When was the last time you saw a 1987 Plymouth Colt GTS Turbo? I mean before this one hit the internet and popped on and off various sites and selling venues over the last week or two? The answer may be never for some of you, they are incredibly rare little beasts. The seller now has this one listed here on eBay in San Mateo, California and there is a $13,000 buy-it-now price listed or you can make an offer.
I literally can not believe that this car is still for sale, yes, even at this price. It has to be, without a doubt, the nicest, most-original, low-mile example on the entire planet. The color is a bit unfortunate for resale and a lack of go-fast bold graphics can’t help it stand out from the crowd, but maybe that isn’t the point with a 13-foot-long turbocharged car.
For anyone who is into vintage Japanese metal, this is one rare pony or Colt. A Dodge Colt would be much more normal to see but the Plymouth version adds a nice touch. That it’s a GTS Turbo gives those of us who love these cars a burning desire to own it. This is from the era when Chrysler and Mitsubishi partnered up for some fun little vehicles, not the least of which was the fourth-generation GTS Turbo Colt which came before this fifth-gen model. Our own Todd Fitch has experience with a Dodge Colt Turbo so he may be able to add to the mix here.
Chrysler made the fifth-generation Plymouth and Dodge Colts for five years starting in 1984. I wrote about a nice 1985 Plymouth Colt GTS Turbo a couple of years ago here and this car is even nicer. The one that collectors would want, for the most part, would be the two-door hatchback as with the GTS Turbo here. Finding one with only 8,353 miles on it makes it even sweeter. They also made a four-door Colt which was available with the turbo engine and a wagon which was not.
Yep, it’s a turbo. Thankfully, it’s also the 5-speed manual version although there was an automatic transmission available. The interior basically looks like it was just restored or is brand new. It’s the latter, of course, since this car has just 8k miles on it. The seats are perfect both front and back and that I don’t see a flaw anywhere inside this little beauty.
This is Mitsubishi’s 4G32, a turbocharged 1.6L inline-four that put out just over 100 horsepower. This is no crazy speed demon as you already knew, but the fact that it exists in this mind-blowing condition is as cool as it gets in my world. It has recently had all new plugs, wires, belts, hoses, gaskets, etc., and it works like new as you’d expect. Have any of you owned a Dodge or Plymouth Colt GTS Turbo?
Scotty’s passion for small, rare, thin metal, pocket rockets from the 80’s makes me want to amass a fleet of them. Great write up and awesome find.
Hey Scotty – nice write-up as always and a great find. I must confess that, despite owning an ’84 Colt GTS Turbo, I did not know that model continued into this body style! The engine looks the same. If you think 105-ish HP in a one-ton vehicle is ho-hum, a lot of BMW 2002 owners may beg to differ. Mine had the Twin-Stick transmission so you could leave it in low range for squirting in and out of city traffic then use high range on the highway and get 32+ MPG. I bought mine non-op for $750 “as is” and got it running with a $35 timing belt. With manual steering and manual brakes you could feel exactly what was happening between the tires and the road… in a good way. It appeared on one of the magazine’s “Unsung Heros” list some years ago along with the ’91 Sentra SE-R, another car I owned. Anyway, whoever buys this one can have some fun and park anywhere. Thanks for the memories!
You Sir, have owned a car I have been searching for for decades.
I have a 1987 Dodge Colt Premier Turbo. It’s the 4 Door Cream/Gold automatic. 132k miles. What a fun car. You may squeal and pull away off the line but watch your rear view mirror as I zip past you! 😀
Scotty, you know you need this, right? 😉
I love it. I think the price is high for one of these but look at the mileage. Makes far more sense than those basket case Chargers that are going to sell for far far more. And it won’t leave your kids cursing when they see how much or little money you have left to give to them.
Looks like a hyundai excel
They were built on the same floor stamping.
At one time we had 2 non turbo models of similar cars. A Dodge Colt DL 4 door and a Mitsubishi Mirage hatchback. Amazing fun little cars. The DL had all the goodies with the “sport suspension” and low profile tires. Handled great. A turbo in the four door would have helped and in the little 2 door hatchback would have been awesome. Our 4 door was the same color and trim as the one for sale but we had a trunk with a luggage rack with a small built in spoiler. Cool to see this listed.
@ Todd Fitch
Yep, me too, I’m trying to think of just how many 84 turbo Colts I owned, maybe four or so(?) anyway, this was in the late 80s early 90s when the turbo fuel injected blending was quite the new novelty. And man what terrific bang for the buck these cars were! This would be my number one smile inducing every time you turn the key vehicle I have ever owned. Super light, super simple and enough power to finally satisfy all the missing ponies from the 10+year span of 73 through the mid-80s.
My first computer fuel injected vehicle, as I sit here I can still remember how phenomenal all The things we take for granted now: starting twist of the key in any weather, engine hot, engine cold…..
