Despite the low miles and clean cosmetics, this rare Dodge Mirada has not turned much of a wheel over the last 18 years. The seller claims it was originally a dealer demo car whereby a dealership employee was allowed to order this Mirada with all the bells and whistles so they could drive for a few months before trading it back into the dealer pool. The seller grabbed the car shortly thereafter, drove it for a few years, and when it developed a lifter tick, he parked it. Find the Mirada here on craigslist for $4,750.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Pat L. for the find. Black on red is about as good as it gets for a color combination. While I’m sure some of us wish this was a leather cockpit we were looking at, nicely-preserved cloth works well, too. Despite not seeing much use, the upholstery has still split on both seats, so you’ll have to get that sorted at some point. Not a big deal nor is it urgent, especially in light of the fact that it needs to run first before you worry about an upholstery refresh.
Lifter tick is a funny thing. I’ve seen some enthusiasts just choose to live with it, while others are like this seller where the car doesn’t get driven until it’s eradicated. In the case of this eight-cylinder Mirada, the presence of noisy lifters caused the seller to park the car with plans to address the issue in the short-term; of course, we all know how that goes. The Mirada sat indoors, untouched, for almost two decades. Fortunately, the car still appears to largely complete with no tell-tale signs of the Mirada having been taken apart and never put back together.
There’s evidence of cosmetic flaws above the bumper, so despite the lack of use, this Mirada is hardly a creampuff. The photos showing the side of the Mirada and the rear quarter indicate the trim piece between the edge of the lights and bumper is completely gone, replaced by black utility tape. The damaged bumper trim is a common flaw with GM products from the 1980s and it looks like this Mirada suffers from the same affliction. That damage aside, this Mirada is loaded up with OEM alloy wheels and a power sunroof, and will hopefully be brought back to the show stopper it is.
I find this cleaner and more attractive than the Cordoba. (Corinthian leather, or not.)
You have to pronounce it corEENthian lather
I knew a guy back in the day who bought one of these, but a stripped down model. What made it unique wasn’t just the V-8, but that it had a third pedal. That’s right, a stick-shift. I just remember how much he beat the balls off of it. Lot’s of fun.
Never offered with a stick, obviously a home made deal. I see the rear plastic here is crumbled, despite supposedly sitting indoors for 20 years, just like all the rest. Either the plastic was that bad, or they lied about being indoors that long. Same with the seat ripped like that. Something fishy here. If it had so few miles, why is the original air cleaner gone? No, some lies being told here. Too bad, one of the most beautiful cars to come out of the eighties.
Yep don’t remember any Dodge mid-sizes offered with a stick in this time period.
Stick shift in a Mirada? Not likely. Aspen R/T had one. Same floor pan I think. As to this one? I can believe 37k. I can believe 137k. 237k? Not likely. It was hard enough to get 100k out of an early 80’s American car. Carpet looks good. Upholstery was crap in those days. That’s why there were so many upholstery shops then and so few now. The upper interior door trim is cracked at the lock plunger. Classic problem with these cars due to such long doors. We went through about 100 Miradas and every one one of them did that.
When these came out I really wanted one. So I went to the local dodge dealership to order one the way I wanted it. The cmx package, buckets ,console. 4spd. The salesman said only available in automatic. A deal breaker for me, so I’m quite surprised to hear a manual trans. One existed.
That’s because it didn’t.
Stick shifting Mirada with a nice f.i. magnum 318ci. would be a great cruiser Gary.
Never made one, Gary must be confused, lol. Even if they had, it would’ve still been a slow, gas-hogging, pig.
That thing has had a rough 37,000 miles, or even a rough 137,000 miles. Most likely 237,000 miles
Yeah, how often do you see the passenger seat split on a creampuff.
While I like the lines of the Mirada and Cordoba, they were far from great cars. Numerous trim pieces would break just by looking at them, Chrysler hadn’t figured out how to to make a starter that wasn’t annoying, the steering was numb and the cloth on the seats was really poor quality (we started ordering the fleet cars with vinyl). On this one, besides the damaged fabric, have to lose the boy racer tach, blue door speakers and the wing.
Both sets of grandparents were die hard Mopar owners. I always liked the unique sound of a Mopar starter. The Mirada has just a hint of coffin nose Cord in the grill
I may have simply dreamt this, but I swear someone made a conversion kit to make a Mirada into a modern day coffin-nosed Cord. Moon wheels, Side pipes, retractable headlights, round taillights, etc.
It was a gear reduction starter , really helped to start cars in really cold weather – nearly every vehicle made uses them now and has for some time. The steering is power assist, made so you dont have to feel the road like a manual steering car. Anyone who drove these cars had no problem turning their car , it was just different from the blue oval and bowtie cars.
Build quality on these was generally ABYSMAL. While I was never a fan of the Magnum that came before it, this design looked like the kind of car you would see in the early days of video games, sharp, straight lines, devoid of attractive contours and embellishments, and appearing to have been designed in about 10 minutes. If this was a poker game, my only words would be “I’m out.”
Those rear end caps and bumper fillers are made of unobtanium. Other than that looks like a nice car, just be prepared to live with some flaws.
This is a good looking piece of junk. Ten to one, that lifter “tick” is a rod knock.
Story doesn’t add up. While the build quality was questionable during this era of Mopar, the engines were very good. I’ve never heard of lifter failure at that young age. Add in the stupid tach, aftermarket air cleaner, and butchered door speakers, without some very strong documentation the mileage claim is doubtful.
Looking at the condition I’m leaning toward the odometer has rolled at least once a lifter tick at 37k miles did he forget to put enough oil back in at the oil change?
A little RISLONE will fix that lifter tick. Did that on ony 318 I owned.
Lovely looking car. Although I was still too young to drive a car at the time, I remember cars like the Dodge Mirada. I didn’t find it very attractive at the time, at least not compared to other Mopar cars of the time, like the Imperial, the Dodge Diplomat, and Dodge St. Regis. Man!, how tastes change! I find them more attractive today than I did then.
The rear bumper fillers are available from the aftermarket.
http://www.vfnfiberglass.com/8084mirada.htm
AH the lifter tick,,my girl friend (now wife) bot a 65 plymouth fury 3 2 door HT 383 2 barrel,,probably in 69,very nice car comfortable sharp looking,,shortly after she got it a tick would just appear ,,could be in town at 25 mph or on the hiway at 60 mph then it just stop,,then all of a sudden seemed like they were all ticking , it had a warrenty and we knew the mechanic,,he took that engine apart I believe 3 times,,new lifters,then,heavy duty lifters,,new hi volume oil pump , new cam ,, bearing s anything that might cause that,,,never fixed it have no idea what caused that problem
I’m surprised no one commented yet on the fact that this one has already been features here on BF, back in June. Scotty posted it and Pat L. had also sent it that tip in.
https://barnfinds.com/parked-for-18-years-1983-dodge-mirada/
I knew I had seen this before!
Obese people (not a rare sight) must have had this car.
Cause the seats are both split, where most of their fatness would
have compressed the cloth seats. haha
This car is not “loaded” by ANY stretch of the imagination. It has crank windows for crying out loud. It’s pretty much optioned just like 99% of the other Miradas that they produced. I’m not sure who embellishes these pieces of junk more, the sellers or the authors, lol!