A quick rundown of these cars for those unfamiliar. The 'K' car platform was the first to receive Turbo and Shelby touches. The 2.2L I4 engines in the small Shelby Charger and Omni GLH and GLHS (goes like hell, and goes like hell some more) were around 140hp. A few years later came the 'EEK' chassis cars - for Extended K car. These were the Shadow/Sundance, Daytona/Laser, Lancer/Lebaron, Dynasty/Spirit/Acclaim cars that were so plentiful for about twenty years. Generally all these cars share parts. Through the years Mopar came up with different engines of increasing power, a Turbo II 2.5L, a Turbo IV 2.5L with 'VNT' (Variable Nozzle) Turbo and the Turbo III 2.2L, with a special cylinder head by Lotus. I was going to do a quick breakdown below, but I couldn't remember all of the models. I'd like to see someone ramble through all the variations such as the Daytona C/S, Daytona Pacifica, Daytona Shelby Z, Daytona IROC R/T, Shelby CSX, Lancer GLH, Omni GLHS, Spirit R/T, Lebaron GTS, and there's a lot more.
I decided this week to pull a few from my Pinterest board. As well as some new ones I just posted, these are all current listings.
Top 5 Of The Week
Dodge Daytona IROC R/T Turbo
The International Race of Champions began using the Daytona somewhere in the late 80's, taking the crown away from the infamous Camaro IROC. Of course, these cars were like NASCAR racers - tube frames, and sheet metal loosely based on production models. Dodge built a special Daytona to commemorate these race cars, the IROC R/T. These cars used a special 2.2L engine with a lotus DOHC cylinder head, and were rated at 220hp. They probably could easily do more on more boost. Production numbers are extremely low. This example is all original for 14k, but lacks some of the better options that could be had on these cars, such as power windows and locks. Still, production numbers of these cars are extremely low, only 10,000 Daytonas (of all variations) were built in 1992, and only 5,000 were built to the end of the production run in mid 1993, before the Avenger came on the scene.
1991 Dodge Spirit R/T Turbo
Prior to the Lotus-headed turbocharged motor debuting in the Daytona, which in 1991 would have still been using the Turbo IV motor (yes I know, it's strange nomenclature for these engines which did not proceed each other) the motor appeared in the Dodge Spirit R/T. With the 4-link rear independent suspension, this car might have been a peppy and sporty handling sedan. Dodge went all out with these cars, including special ground effects, color-coded interior parts, and even color matched 15" alloy wheels. Chrysler seemed to be all about cloth interiors; this one has red stripes sewn into the seats. Other cars even had special branded fabric (like on Shelby models, where the Shelby logo was prominently featured). This car also has an A543 5 speed transmission! Yup, a real stick shift! This car also features power windows, power locks, the factory Infinity sound system, a power adjustable driver's seat and probably even more than that, that I don't even know about. The only thing this car is missing is the factory fog lights. I noticed the switch is there in the interior shots. The owner may have covered them up to prevent them from being cracked while driving. Drive the best sports sedan North America had to offer in 1991 (what was going to beat it, a Tempo) for only 9k!
The Shelby CSX had an odd name. Really the car was a Shadow/Sundance coupe, but in true Shelby fashion, the letters and numbers don't really signify anything about the car. CSX was generally used to denote a serial number of a car modified by Shelby. In this case the CSX designation is specific to this model. Shelby American did up 750 of these cars. They were all Turbo II models and featured unique aero packages, wheels, and interiors. From what I know, there were no performance options added to the engine. Inside the interior was fairly low rent; even without power windows or door locks. The car would have been a very basic coupe if not for items like the alloys, spoiler, Shelby steering wheel, or the numbered dash plaque that lets you know this is a special Shelby vehicle. I've seen other examples on Hemmings before, but this one seems to be in the best shape of them all. A steal, again, for only about 9 grand.
