While VW’s Scirocco is obscure, the Dodge Omni 024 may as well be absolutely extinct. Designed as a competitor to VW’s hot hatchback, the 024 wasn’t the sales success Chrysler was hoping for. The later Dodge Charger and Shelby derivatives are more frequently seen, making the 024 Omni a rare bird in the family of 80s-era Chrysler hatchbacks. Find this nice project-grade example here on eBay with a $1,660 Buy-It-Now.
Chargers are seemingly easy to find, even in Shelby guise (like this GLHS we recently featured on the site). The early Omni 024s, on the other hand, are either extinct or darn close. The really unusual ones include the DeTomaso package, a styling exercise designed to emphasize a sporting image that its low-power drivetrains unfortunately could not live up to. This example thankfully has the rear window louvers, which at least give it a more sporting appearance.
The interior in this car is probably it’s most surprising feature, as the upholstery looks very well preserved and there appear to be no major alterations from stock. The seller does note the body has some rust issues in the wheel arches but no other major rust is present. A new headliner will be needed at some point, but all basic electronics and power features are said to function as designed.
Power options weren’t great until the turbocharged mills came along, but thankfully this example at least has the slightly more robust 2.2L engine. The other option was a very underwhelming motor sourced from Volkswagen, but don’t be fooled – this Chrysler-sourced inline four isn’t particularly breathtaking. These 024 Omnis are an interesting choice for a cheap project car you don’t see everyday, with the potential to make them more interesting by installing some junkyard Shelby parts.
My wife’s first car. The engine fell out when she let out the clutch.
Did she dump the clutch at 7000 rpm’s? I know, I’m a smart a$$
It may have been designed to compete with the scirocco but it wasn’t half as good
Yeah, unlike the VW sciroccos, this probably ran.
I had one….loved it
I had the Plymouth variant TC3 with a 2.2, 5 speed for a demonstrator, before the Turismo. It was a decent car but you had to be less demanding of quality. It was enough of a lesson that I sold my friends the Sapporo. The 2.2 pulled good and the car handled ok although it had that mushy VW shifter and enough squeaks and rattles to keep you awake.
It did not have the VW shifter…
https://youtu.be/bLAuJ6gXqFk
In the 1980’s,the Big Three could not design a car that could compete with, let alone beat a European or Japanese sports car. The only thing Ford, GM and Chrysler were capable of was having their advertising agencies dream up foolish ad campaigns comparing the garbage coming out of their factories to the competition and putting silly emblems and decals on said garbage. “Scirocco Alternative” ? HA!.
I had the shelby charger, it was a 🐌, but had neat shelby embroidered seats and a hurst shifter.
Yeah, the big three couldn’t build a car that would rust out as soon as it was pushed off it’s shipping boat either.
My grand folk had the Plymouth version (tc3), mustard yellow with the Miser package (base cloth interior, manual string and brakes, small vw-derived engine, 4-speed wide ratio manual). They loved it, but I thought it was awful. The front seats were uncomfortable and I didn’t fit in back at all. Steering was numb, suspension flaccid, tires narrow, and it had huge gaps between gears. It did give pretty spectacular MPG on the highway as I recall. The hood flew up while driving more than once, never could get that fixed right. The rear hatch crashed and groaned, and the struts that held it open barely outlasted the warranty. However, with the back seat down and the hatch left open, you could carry a few 4×8 sheets of plywood or drywall. And with that ATF-lubricated transmission, it would seemingly glide forever in neutral. Among the many malaise-era cars I spent quality time with, I’m not sure whether the tc3 or the 6-cyl Fairmont Futura was my least favorite. No, I’ll take that back. The Fairmont was worse.
A positive vote, based the whole comment, but really only for the very last sentence! (LOL)
Decoded from 442-speak: 0 power, 2 much trouble, all 4 you.
I had a ’79 Plymouth TC3 in ’87 with a manual and the 1.7L VW engine. I beat the living hell out of that car and only managed to break the cutch pedal. That VW engine while small would eat an NA 2.2L Mopor on the road.
Use to drive a coworkers for road relief what a POS
The car I learned to drive on was a near twin to this one, same white with spoiler, though ours had gold pinstripes and a beige vinyl interior. It was a 1980 024 with 4-speed, 1.7 liter VW four.
I also learned to heel & toe in that car. Not, not racing, just had to keep tapping the gas a bit to keep it from stalling.
Decently attractive car and pretty practical with the hatch, but quality wasn’t very good. Dad normally would insist any car last ten years, but between the crappy engine and the rust it made it just eight years and then had to be junked.
I had a 1980 TC3 wth the VW motor & a stick as a company car. Not a bad little car for it’s time. It wouldn’t start once in my garage. I replaced a module of some sort & it ran fine after that. It was an upgrade over the thoroughly beat 74 Scamp I had previously.The new hires didn’t get very good cars!
I find this interesting to me, I recently picked up a 1989 dodge Daytona looks almost exactly like this car! I jumped on this one because it only has less than 73000 miles on it and that is all original miles! This one has the 2.5 in it very surprised at how quick it is! Even has the same window luvers on it ! Actually looks about the same body style side windows and all! I would love to talk or text with someone who has owned a dodge Daytona! I am actually a Ford guy, first really small car for me! Actually fun to drive
had the 86 charger cousin, all of them had bad DNA
My first car was an ’81 Scirocco manual that I really liked. Totaled it and ended up with an ’80 024 like this one minus the louvers with red interior. We changed out the original wheels with the Scirocco ones. Hated the 024. It was only 8 years old at the time and had lots of rust spots, leaky hatch, burned oil so bad it left a cloud of blue smoke whenever I stopped at a stop sign. The horn padding dry rotted and when you hit a bump the horn would sound. One afternoon I started to leave school and the horn wouldn’t stop going off. It was so bad my younger sister preferred to ride the bus to jr. high rather than be seen in it. Only good thing about it was we bought it for about $400 and sold it for $500. Not bad for getting 6 months of use.
You know first hand, how intuitive the Scirocco feels, and becomes and extension of your body, if not your soul. :)
Too bad these vw’s never would start or run for very long.
Is there a history to this car ? I believe I own this very car now ! I’ve compared photos and every ding, rust spot, missing trim is identical to mine ! the only thing different is the radiator hose, had to buy a new radiator and modify the hoses a bit.
That’s awesome!
This happens all the time in the Scirocco community.
I made a comment. It’s not showing up ? I got so excited to see this car as it’s the one I bought in June ! I am in love with my car.
Cool!