Chrysler has had a lot of bedfellows over the years, and in the 1970s, one of them was the French automaker Simca. Chrysler owned the company and was looking to develop a modern, front-wheel-drive hatchback that could be sold on both sides of the Atlantic (the ever-elusive “world car”). Americans know the result as the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon, introduced for 1978, but in France it was the Chrysler-Simca Horizon. By 1979, it had become the Talbot Horizon after Chrysler unloaded its European operations on Peugeot. Fast-forward nearly half a century, and here on Craigslist in Folsom, California, is a 1989 Plymouth Horizon dressed up as a Simca-Talbot rally car, with an asking price of just $4,000. A warm thank you to Tony Primo for the tip.
Although the Horizon was primarily a humble family hatchback on both sides of the Atlantic, it did see action in European rally competition during the late 1970s and early 1980s, particularly in France and Spain. That’s apparently the inspiration for our seller’s creation. These were modified production cars, not a boosted performance model available at the local Talbot dealer. There was even an ambitious effort to develop a mid-engined Group B rally version with Lotus power, but the project reportedly ended after just two prototypes. Talbot’s real rally glory came from another Chrysler product, the rear-wheel-drive Sunbeam, which Lotus transformed into a 2.2-liter, twin-cam rally weapon. The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus helped the company win the 1981 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, a pretty remarkable achievement for a brand that was already living on borrowed time – the Talbot Horizon was discontinued in 1985, and Peugeot killed the Talbot name on passenger cars in 1986.
Our seller’s car has far humbler origins. Underneath the European rally costume, it appears to be a conventional American Plymouth Horizon, complete with Chrysler’s 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine (standard by 1989). But it’s more than an appearance package approach. The modifications include custom bucket seats, rally lights, BMW wheels, Chrysler minivan brakes, a five-speed manual transmission, new CV axles, and quite a bit more. The seller has clearly invested considerable time and money in the project, and it sounds as though the car actually sees regular rally action rather than just pretending to. He says it runs strong, estimates the mileage at 126,000, though he recommends adding a custom skid plate to keep mud out of the engine belts if the rallying is going to continue – not exactly a concern that came up frequently at Plymouth dealerships in 1989.
The Omni and Horizon played no small part in keeping Chrysler’s head above water during the late 1970s, as Lee Iacocca negotiated federal loan guarantees and waited for the K-cars to arrive. By the mid-1980s, even Carroll Shelby had gotten into the act, transforming the humble Omni into the turbocharged GLH and, eventually, the GLH-S. Who would have imagined that a French-inspired economy car would end up with such an interesting performance pedigree on both sides of the Atlantic? This particular Horizon may not have the horsepower of a Shelby or the racing credentials of a genuine Talbot rally car, but it certainly has more personality than your average 1989 Plymouth. And for $4,000, it’s an inexpensive ticket to a rather unusual corner of automotive history. Would you take it rallying, or leave the mud to someone else?
Find a logging road and let er rip 😎 🏁