The Dodge Colt didn’t quite have the baggage that the Dodge Challenger did during its captive-import Mitsubishi era. Both were made as rebadged Mitsubishis, but the Dodge Challenger version came just a shop teacher’s handful of years (4) after the big, American, rubber-burning Challenger, which was, and still is, considered one of the most revered muscle cars of all time. That didn’t go over well with lovers of the former rubber-burning version. This mild and meek 1979 Dodge Colt is listed on eBay in Pottsville, Pennsylvania with a $4,900 buy-it-now price or you can make an offer.
Believe it or not, by 1979 there had already been two previous generations of the Dodge Colt in the marketplace, starting with the 1971 model year. The third-generation cars hit the market in late-1976 for the 1977 model year, and the sedans and coupes were rebadged Mitsubishi Lancers. They also made a station wagon which was a rebadged Mitsubishi Galant Sigma. Apparently, according to this photo, “all the mod swinging singles had Dodge Colt wagons with the estate package”, if you know what I mean.. (I don’t even know what I mean)
Is this a nice interior or is this a nice interior! Wow! I thought that the exterior of the car looked great, but good grief, this thing is a jewel box. And, no power-clogging automatic, this is a 4-speed manual. The seller mentions that the top of the dash is a little warped but there are no cracks, that’s great news. It’s been a while since I’ve seen an interior in this sort of immaculate condition, especially on a car that often times would have been used fairly hard and not cared for as much as a more expensive car would have been. The seats are out of this world, this interior alone is worth the asking price for someone wanting to restore their Colt.
But, as you can see from the engine photo, all is not wine and roses, or 酒と蘭 (sake and orchids). This Mitsubishi 4G32 1.6L inline four has around 80 hp, which for an 1,800-pound car isn’t horrible. The engine looks like what I expected the rest of the car to look like after 38 years, kind of dirty, old, and not nice as it could be. And, there are issues with the body on this car that don’t really show up on the first two photos – and kudos to the seller for showing the bad parts, too. The front fenders are a slightly different shade than the hood is, and those fenders have rust bubbling on them, top and bottom. The seller mentions that the front fenders have been repaired and repainted in the past, but most of the other paint on the rest of the car is original. The front fenders are obviously a problem area for these cars, as both metal and fiberglass front fenders are fairly widely available. Another small problem spot is the usual rear wheel area. The trunk looks great and that’s a bonus, it’s one less area that the next owner will have to weld. The seller says that the floors are totally solid as is the trunk and only the front fenders and two areas in front of the rear wheels have rust on them. If a person could get this for a bit less than the asking price and do a little work on the body and detail the heck out of the engine, this could be the nicest Dodge Colt in existence. You would draw a crowd at any car show bigger than the Lamborghini or Cobra parked next to it, simply because there are so few left.
This is odd because I had a 1979 Dodge Colt and it was a 2 door hatchback.
Are they sure this is a 1979 model?
1977/1978 – last year’s for the rear wheel drive Colt.
Yes definatly a 79, I am the owner. They made a coupe, hatchback, sedan and wagon. The hatchback was front wheel drive.
Where is this car now?
In the late 70s, we put a 340 6 pak with a 727 in our Colt to tow our 10 sec Cuda.
Aside from the power,I just can’t imagine towing
that big trailer & car with such a small tow vehicle.
You sure that isn’t a “joke” shot?
Its a fact jack. I do not joke. Would you like to see another angle? And this is southern CA. Ran this set up for 3 years.
You have 1 ton Dodge trucks pulling 5 car trailers in the mountains. Talk about towing weight ratios.
Dodge truck 8k
5 car trailer loaded 25 to 30k.
Dodge Colt 3k
Trailer with race car
5k.
Aw, lighten up, David, it’s suppose to be fun here. I mean, you put a 340 six pack in a Cushman, it will tow your race car. We’re not talking about the same car here, and it is a bit odd. I’ve pulled trailers all my life, and I’m not sure I’d care for that setup either. I’d be afraid of stopping it with the 1 inch brake shoes and pads. I bet it was a fun car when not towing something.
