about $1,275 these days). Later on, entrance-wheel-drive Colts (and Mitsubishi Mirages) could be purchased with the Twin-Adhere overdrive rig, which gave motorists 8 forward speeds and the possibility to make Twin-Stick beer faucets.
The 1977-1978 Dodge Colt two- and four-doorway sedans were based mostly on the Mitsubishi Lancer and ended up a little bit smaller sized than the 1971-1977 vehicles, when the wagon variation moved to the Galant Sigma platform.
The construct tag exhibits that this vehicle begun lifestyle as the lowest priced 1977 Colt design, the “Mileage Maker” two-doorway sedan (Dodge sellers referred to as it a coupe, so that is what I’m calling it in the title). A appropriate hardtop coupe (the Colt GT) was available in 1977, but it expense $3,988 as opposed to the Mileage Maker two-door’s $2,984 price tag (that’s about $18,855 and $14,110 in 2021 dollars). In the meantime, the most affordable probable Toyota Corolla shown at $2,788 and a Datsun B210 Honey Bee price tag $2,959.
The ashtray was full of improve, which means I was just one of the 1st buyers to get to this auto following property workers put it in the rows.
I extracted a handful of pennies and uncovered that the latest kinds have been minted in 1992 and still nice and shiny. That tells us that this car nearly definitely bought parked approximately 30 many years back, when it was only about 15 several years old.
It appears to be unlikely that a automobile would rack up just 34,593 miles for the duration of 15 decades on the street, so I assume this Colt had 134,493 miles when it concluded its profession. I suspect this auto may well have come from the collection of the late Bill Superior, a Denver inventor and Colt racer who passed away a handful of years again. A mate of mine ended up with a few dozen of his Colts, but managed to find fantastic properties for just a handful and experienced to scrap the relaxation.
For the 1979 product 12 months, the Colt (and its Plymouth Champ sibling) went to the front-wheel-push Mitsubishi Mirage system and never seemed back… right up until the Neon replaced it in 1995. Mitsubishi began selling its cars underneath its individual badging in this article beginning with the 1983 design 12 months, which intended that the Dodge and Plymouth Colts experienced to compete with almost-similar Mirages for more than a 10 years.
Mr. D (Datsun) and Mr. T (Toyota) seem to be not able to acknowledge Mr. M’s Dodge, which would be instantaneously recognizable as a Mitsubishi anyplace in Japan.
