Rebadging Japanese econo-boxes reached an art form by the late 1970s. GM cozied up to Suzuki and Isuzu; Ford liaised with Mazda; and Chrysler favored Mitsubishi. The Plymouth Champ featured here on craigslist wore the Mopar mantle, but underneath, it was a Mitsubishi Mirage. This two-owner example comes with original keys, documents, 92,000 miles on the clock, and enough repairs to put it into running and driving condition after storage since 1989. It’s located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the seller wants $4800. Barney, thanks for sending along this great tip.
The sub-compact Champ (known as the Colt over at Dodge) was introduced to fill the lightweight, fuel-efficient niche that American companies couldn’t seem to address with their own products. The Champ came with two engine options – a 1.4 or a 1.6 liter four-cylinder – and four gearbox options, including an automatic. The sexiest of these was the “twin stick”, which featured a two-speed transfer case for high and low, coupled with a four-speed transaxle, providing eight gears. This example is equipped with the 1.6-liter engine and a regular four-speed floor shift manual that brings about 80 hp to the front wheels. The seller has rebuilt the front and rear brakes; and replaced the carburetor, exhaust system, tires, battery, as well as many other items. He notes that the fuel pump is weak and the fuel gauge isn’t working properly.
Other than a couple of tears along seams in the driver’s seat upholstery, this interior belies its age. The carpets are clean, the mats look new, the dash is intact, and the rear seats appear unused. The cargo area is spiffy, and the door and other rubber seals look great. A few parts come with the car, too.
No doubt, the car looks better in the engine bay and the cabin than it does on the outside. I like the snazzy striping under the windows, so if a repaint happened on my watch, I’d have to replicate that detail. What do you think of this blast from the past? Any of you ever own a Champ or a Colt?
I bought a 92 Colt brand new. $4200. Great car. 40mpg all day long.
So did I and I used it in SCCA SSC (Show Room Stock) for two years, I wanted to go “Rally” with the car after but it was hit by a drunk driver while parked on the street… sad end to a very cool lil car.
So did I and I used it in SCCA SSC (Show Room Stock) for two years, I wanted to go “Rally” with the car after but it was hit by a drunk driver while parked on the street… sad end to a very cool lil car.
This car reminds me of the 1979 Ford Fiesta, I drove. 4 speed, sunroof, pin stripping and a white CB Antenna mounted in the rear bumper. My Dad thought it was worn out at 98,000 miles and talked me into buying a 1985 Mercury Topaz. Bad decision.
Same here, I had a green Ford Fiesta, sunroof, the works, as much as it could be. Great ride, used it as an airport, run around errand car. Only sold it because I transferred to another base. Fiesta’s and Colts are what young buyers need today. Fun, economical, useful, and a great value when starting out.
4 of us (beefy 20-something guys) took 1 of those (same Y/M/M) from Morgantown, WV to NYC’n back in ’79. I think we out weighed the vehicle (more ways than 1). aahahahaa
We were surprised it did so well…
Then yrs later I got a colt vista wagon w/the ‘twin shift”. It must have been the same gen as this hatch. A fantastic car (a spoiler as it was the ’set-it-&-forget-it’ that mericans now expect from their ‘appliance’). Wish I had it’s nxt gen as these were the days of the pre-mini, mini wagon (Eagle Summit, MPV, tercel wag / honda RT, Stanza, etc). One of my fav car (utility) designs. A daily that is functional, low maintenance, small, economical… where I got part of my “Wagonman” nick name here.
I owned an ‘84 Colt GTS Turbo with the twin-stick 4 speed. An absolute blast to drive!
That’s top-shelf, that GTS. Rare and appreciated today.
I owned a 1979 Dodge Colt, a 1982 Dodge Colt and a 1989 Dodge Colt. All had manual transmissions, were fun to drive, and got great gas mileage. This one listed here would be tempting, though the location from me and the price are a deterrent. Single-stage red paint never held up well, and this car would probably look great with a proper paint correction detail job.
My aunt had a Colt Vista wagon for several years. She loved it and she drove the wheels off of it. She was heartbroken when it finally died on her & it would’ve cost way more to fix than it was worth. She looked for another one to replace it, but no cigar. She got a new Honda Civic which treated her well, but she really misses that Vista. Maybe I can surprise her with one someday, assuming a fine specimen like this Champ, rough edges and all, pops up on here. We shall see.