I have hauled cars for 50 years from a 1 car trailer to a 14 car hauler with 4 million miles. Never had an accident. We up graded the brakes to disk all 4 corners. We had equalizer bars with anti sway shocks set up and had electric brakes on the trailer. We would use the bars on long distance. In this photo, we were going to a local track a couple miles away to Lyons.It sure was an eye-catcher. These pictures were taken in the late 70s.
I entertained fantasies of putting a 318 into a 75 Colt, but the plan never came to pass!! Whatever happened to your tow car? I never really cared for this “downsized” version, but this IS a very nice car. GLWTA! :-)
Sold the 2 cars and trailer. The race car is still around. Do not know about the Colt. Was sold in the early 80s.
What a fantastic thing ..
Nice find.
Yeah, this is confusing. Most sites say, in late ’78, they went with the front drive, but other sites say, the rear wheel drive Colt was still offered in ’79. They, apparently did offer a larger rear wheel drive Colt wagon in ’79. This has to be a late ’78 titled as a ’79. Always liked these the best of all the Asian imports. Maybe because it had Chrysler on it, but they were nice cars. If this was a wagon, I’d be on it.
The original window sticker says it is a 79.
I had owned a 78 Colt up until 4 months ago, it had belonged to my younger brother , who found it in a garage in Desloge where it had sat for 15 years after the owners husband had died, she said she always hated the little car and parked it. well Bob bought it cheap with 25K on it and we worked it over and got it running she had parked it with a half tank of gas in it! He drove it back an forth to St Louis for a few years and I bought it for my #2 Son when he was in High School and he drove it as a college car when he headed off to SW Missouri State in 2005 then his kid sister drove it to SEMO and lastly the baby of the family drove it Mizzou this last time before giving it back to me in 2015. The little Colt had done well if you consider it had over 300K on the old car when I sold it in April of this year. I had replaced the both front fenders after 3 different little car wrecks the kids had in it, had to rebuild the engine once and replaced it once, various body repairs, but all told it was a tough little car. All around it survived 3 kids and me for a little over 14 years. I sold it to a distance family member who was in need for a cheap little car to get around town to work in and it had been sitting for a few months anyway, so I said goodbye and let it go. I have attached the only picture of it I could find I think it was taken shortly after I bought it, because it is dated 2003. I never really changed the color after the body work, because I always liked the color.
Had a mid 70’s Colt wagon like the one tne “Mod Swinging Singles” drive back in the early 80’s, when I was a Mod single (but not very swinging). I used it to transport Ms Pac Man and Galaga games all over the panhandle of Florida as a video game operator then. My dad, a WWII vet, didn’t take well to the Japanese and German cars I would buy and called them “Jap Jobs” and “Kraut Buckets”. But he still noticed that, unlike the old US cars I would buy, he seldom had to help me work on them, they just kept going. I kept buying Japanese cars as daily drivers and never once did an engine rebuild or saw the inside of a transmission shop .
I had two of these as winter beaters in the 80’s. They were good little cars none of which had ac. Mine were both 4 speeds and performed the basic tasks well getting good mpg however they are not desirable for $4500 ask.
Those seats have been redone as they did not come stock with that red piping. The seller should have paid more attention to the engine compartment for the balls to ask that much.
If you look at the picture of Big Mike’s car it looks like it has the red piping so you might be mistaken on your claim.
I am the owner and they did come with the red piping on that model, I have the original literature showing it.
this car is mostly original, not restored so engine compartment is original. I can ask what ever I want. You dont know what I have into it.
I had a 76 two door hardtop that I purchased used in 1978, blue with white interior, it also had the colored piping ( blue ) to match the paint. I don’t believe the seats would have been recovered after 2 years, so it must have been a option. It was a great car, good looking, dependable, and great gas mileage. This car looks good, and would make a great daily driver. I agree the asking price is a little high, but $4k would not be unreasonable IMO.
Wasn’t this called a Colt Carousel?
Yeah, there would’ve been this, a four door, a FWD three door hatchback and a slightly larger, nicer RWD wagon in ’79.