A Dodge Colt brochure calls this car “the eight-speed wonder of the world”, a clever take on “the eighth wonder of the world.” They’re referring to the famous Twin-Stick manual transmission, a unique two-range (power and economy) four-speed, effectively giving the driver eight speeds to choose from. This 1980 Dodge Colt is listed here on eBay in Emeryville, California and they list a buy-it-now price of $3,300 or you can make an offer. Finally, a cheap vehicle!
The Mitsubishi Mirage was rebadged as the fourth-generation Dodge Colt and Plymouth Champ from 1979 until 1984 – although the Champ would evolve into the Plymouth Colt after 1982. What Chrysler referred to as the Twin-Stick here was known by Mitsubishi as the Super-Shift, and it used what was similar to a transfer case with two speeds married to a four-speed manual. I’ve always wondered if anyone converted one of these things into AWD like a Mazda 323 GTX.
This car looks almost perfect, but reading the seller’s listing you find out that it’s had a quarter panel repaired or replaced (we don’t know) and there’s a “ding” on the title. They list the title as “Salvage” so finding out more about that accident would be a good thing. They show a bunch of photos, although most of them are zoomed in so the car is poking outside the photo borders, but they do show a few underside photos and close-ups of what appears to be the quarter panel in question.
Most folks would refer to this car as a cheap throwaway nothing, not worth the time of day, but I’m not one of them. Our own Todd Fitch had a hot (or, hotter) version of this car in the Colt GTS Turbo. From what we can see of the seats (we don’t see the back seats at all), they don’t look like anything in a 1980 Dodge Colt brochure, and they only came in black or tan, these are gray. The rest of the interior appears in nice shape, as does the rear cargo space under the hatchback.
The clean engine is a Mitsubishi 4G12, a 1.4-liter SOHC inline-four with 70 horsepower and 78 lb-ft of torque. Backed by that unique four/eight-speed manual sending power to the front wheels, this one should hit 60 mph in just under 13 seconds and give around 35 to 40 mpg. There are a ton of extra parts that the last owner collected over the years and it’s said to run well. It sure looks clean but the salvage title is a wild card. Is it worth a gamble for three grand?
Perfect car for a future Trucker 😎
Pfft, future trucker wouldn’t get it out of the driveway. Are you sitting down? I read, a whopping 90% of all new semi trucks are automatics. Man, that hurts,,,
Howard .. the Owner Operators prefer the manuals still. 🤝
I agree, be a nice day in the Badger when you see me drive a truck with an automatic, but today owner operators are failing at an alarming rate, and automatics simply open up a larger driver base. Computer is great for facts, and 25% of new O/Os fail in the 1st year, and 90% don’t make it 5 years. I belong to a site called “TTR”, The Truckers Report,( won’t say what my “handle” is, but you can figure it out) and while my experience is dated, I try and stay current with the industry. It’s in pretty bad shape.
I’ve asked before, but you missed it, what is that in your avatar pic?
The automatic heavy trucks make it much easier for today’s OTR truckers to keep up with their likes on Tic-Toc. Staying in the left lane helps as well, so they can focus on what’s really important: screen time.
I had a neighbor in the 80s, that had the Plymouth Champ, and won’t get any guff from me on this one. I don’t recall the twin stick, just a 4 speed, but in all the years he drove that car, I don’t think he ever got gas for it. Kidding, but he was a carpenter, and put a jillion miles on that car.
I’m sure the twin stick cost extra, and defeated the purpose of this car. Most multiple shift cars, the AMC and the GM Lightning Rods, have about 15 minutes of attraction, and most just left it in high.
Pretty sure the twin-stick was standard for all years it was available, as a way to meet highway MPG targets. It was basically just a cheap kludge to add overdrive to an existing 4-speed trans, until Mitsubishi could develop a proper 5-speed with an integral overdrive gear. Most folks drove them around town with the transfer case in Power range and only switched to Economy range for highway cruising.
I loved the Twin Stick, shifting on the fly, I used the car for SCCA Sports Car Racing in the SSC (showroom Stock Class)… was great having the twin stick.
My father had one of these (the Plymouth Champ) and his was just a 4speed, no twin stick. His car was about as basic as you could get, and he loved that thing. He put about 180,000 mi. on it before it lost the battle with the tin worms. He then got the next version, the Plymouth Colt. Mom drove a Cordoba.
Howard you and Fitch are onto something. I just heard up here 🍁 that 90% of new heavy trucks are govt reqd to be autos. The industry trajectory is poor. Has been for sometime.
The rig pic is a Western Star 🌟 4900 model. As you probably know, formerly hand built in Kelowna BC.
We had an 81 champ. Nice car. The twin stick was unique but seldom used. Don’t think it was extra cost.
It climbed Mount Washington , used extra range on that trip
Did that years ago. Scary road, if you ask me, though once on top, it was worth it. Took the cog railway up once, much nicer.
Growing up my parents had a family friend with a gold one of these ( or copper) I remember them shifting it to show me, but other than that it just stayed in the high range all the time. Great car, they couldn’t kill it.
My first car at 16 was an 84 Dodge Colt with the twin stick. Twin stick didn’t get used much but the car itself never ever left me walking. Drove it basically into the ground.
