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/