Running tens of thousands of miles and doing absolutely nothing(??) to keep it in perfect tune. The big 100 hp (!!) from that tiny 1.6 L. , it came on boost like flicking on a big light switch, so much fun! I’m sure you got very skilled at ripping all eight gears with the twin stick just for the joy of it even if it didn’t really make the car go any faster. I’ll tell you what if the car featured were an 84 I would find a way to buy it, period. There’s absolutely nothing you can buy today that close to new mileage wise that would even compare.
Today I drive a 16 VW golf turbo gasoline wagon. I like it for some of the same reasons, but honestly it’s a very disconnected car and feels like porky the pig compared to that little Colt……..
Steve Weiman… Clearly you get it! One of the counter jockeys at Burgunder Dodge in Bridgeville Pa where I got all my parts had one with twin Webers and a bunch of other stuff running 13s in the quarter-mile. Our Colt was actually my wife’s first car and she put 30,000 miles on it in one year finishing up college. It was also great for teaching people to drive “stick,” and my fiends lovingly called it the “Turbo Death Trap.” Other than maintenance items, CV Joints, and the aforementioned timing belt it just kept on running. Nearly everything on that car was 10mm. We used to joke that the “Mitsubishi Tool Kit” was a 10mm wrench in a velvet bag. I still call my 10 mm combo wrench “The Mitsubishi Tool Kit.” Good times.
What a great find here.. I knew someone with a 81 black and gold turbo colt. Fast one.. I had a 79 FWD Dodge Colt twin stick 1600. I installed headers and Weber carb. Now that was a pocket rocket 🚀. It was orange with black interior. I had fun blasting down Cross County Pkwy in Westchester NY back in the day. It was not slow. I wish I had the room for this one!! Good luck to the next owner. 🇺🇸🐻🇺🇸
I looked at these new in 1986 or so. I recall their advertising boasted they were quicker than a 944 Porsche but I recall the later colts and the Mitsubishi Mirage turbos having more stylish details to look the part and a higher output as well.
$13,000 for a $2,500 dollar car Nice
I have a unnatural passion for hot hatches of the 1980’s and 90’s, and good ones are getting impossible to find. The price on this one is a little steep but if I wasn’t thinning out my collection of odd cars this year I’d have to consider it.
I’ve probably seen them but paid no attention.
I had an 85 colt turbo! 5 speed and I could get rubber in the first three! 100,000 rpm turbo spool and no wastgate. On sticky goodrich rubber, I could out-corner anything!
My wife and I bought a shiny red 1981 Plymouth Champ with red interior. It had the 1.6 liter with twin stick 4 speed. What a blast to drive! My brother loved it– said it was very similar to how his 68 MGB drove (which was a good thing). We drove that little car out to Ohio, from Connecticut and got 44mpg on the highway! We got rid of it for a slightly bigger car, as a child came along, but I always loved that little car. Easy to work on and fun to drive– can’t ask for much more that that!
I got one of these turbo’s after having two Chevettes. What a step up! Like going from a tractor to a Ferrari. I loved that little rocket. Had no idea they would someday be so valuable.
The thing I always remember about these cars is the famous “stopwatch” commercials. “Don’t step on the gas unless you really mean it!”
https://youtu.be/mVWYLPn6wlU
That saying was displayed on the back window of the ones that I saw back then – I think it came from the factory like that.
I had an ’87 Plymouth Colt just like this (same color), unfortunately it was non-turbo. Nice car though. Before this, I had an Arrow and a Champ – those Mitsubishi “captive imports” were engineered well beyond what the big three were offering at the time. Too bad the bodies couldn’t stand up to the mid-western winters.
We had the four door version of this with an automatic. Great little car. Well made, nice handling with nice seats and interior. Very quick around town but spun pretty high on the highway.
Had an ‘84 DL hatchback with the twin stick, which too was a great car, but the ‘87 Turbo made it feels primitive and spindly in comparison.
I had a Shadow turbo (150hp, 2700 lbs) and a friend had a Colt turbo (105 hp, 2000 lbs.) that we both autocrossed. Even though we weren’t in the same class, we posted similar times on short courses. I always admired that car. This one would have been a great sleeper. If I was the original owner, I would have stripped off the decals put on some Yokohama 008’s and gone hunting for Camaros (early 80’s were pigs).
Price update: the seller has lowered their buy-it-now price to $10,500!
I am interested in this car. Is it still for sale?
I had a Silver 1988 Model. I bought it new for about $1,500 under the sticker as it had sat at the dealer for a while. It looked almost identical except the ’88 had body colored bumpers, mirrors, and rubbing strips on the sides. Other than that it was identical, same interior color, same dash, same everything. I loved it / kept it ’till about 2001 and I put 180,000 miles on it. I drove it from Georgia to Montreal Canada several times and countless other trips.
I autocrossed it too, it was quick and handled well. I never had turbo related issues, the original turbo was still on when I sold it. In actuality, it basically never had any issues outside of normal wear items and wheel bearings because I driving the snot out of it around the corners.
It still looked great when I sold it and the guy who bought it was really excited to get it for $1,800 at the time.
My first car in 1991. She was named The Screamin’ Weasel.