From the captive import department of our long-term corporate relationships division comes this Dodge Colt four-door sedan. Under a mild job of Dodge re-branding, this compact sedan is a purebred Mitsubishi Colt, and an early example of a corporate manufacturing partnership that lasted for over thirty years. As has, evidently, this Dodge Colt. Rally-equipped Mitsubishi versions of the Colt were famously driven to victory by Joginder “The Flying Sikh” Singh and his brother Jaswant in 1974 and 1976 East African Safari Rally, proving the mighty Colt did indeed possess maximum durability.
A rear-drive Dodge Colt is rarely seen on the road today at all, let alone one that looks as if it drove off the showroom floor at the Chrysler Dodge Plymouth Import Center only a few weeks earlier. Rust does not sleep, which made the oddest thing about this well-preserved Dodge Colt sedan not the Chihuahua-sized sombrero on the dashboard, but the Michigan plates it was wearing. Not a single spot of the usual road-salt induced rust common to old buckets from the rust belt and north eastern states was visible on this Colt. Roll on rust-free captive import Colt. Roll on.
LOVE the vinyl top and C-pillar medallions on a compact. One could even go so far as to call it “broughamantic.”
Outstanding. I would love – LOVE – to own one of these things. It’s a shame I had to be up to my eyeballs in Galant VR4s before I discovered these vintage buckets and their rally heritage. I’ve recently come across a sweet blue one with a warmed-over 4G32 swap, side draught Solex, and roll cage. It sounds wicked. Shame it’s a billion miles away in Australia!
My stepdad had one of these – a station wagon. Great little car. Liked my mom’s Ford Fiesta better; barebones but fun, fun, fun to drive. (Was that really 30 years ago?)
Broughamantic…. I like that.