Not all of us are lucky enough to inherit a desirable car. And the car in question could be almost anything, from a luxury land yacht to a limited-production sports car. And, on occasion, the gifted vehicle is an iconic hot hatch, carved from the shell of an otherwise humble hatchback. Yes, the seller of this delightfully well-preserved 1986 Dodge Omni GLH Turbo listed here on Facebook Marketplace inherited it from his father, who bought it as a fair-weather driver. Aside from one repaint, it remains in what looks like factory-fresh condition with an asking price of $10,000.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Terry for sending this in. The Omni GLH shows just 72,000 miles from new, which makes it one of the lower mileage examples to show up for sale in recent memory. Given their rental car roots and ease of upgrades, these Shelby-modified cars were often hopped up and driven into the ground. Curiously, over the last few years, several other low-mileage specimens have shown up for sale on popular auction sites and seem to routinely bring over $20,000. Now, those tend to be the harder-to-find GLHS edition, but this one looks like a potential bargain at this price.
The seller reports his dad bought it new in May of 1986 and always kept it in a climate-controlled garage. The interior certainly speaks to many years of careful usage. I don’t see any signs of neglect or long-term outdoor exposure. I love the period-correct turbo badge on the glovebox, and the auxiliary gauge which I suspect is less of a modification and more of an engine health monitoring tool. These little front-wheel drive screamers surprised a lot of stop light drag racers back in the day, and can still pack a punch.
Though it’s not as hot as the later GLH-S version, the standard GLH Turbo was surprisingly powerful. With 146 horsepower and 170 lb-ft of torque, it could scoot, and plenty of available upgrades made better performance a credit card swipe away. The seller’s father, thankfully, didn’t go overboard with any modifications, which is exactly the way you want to find a vintage tuner car. The only real issues seem to be cosmetic – the seller admits that you’ll see worn weather stripping, a loose headliner, and some small carpet stains. The repaint hurts it a bit, but overall, it looks like a a great buy.
I shook my head when these first came out. Mr. Shelby what were you doing? Its like he was selling licenses to use his name, but these apparently have the performance to match the looks. This is one sharp Omni but I’d have to dress up the interior. Those buckets look sad.
When they were first brought to market, I thought they were ridiculous in a bad way, but over the years, they’ve become ridiculous in a good way/
Buy the Shelby version….this is just the goes like hell turbo version….
In one weird way I want one!
Me want. But as usual too far away!
I’m curious to how it drives and how fast it is. But it’s still an Omni, and mid ’80s Chrysler tech which means you’ll be repairing it often. I think this falls under the category of just because it’s old and in good shape doesn’t necessarily make it worth that price.
Dan 0-60 7.5 , 15.8 in the quarter. Brisk 🏁👍
I remember going for a ride in a co-worker’s New Dodge Omni GLH, in 1986. He obviously had been practicing. He put the car through the paces and it hugged every turn. Acceleration was very responsive. Wow! That was 40 years ago.
i was at a dodge dealer when these first came out wow these where fun to drive Goes Like Hell
And it wasn’t a stock Omni……..
I don’t think the car has sold, yet. No buyer!
Reliability is not an issue. In the early 90’s I maintained a taxi cab fleet of 2.2and 2.5 Chrysler cars. Having 200,000 plus miles on these engines was normal.
Proper maintenance and service was the key.
I was a new car salesman in 1985 with a Dodge dealer. These were very popular & fun to drive ! BE CAREFUL the Turbo bearings had narrow oil passages so let the engine idle for 30-60 seconds before switching off. This trick helps cool &lube the races….same thing on any 2.2 Turbo engine…..The GLH stands for ” GOES LIKE HELL” per factory advertising 🤩
A screamer in the day! Pop the clutch and away we went. A great NYC stop light winner!!!
Ummm, no. Not the least bit interested in something like this. And even less so with the issues it has at that kinda price.
A 1986 Dodge Omni GLH Turbo had a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $8,900. The GLHS sold for $10,500.
I had the 4 door Black GLH Omni and then the 1987 2 door GLHS Black Shelby Charger. Both great cars.
In 86 my wife was due for a new car and one of the cars we looked at was the GLH. As advertised it did “Go like H**l”, but that’s where our attraction to it ended. It was obvious in the fit and finish and overall quality and crudeness of the car that once you got past the turbo conversion these really were just tinny, cheaply built econoboxes. We ended buying a new Z/24. The Z/24 was a tick slower in the quarter mile, but overall it was nicer, better built car.
Totally different cars……
I drove one of these when it was new, talk about torque steer!!!
I bought a new Omni Custom with the VW engine and AT in 1980. It was a cute little red econobox and built on the cheap. I could write a book on this but my first shock was when I discovered the front directional light lenses were
“fastened” with sticky putty. Also paint was falling off the door jams every time I washed it. Last time I ever bought a Chrysler product.
I had one that I bought in 1986. The salesman took an interstate cloverleaf ramp at 50mph, and I was sold. Great cars, but Holy Torque steer when launching from a dead stop. It was a handful. I was able to pull a hole shot on a friend’s new Corvette and he was only able to pass me when we hit 85mph. He was impressed by the shoebox’s performance.
These Omni/Horizon cars were a stellar first effort for Xler FWD car, and followed by the K cars are what saved them, at least fhis brush with bankruptcy.
Their build quality problems were often the butt of industry jokes like ……Chrysler discovered FWD by mistakenly placed the body on the chassis facing the wrong direction :-)
.
I always loved these cars and i was so jealous when i found out my older brother had bought one and never told me until he was about to sell it. Why? Three speeding tickets in less than a year of owner ship. Says a lot about how deceptively quick these cars really were.
I always loved these cars and i was so jealous when i found out my older brother had bought one and never told me until he was about to sell it. Why? Three speeding tickets in less than a year of owner ship. Says a lot about how deceptively quick these cars really were.
A cheaper, faster, lower quality Rabbit GTI.
These would gap Mustangs and Camaros of the era and get twice the gas mileage. Brilliant cars!
Awesome car! Although I was too young at the time to drive a car, I remember the Dodge Omni. My favourite at the time was the Omni GLH.
My dad had one… Very unlike him he just came home one day with it… Cheaply made, and it went through tires like tissues in flu season. Scaryest thing was torque oversteer at takeoff…. You wanted to have your wheels pointed straight ahead believe me…
The horsepower and torque numbers are virtually the same as those of a 1960s Austin-Healey 3000 Mk-III/BJ8 sports car! Same torque and only 4 horsepower less.
I remember when these were new… I couldn’t get past the crudeness and haphazard fit and finish to put money down on one, but they were a blast to drive… Oh… and that torque-steer… they could be a handful if one wasn’t ready for it…
Remember these well. They were quick little cars. My dad bought a new Omni back in ’84. It was a great car. He told me a coworker had bought one and took him out for a ride. Said it handled corners like on rails. I was really hoping he’d get one also but unfortunately it didn’t happen.
Seller has to remove the word Shelby from his ad – a GLH-T is not the same car at all.
However, I owned this car’s twin from new (mine had the red interior though) – and I can tell you that whomever buys this for the asking price will have more than 10K of fun.