Hey Scotty – love seeing this here – nice job! I had the ’84 Colt GTS Turbo with twin-stick. It was amazing fun, perfect for squirting through Pittsburgh traffic. I bought it for $700 not running “as-is” and got it back on the road with a $35 timing belt. Luckily it was not an interference motor. My friends nick-named it the “Turbo Death Trap.” Thanks to nearly everything on the Mitsu-built Colt being 10mm I still refer to my 10mm wrench as “The Mitsubishi Tool Kit.” Someone could have good fun with this one, even without the turbo.
A Colt GTS Turbo( whistles), I’d expect no less on an automotive journalists salary,,( cough) :)
Ha! My talent could hardly earn a skateboard, Howard. I was pulling network cables through schools in those days, usually by myself.
Howard A, this generation hasn’t learned enough patience, to learn how to drive manually, any vehicle, sadly, much less a freight mover.
The seller’s name says it all… wonder if he sells cars? Actually, these were great econocars. Drove one for about 5-6 years. While the twin-stick was unique, don’t count on it being an 8 speed trans. Usually low range through 4th gear, then shift to high range. So, more like an overdrive.
I had a 81Colt RS in Yellow, sadly it was an auto. Ran fantastic and very quick. It started to smoke a bit before I traded it up for a Citation X11.
Great little car
I’d like to hear about the citation X -11? How was it performance wise? How was it on reliability?
More like out of the frying pan, and into the fire.
I owned 3 of these. A ’79, an ’82 and an ’89. I loved the ’89 due to the body-style, but I remember the ’79 consistently getting me between 38-41 mpg on the highway back and forth to college 2 hours away from my home town. Great little car. Too bad it rusted out before the motor ever gave up.
My first and only new car ever, an 82 Champ. And I’m 63. Mine was mid level, which meant 1.4 rather than 1.6, and chrome bumpers rather than black. Pull the parking brake, put it in Power and smoke the front tires all day. Also had 2 reverse gears. Great car. Crazy high MPG.
I had a ’79 Champ. I was the first to compete in the SCCA Pro Rally series in a Champ/Colt. When I drove my first rally, in Big Bend, Texas and on Caroll Shelby’s Terlingua Ranch. I’d never seen a Rally, except on film. I got use to the Twin Sick pretty fast, along with had braking. I realized that only six of the gears were really useful on the rally.
My wife was my navigator. We finished second, in the production class. I journalist from Auto Week ask my wife, “So how did Danny do on his first Pro Rally?” She said, to my embarrassment, “I haven’t seen Danny’s hands move that fast since we were dating.” They printed it.
Did some R&D for Chrysler when I found a few inherent issues. Most of those would likely never come up in normal driving. There was nothing normal about performance rallying. By the end of the ’79 season, they were solved and the fixes were in the ’80 and later models. I sold the car at the end of the ’80 Pro Rally season. The guy I sold it to put another 40K miles on it, with any problems.
We went back to SCCA sports car racing.
Danny … Cool, I wanted to go Rally with ours after SSC, we had raced SCCA EP with a Porsche for many years, then the Champ/Colt… after two years and a baby I went Vintage motorcycle racing instead, but loved the Champ/Colt, but it was totaled by a drunk driver on night when parked on the street… ended our cool lil car.
The grille and taillights on this one are also from ’83/’84, but with a salvage title, who’s looking at details?!
Good eye, TWestrup! Now that you mention it, I believe this is a 1981/82 Dodge Colt, and the seller does have 1981 mentioned one time in their listing. I missed that! The tail lights also seem to be from 1981 (or later) Colt, thanks for catching that the grille and tail lights may not be from 1980.
Too bad it isn’t the Turbo version so you would have the braggiest rear hatch sticker ever put on a production car:
“Don’t step on the gas unless you really mean it”
PRA4SNW – when I first drove my Turbo it had nearly bald tires and easily smoked the tires all the way through first and half-way through second. Big smile. When it grabbed, the torque-steer would gladly pull you into the adjacent lane or off the road if you weren’t on the ball. Good times.
Todd, similar experience here with my ’86 GLH-T. I bought it new and never expected that stab of power that the turbo offered.
Torque steer has a negative connotation, but if you learned how to control it, it became hilarious fun!
Good times for sure!
Once the novelty wore off, the Twin-Stick was mostly just a gimmick. You’d drive it like any other 4+OD. 1-2-3-4-4high.
I had an 83 colt…just a 4 speed without the twin stick…I too climbed my Washington in it
I remember one of the coolest things about the colt was I could change the front disc break pads without jacking up the car or removing a tire.
Never heard that one before. I changed pads once by jacking and taking the wheel off. Never thought to alter that process.
Oil filter was a b to change.
Yeah Joe it was pretty neat. All you had to do was turn the wheel outward …remove two clips on the caliper…then remove 2 springs and then you could slide the brake pads out…put a screw driver in the space and pry the caliper open more to slide the new pads in..and then put the springs and clips back in…then do the other side…I could never figure out why all brake pads weren’t designed the same way. It was also the easiest car to do a front end alignment on always did it myself…loved that car…30 miles to the gal was nice!
My wife and I bought a new 81 Plymouth Champ. Ours was bright red and had the twin stick shifter. What a fun little car to drive. We usually drove around in power mode, then would shift into economy on the highway. Drove out to Ohio with it and averaged 44 MPG! Loved that little car.