I drove a ’79 Champ 1.4L with the twin-stick that my parents bought new. My parlor trick to getting the most out of its 70 horsepower was emulating a close-ratio, 6-speed transmission. This was the shift pattern:
1-LO
2-LO
2-HI
3-LO
4-LO
4-HI
The challenging part was going from 2-HI to 3-LO quickly, which necessitated moving both shift levers at the same time with one hand. For a car that had less horsepower than a lot of modern motorcycles, it was a ton of fun.
Most folks just drove theirs around town with the twin-stick in “Power” (Low) range, only shifting it into “Economy” (High) range on the highway — which was really the only reason for it in the first place, to add an overdrive to Mitsubishi’s existing 4-speed cheaply until they could develop a proper 5-speed FWD transverse transaxle.
Their FWD packaging already used transfer gears to take power from the engine above to the transmission below, so it wasn’t expensive or difficult to add a second set of gears in there and a mechanism to select which ratio was engaged.
Well described, Chas. I won a SCCA National autocross championship in my ’83 Colt GTS, using the first 4 gears just as you list them. That remains the best handling FWD car I have ever driven. Very little power, but light and nimble.
(Two speeds in reverse was a hoot to show off to the unsuspecting, LOL)
If the subject vehicle here was a Twin Stick, I might be tempted to take a look at it. I still have a ’89 Colt Turbo, a drastically different and heavier car.
These are great fun to drive cars. Growing up we had a family friend with a gold Colt with the twin stick, I always thought that was a great idea. I love those little 13 in white wall tires, wonder if you could even find them anymore?
I had a Plymouth Champ back when I was 17. Great little car that would never quit.
Bought a brand new 84 Plymouth Colt turbo twin stick in Dec. 83. I believe it cost about 7500.00 at that time.Silver with red cloth interior. I was 19 and picked it up in a foot of snow on the ground. Loved that car and so much fun to drive. I remember buying it at Casler Motors, Pompton Lakes,N.J. Long outta business
Thanks for the awesome memory
Seems alot of money for the time Clifford wow. But what a Cool car you chose 👍
Indeed, our 81 was about 3300
Click and Clack approved.
The Champ and Colt were the same car except for different grilles and striping. Good little econo-boxes mechanically but they were susceptible to the tin worm. This car will need to be inspected for corrosion underneath especially. Even so, I’d talk a little turkey on the price if the car is solid.
FYI This wasn’t Plymouth’s first foreign car to wear the Plymouth badge. Remember the Cricket from the early 70s? “Can do…chirp chirp ” was its slogan! (The ad company should have been fired). The car was made in England by what later became the Rootes Group, of which Chrysler had a stake in at the time.
Don’t forget the Plymouth Arrow and Plymouth Sapporo.
I had a Cricket was impossible to get that car to 60 MPH even going down hill.
Yours must have been the only one like that. They certainly were not sports cars or muscle cars but they held their own on the roads fine. Including freeways. Maybe yours was a lemon 🍋
This generation was a design masterpiece. Nearly flush glass, airy, open greenhouse, and taut looking sheet metal, looking like it was shrink-wrapped over the interior. With modern lights this could be mistaken for something 20 years newer.
A design masterpiece? Maybe in the old USSR. Over here, they sold by the tens.
Just glad that era of time is behind us. None of these cars would save your life or drive through any kind of storm without it flooding out or breaking down. True that prices were affordable but try taking them on today’s freeway. Couldn’t even get up to speed.
Sorry, disagree. These were well built, and a great value.
Sorry, have to disagreed. Earlier Japanese automobiles in the state’s were troublesome and cheap. I know as a lifelong Mopar enthusiast. Chrysler really took the hit putting their own names on Japanese automobiles. Don’t get me going on the rust issues.
Sorry, have to disagreed. Earlier Japanese automobiles in the state’s were troublesome and cheap. I know as a lifelong Mopar enthusiast. Chrysler really took the hit putting their own names on Japanese automobiles. Don’t get me going on the rust issues.
Ah, the “twin stick!” No wonder Chrysler was so enamored with AMC!
Climbed Mt Washington NH in an ’81 with dual stick. Only time the extra gears were used.
Good car.Had carb issues right before we traded it.
My late grandma owned an ’81 Colt and it’s how I learned to drive a stick. It was a good little car with the optional St. Christopher medal glued to the dash. I remember waxing it for her birthday around 1989 and rubbing about 7 layers of oxidized paint off – but the result was cherry tomato red. RIP Nanna.