1989 Maserati TC
There are a lot of people who hate these things. Then again, there's probably a lot of people that love them for what they are: a rebadged Lebaron with premium options and some exclusivity. The actual name of the car was Chrysler TC by Maserati. Even though the car was a Chrysler by Chrysler with some Maserati logos on it. Check the front badge; a Maserati trident inside the Chrysler Pentastar. Absurdity of branding aside, this car got some nice custom touches. The plush leather seats are specific to this model, as was the sculpted dash, of which a similar design would find its way into 1991 and up Daytona and Lebaron models. The interior featured leather and wood accents, including a wood knob on the automatic shifter. The rear seats were deleted in favor of a luggage rack, and some leather storage pockets, along with the switches for the automatic top. The car had power windows, doors, and seats, which were controlled by switches in the center console. I believe some even left the factory with Maserati branding on the Turbo I engine, although I can't confirm this, and this model does not have such a feature (a mid year change perhaps?) it was perhaps another marketing touch. Most noticable of all was probably the porthole hard top that could be fitted over the soft-top. Most of these that are left are in really nice condition, such as this one, which includes all original documents, for about 14k.
1987 Chrysler Conquest TSi
A rear wheel drive Turbo Dodge does exist, if you, ya know, consider this a Dodge at all. The longstanding partnership between Chrysler and Mitsubishi made for some heavy hitting performance cars such as the 3000GT/Stealth twins, the Eclipse/Talon, and of course some not so hot ones, like, say, the Colt. The Conquest (A Mitsubishi Starion) was released in 1982, and featured a 2.6L Turbocharged SOHC four cylinder with a hemispherical combustion chamber. This can lead to a little confusion - I'll get into that in a second. The cars were considerably more appointed than the standard cars which eventually replaced it (Daytona, Laser/Eclipse) featuring automatic climate control, an optional digital dash, and a digitally tuned six speaker stereo. This car was eventually replaced by the Stealth/3000GT models, which makes sense, because it was a little bit more upmarket and performance oriented. This car was more aimed at competing with the Supra, RX7, Z car set. The Daytona was marketed as a viable front driver/fuel efficient performance option to a Mustang or a Camaro. The Conquest was actually available until 1989, with power numbers increasing over the years to 188hp.
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| 1982 G-24 Concept - Motor Trend December 1982 |
Now, all about the confusion around this strange car. This car had absolutely no Chrysler engineering or parts. It was entirely designed and made in Japan, and shipped over. I've read and heard some things about this car being the first Chrysler Daytona, which just simply isn't true. The Daytona originally may have started life as an electric car concept in 1979, where a lot of styling and chassis architecture were shared. The car we know of now was first called the G-24 and was among the first to use CAD in its engineering process. Chrysler actually hadn't chosen a name for the Dodge and Plymouth variants yet until a press release went out in 1983 to get dealerships ready for the launch.
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The Daytona actually benchmarked the Porsche 924 and 944 models for handling, and the Camaro for straight line performance. Japanese cars like the RX7 or 280Z were chosen for tech, and the first iteration of the car actually came with a digital dash. With all these performance and tech options available, the basic cars actually sold a lot more models than any of the performance models combined. It was clear that this was a time where North Americans needed economy cars more than any other performance options available on the market. The Daytona sharing so many parts with other EEK cars was probably an inexpensive variation to make though, so it persisted until sales dwindled in 1993 to only about 5000 units and was replaced by the Avenger. This is in stark contrast to the 1989 model year where about 70,000 units were sold. Many consumers and aficionados alike consider the Daytona the superior car in many ways versus the Avenger that replaced it. However, at that time consumers wanted two door coupes that could fit 5 passengers, not four like the Daytona, and hatchbacks went out of style as well.
The 2.6L hemi-headed Mitsubishi confuses a lot of people as well. It was extensively used in many Chrysler products, not just the Conquest. In a lot of early minivans, the 2.6L was used as a stop-gap where there were a shortage of 3.0L V6 engines. It was also used in the Ram 50 trucks, as well as Mazda trucks and countless other models. So where does the confusion arise? Well Mopar actually sells a 2.6L crate I4 out of their online catalogue with a hemispherical head. This engine is not the Mitsu, it's effectively half an LA series small block V8, and was produced specifically for midget and circle track racing. This engine is very easy to modify as (I believe) it accepts standard performance bits built for Mopar small block engines. Such an engine was used on the Blowfish Barracuda racer by Troy Trepanier.
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| (L) Blowfish Barracuda - (R) Mopar Midget 2.6L |
I hope you've enjoyed this week (month - okay two months) and our little rambling history lesson. Don't forget to check the Pinterest Board, subscribe and comment!
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