If you’re into quirky ‘80s hot hatches and have a soft spot for Carroll Shelby’s oddball creations, this 1985 Dodge Shelby Charger might be your ticket to turbocharged nostalgia. It’s listed here on eBay and has just 42,615 miles on the clock, making it a rare find among cars that were typically driven hard and left to rust. It’s a clean, largely original driver that just needs a little finishing work to really shine.
The seller notes that the car has had four owners, but the first three were all from the same family. That helps explain its solid condition and low miles. The turbocharged 2.2L inline-four runs strong and the seller even drove it home from Michigan six years ago with no issues. The car comes with newer tires, a very tidy interior, and a clean body that wears a repaint done to fix peeling clear coat, but with no bodywork performed, which is a plus for originality purists.
Inside, the gray cloth interior presents well, with no major flaws mentioned beyond the need for a new headliner, a common issue that’s easy to fix. The car is equipped with a manual transmission, adding to the fun-to-drive factor. While the current exhaust is a homemade setup that works but lacks polish, a simple bolt-on cat-back system would improve both looks and sound.
The body is quite solid overall. There are three small rust spots visible in the listing: one in front of and one behind the left rear tire, and a small patch on the driver’s floorboard. None of these appear structural and could be easily addressed during winter downtime.
These Shelby-badged Chargers are a cool piece of 1980s performance history, offering a blend of fun, practicality, and collectability. They’re also still affordable and relatively easy to maintain, especially compared to their V8-powered cousins from earlier decades. If you’re looking for a unique, low-mile example with just a few weekend projects left to tackle, this little Dodge looks like a smart buy.
Would you leave this one as-is and just drive it, or turn it into a show-stopping sleeper?
I fell in love with these as a teenager when they were new. I wanted one so badly either in this color combination or maroon with silver stripes. Its in very solid looking condition too. I’d personally just keep it as nice as I possibly can and enjoy it. Thank you for the great memories Elizabeth, great write up!!
Agree w Driveinstile 👍 and I’d try and source a factory shift knob, plus address the armrest. Is that armrest stock equipment ?
Torque steer is a defining characteristic of these little turbo Chryslers. Stomping the gas is like driving in an earthquake.
Torque steer is a defining characteristic of these little turbo Chryslers. Stomping the gas is like driving in an earthquake.
Theres some torque steer on my Daytona turbo but not where its dangerous or undriveable. Anyone else have first hand experience? If its wet then yeah watch out but on dry its fine really. Fun car!
Not undriveable but you certainly have to pay attention. I think the fwd Diamondstar cars were worse. Around 200 hp and not much turbo lag.
The non-Shelby Omni/Charger cars had horrible torque steer. Shelby modified the half shafts to eliminate a lot of it. We put a lot of miles on one rallying in the late 80s and early 90s.
I loved these cars and actually bought a 1985 in the Black and silver paint combo. I suffered in the heat of Florida because mine did not have factory A/C. Someone ran a light and t-boned it from the passenger side which totalled it. I pulled the drive train out and installed it into a 1981 two door Dodge Aries which weighed 400lbs less than the Charger and after an ecu upgrade from Direct Connection ran mid 13 second 1/4 miles. During the mid 1980’s this was quick enough to dust a stock Mustang GT, Z/28 or Vette.
Heck of a sleeper 😴 you crafted up Robert 👍
$6500??! No way. No such thing as small amounts of rust from a Michigan car, did you see the rust shot underneath? Cracked windshield, homemade exhaust?
Desirable car, and they’re doing well value wise. But this one has issues
I had an 86 back in 1990 that I had bought off the local Chrysler dealerships lot. It was a ton of fun, and would smoke small block chevy’s off the line at stop lights. Torque steer, oh yeah! Part of the charm in my mind! Didn’t last much past 80K before the headgasket went which was a common occurrence in these little monsters….but boy was it fun. This one is missing the stripes down the sides which leads me to suspect some prior damage, because they were adhered well! That arm rest also does not jive with a 46K mile car either……
They do mention the car has had a respray, which would explain how and when it lost the stock side stripes that they evidently didn’t bother trying to replicate.
Why no boost gauge?
If “Shelby Charger Turbo” isn’t fast enough, maybe add a couple more
go-fast descriptors.
Unlike the numbered Shelby GLHS Chargers and Omnis that came out of Shelby’s CA factory, Shelby didn’t really have any direct hand in developing these Chargers. I don’t know if the seller is just misinformed or assuming in his ad text when stating, “This is a 1985 Dodge Charger that was done by none other than, Carroll Shelby! There was only a certain number of these cars done by Shelby.” Those actual numbered Shelby cars are really rare and are going for a premium price these days, but this car isn’t one of them. I remember, as a guy who loved the 60’s era Chargers, when these came out I sort of scoffed at them using the Charger name, but I’ve mellowed over the decades and have come to rather like these little cars and have respect for what they were for the era they were born in. Plus you never see them anywhere on the roads anymore. That pass. side floor looks rather scary, and rust issues can open a Pandora’s Box of headaches once you start getting into it. I’m assuming since the previous 3 owners were from the same family he can verify the mileage? I’ll hold comment on some of the interior mods lol. I know he’s asking $6500 or BO, but if anyone was to offer a realistic, respectable amount I think he’d do well to take it.
These may not have been built at the Shelby skunkworks in Whittier, and had no arbitrarily limited production run, but my understanding is that Shelby did develop all the modifications (and ongoing improvements year by year) that Dodge applied to the standard Chargers coming off their own production line as Dodge Shelby Chargers.
Mine had a louvered back window and it was removeable, but I don`t see it in the pictures. The front wheel drive would affect the handling if you goosed it but I found its handling in the snow was impressive.