I owne a new 1980 Champ, drove back and forth from Cleveland to Chicago many times to visit a lady friend, Anita. Great mileage and killer stereo. Cleveland winters hurt her bad and traded her in on a 1986 Mazda B2000 pick up.
Had an 82 colt with a 1.6 and a twin stick. Got it stuck on a snow drift one time dug it out as much as i could, put in second low range and pushed myself out. It was a fun little car
Fresh out of grad school with a Drama degree ( what was I thinking? ), I got a job selling at a Dodge/AMC/Renault dealer. I was assigned a used twin-stick Colt to commute in for a while. What a hoot rowing through all 8 closely-spaced gears.
I owned a new 79 Champ and a new 81 Colt. Both 1.6 with twin stick. Great cars! Autocrossed the 79 with good success. The 81 Colt was strictly my wife’s car. Never had a problem with either one, other than the problems I inflicted on them. (autocross). The MCA air jet was an interesting addition to the engines. Air jet swirled in the combustion area for better fuel/air mixing. Seemed to work, got 40mpg consistently even with such spirited driving. And could easily keep up with highway speeds. These are the kind of cars we need today.
I had a brand new Dodge Colt in 1981. Cost $5225 out the door. Single stick 1.4 liter engine with a four speed transmission. It ran great and got about 35 MPG. Very small and the back seat was not terrible comfortable but it was basic transportation. Mitsubishi made these and they were extremely reliable. Sold it in 1988 for $1500 with 92,000 miles. Had some rust in the engine compartment which was typical given this was the northeast. The 1982 models were better rustproofed.
Neat car. The ones w the twin stick configuration surely spawned a whole bunch of future heavy equipment operators and truck drivers 🤔
89 Horizon for $ 4,500 with 68 k miles Phoenix FB Marketplace
Tom and Ray Magliozzi, AKA Click and Clack The Tappet Brothers, of NPR’s long running Car Talk radio show had one of these and often spoke about it. They always praised the car and wanted to see how far they could drive it before it died. I think it outlasted the show.
They also had a ’63 Dodge Dart convertible that they loved. I seem to remember that one of their sons destroyed it.
I think the show one – hour recordings of Click and Clack may be available via N.P.R., the original radio broadcaster. I never missed an episode, would sit by the radio like my grandparents did, those brothers were a phenomenon.
The one they loved and mentioned often was a Colt Vista, a rebadged Mitsubishi Chariot 5-door “tall wagon” rather larger than these small 3-door hatches, though knowing Mitsubishi of the time they likely shared many components on common under the skin.
I bought this EXACT same cart (called it Spunky) for $150 in the early 90s. Drove it for 20k more miles. Loved this little car. One of my fondest memory vehicles.
My wife and I bought an 81 Champ with the 1.6 twin stick. What a fun car to drive! Ours was bright red with red interior. We had a white pin stripe that ran from the front fender, down the side and to the rear corner of the hatchback. My brother drove it and said it reminded him of his 68 MGB. Thought it was a cool little car. We drove it to Ohio one summer, from Connecticut and got 44MPG! No problems going through the mountains of PA.
I had a 79 Dodge Colt 1.6 sidewinder twin stick. 4 speed split dif. Yes i hotrod it. Weber carb different intake and headers. That combo woke it up. Sounded great. Change the springs added air bags so I could put off road tires big fog lights in the front. This all happen early 80s. Had a great time on the dirt roads and mud. 😄 And it was good on gas. When I took my girl out to greenwich village in NYC. Easy to park. Tight spots I would lift the rear bumper and move it into the spot.😂 i had audience watching me also! It was great to be young. This Champ brought back many memories.. Thanks Michelle .. 🇺🇸🐻
These honestly were good little cars. I have experience with several in days of old. I’m just not sure about the price. Seems on the high side to me but I could be wrong. If anyone would care to give me an informed opinion pertaining to the price, please do.
It would be a very unsafe vehicle for the road today. MITSUBISHI was known for making many products back then like refrigerators. That was what they did best. Kinda like Subaru. Better at a lot of other things.
This has been for sale all summer long at this price as I live in the same town. Probably has issues with finding parts to complete the project and has this much into it. Not worth half that. Maybe $1500.
Checked today…still on FB Marketplace for same price.