The concept of a captive import is demonstrated perhaps no more perfectly than buy Chrysler Corporation, which used a cozy relationship with Mitsubishi throughout the 80s and 90s to bolster its entry-level vehicle game. The Dodge Challenger was a risky proposition, however, taking an iconic nameplate and thrusting it onto a vehicle that came equipped with a “Silent Shaft” 4-cylinder and could barely reach 60 in under 12 seconds. Regardless, this Plymouth Saparro / Dodge Challenger shown here on craigslist may be one of the nicest ones left, and is offered for a staggering $15,000.
One of the strangest things that American car companies do is to use nameplates that have a certain association – usually a sporting or performance car – and affix it to a vehicle that is anything but that. Right now, the Ford Mustang Mach-e comes to mind, and I’m still confused as to whether Ford expects to wash away decades’ worth of brand value that connects the “Mach” identity with its most desirable muscle cars. It’s so strange to me that they continue to do this, especially when cars like the Challenger were jeered at by brand loyalists for clearly being an economy car with a muscle car’s namesake.
The shame of it is that the Challenger (by Mitsubishi) had a few things going for it that would have made it a respectable entry all on its own. The engine was truly considered to be vibration-free (for the most part), and at the time, was likely far better than most 4-cylinders at eradicating the harshness associated with high-efficiency engines. The interior was European in style and finish quality, with the sort of materials and final assembly you’d associate with a more expensive model. For years, automotive editors have complained about domestic manufacturers’ ability to build an economy car to the same standards as a Honda, and here we had a respectable entry. Even now, the interior appears to be holding up quite well.
Despite the excellent road manners, the Sapporo/Challenger twins were not particularly amazing at any one thing. They weren’t fast, and the fuel economy was good, but not great. The handling left a lot to be desired as well, so they weren’t driver’s cars by any means. The seller notes this Challenger has been “passed down” and supposedly comes with a long paper trail of maintenance work. The asking price is extremely ambitious for a model that has not emerged as a collectible in any capacity, but I supposed if you had to own one, you don’t have many options at any given time. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Tony Primo for the find.
Great looking cars. 👌
Oh the horror, THIS is what replaced our snarling, rubber burning beasts, for shame. To be clear, ’74 was the last REAL Challenger, a 4 year hiatus, and then this. Not a bad car, mind you, but could have been called something else. Mitsubishi was kind of the AMC of Asian cars, highly under rated, and lived in the shadow of the more famous ones, but make no mistake, I think Mitsubishi was the best of them all, perhaps because of the Chrysler factor. Ironically, over 170,000 of these were sold, and 10,000 more than the original.
$15 gra,,,,need I go into the psychiatric issues of these people everytime? I’m sorry, there is clearly a problem here.
They made pretty good aircraft too.
Guilty of buying their big screen, wood boxed TV back in ’85 before I knew they made the Zero’s that took out my uncle in PH.
I hated it when the Chrysler started selling these little 4 bangers using the previous gen muscle car names. They could just as easily have used a new name for them. Competent cars or not, I would never buy one for that fact alone. I might be biased because I owned a real Challenger at the time these econo boxes were released.
I agree Dave, I feel this is the same reason why Pontiacs GTO based of the Australian holden monaro didn’t take off as expected. It was actually a decent vehicle, but the iconic American name hurt it badly.
This seems a bit of an apples and oranges comparison. The late 70s-early 80s Challenger was clearly an econo-box Asian car with an iconic muscle car name stuck on it. The 2000s GTO on the GM/Holden platform actually had performance characteristics worthy of the name GTO – LS engine, rear wheel drive, available manual transmission. I agree that the 2000s GTO aesthetic design did not call out any memories of the originals, but to be fair the shape of the GTO changed significantly from its origin to the final “real” GTOs in 1970-72. The mid 70s sticker package GTOs were more of a performance insult to the name than the 2000s version.
A challenge what? A challenge….. I can’t even say the name when I look at this car… ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Passed down ? What did he do wrong to his relative? or abandoned in his property? Broke down in front of his house? Yeah, it’s clean, paint is still acceptable. The price?! Ha ha ha ha ha ha…is he going to pay that for someone to take it away?
I had one of these for a winter car ! Had a 5 spd when it finally died I bought a Plymouth Sapporo! Lol! Cheap $500 cars back in the day!
The rear end looks naked without any callouts.
Under 12 seconds zero to 60 mph was possible with the 5-speed manual (11.8 C&D road test) but this one is a 3-speed automatic and of course slower. More like just under 14 or so. 105 hp to move about 2800 lbs. Not a bad-looking car, though certainly no real Challenger.
Maybe it was lazy to name this car after the Challenger, but it was a familiar name like Cutlass. Maybe they named it because it Challenged your perception of what an economy car is supposed to be?
I remember some of these having some crazy plaid interiors.
$15,000?!! GET OUTTA HERE! Lop off that 1 and you might sell it then. Where are people getting these loony prices lately??
The seller must think he can profit off the Challenger name because of the high resale value of REAL Challengers. The jokes on him.
Never really remember seeing many of these back in the day. I’m a Mopar guy and never had a REAL Challenger, but I think it would be even more painful if I had and saw it’s name attached to this. It’s not a bad looking car in itself but to have used the Challenger name, considering what it was, was a pretty bad decision. I agree with other commenters in that this post scamdemic world have people lost what sanity they still had left? $15K for this??
I had a 79 Challenger with the 5 speed and the crazy plaid interior. It was a fun car to drive, and very reliable. The automatics were dogs and I wouldn’t have one. Mine was still going strong at 142,000 miles on it. I only sold it because I was leaving the country for a couple of years. I’d like to have another one, but a 5 speed and a reasonable price.
Aww, the wailing and gnashing of teeth. My goodness. It’s the same way now, that doesn’t look like (fill in the blank), or I used to have an older one and it was… I’m sure Chrysler did its best to capitalize on familiarity and keep people in their showrooms. Judging by the comments I don’t know if people today really remember the 70s and 80s all that well. High inflation and rates of interest were the norm. Gas was equal to $6/gallon by 1980. What we’re experiencing today is not new just the numbers are bigger.
I wonder if the Sapporo my brother dropped the 318 V8 into is still around somewhere. Now that was the car it shoulda/couda been!
Using the Challenger name for these was clearly a misstep. They should have used one of Mitsubishi’s model names for the Dodge version, just as they did for its Plymouth Sapporo twin — IMO probably Lancer, which Dodge had already used for other models prior, would use again the year after this model was retired, and for that reason was not used by Mitsubishi in the US market until DaimlerChrysler transferred the license to them as of 2001.
All that said, these were competent and well-built cars for what they were and for the era, and their sales figures over a 5-year model run confirm enough buyers tended to agree. I can confirm the big 2.6L balance-shafted Astron engine is impressively, almost eerily smooth, delivering power and sound in a smooth, turbine-like whoosh without any hint of harshness or vibration or even much sense of individual cylinders firing at all. Little surprise that Porsche and other mfrs. wound up licensing Mitsubishi’s balance-shaft patent to refine their own big 4s.
Finally, also notice these were among the last true pillarless hardtops available in the US for some time, AFAIK only along with the Mercedes-Benz C126 and C124 couples.
Yep. The same company made the planes that attacked Pearl Harbor! No thanks EVER!
The interior on this one is boring. If you are going to get one of these, you have to go for the plaid.