This is a hard one to classify, is it a sporty four-door sedan? A sports car with four doors? An econobox with a couple of famous badges and a stout engine? Maybe this 1987 Dodge Shelby Lancer is all of the above? It can be found posted here on eBay in Schenectady, New York, the current bid price is just over $1,000, and there is a $2,300 buy-it-now price.
Back in the mid/late-1980s when I had my LeBaron convertible, I really wanted a Lancer, especially a Shelby Lancer. They were rare then and are even rarer now. This is #546 out of reportedly 800 made total, half of which had three-speed automatic transmissions, which, unfortunately, this example has. Still, for $2,300 or less this could be a good buy.
The Dodge Lancer was based on Chrysler’s H-body platform which was basically a slightly-stretched K-body. I always thought that they looked like a longer four-door Dodge Shadow. The Shelby version was offered for three years beginning in 1987 and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one in person. This example has seen better days but overall it appears to be in good shape, just needing some help on the details. Ok, maybe more than that, but the seller says that it has zero body rust and that’s the biggest thing for me.
There are, however, a few areas that need work. I’m not sure what’s going on in this area of the roof, and the headliner has some strange rusted part hanging from it, they say that it’s the overhead dome light but how did it get that rusty? That’s scary. The 400 that came with automatic transmissions also came with leather seats, whereas the 5-speeds typically had cloth seats. It’s like assuming that people who drink decaf don’t like a nice, dark roast flavor to assume that people who buy automatics want leather or 5-speed buyers don’t care about leather, weird. The seller mentions that the seats need help but I don’t see anything real scary inside other than the headliner. The rear cargo area looks great but I’d like to see under that and into the spare tire area.
The big deal here is the Shelby-tuned engine, which is Chrysler’s 2.2L inline-four turbo II and it pumped out 175 horsepower. The power came on after a typical 1980s lag time but then you’d better damn well hang onto the steering wheel when it hit. This car runs and stops and seems to run well and the turbo spools up, but the seller says that they haven’t had it over 30 mph which is more than unusual. Something is going on here, clearly, but for a couple of grand: good buy or good-bye?
Well, if you keep the speed under thirty, the bearings of a blown turbo (in this case, maybe not an oxymoron) won’t be noticeable or smoking.
And what’s that empty bracket on the left side anyway? Or, if this car still has the turbo!
That’s where the ac compressor would sit, if the car had ac
Is that a rusted license plate frame hanging from the headliner?
Don’t think you will be driving it home unless you live across town. Needs some pictures of the bottom side. But may be worth the money though, parts may be hard to come by as a lot of these cars are gone. Not much demand for window regulators and other parts for these cars.
If Carroll Shelby has one regret, this is it.
No it isn’t. Shelby was not some jerkweed snob about cars. He liked tuning cars for the working class guy as much as selling Cobras to movie stars. Maybe more. Read a book someday Steve you’ ll clearly be stunned by what you can learn.
Shelby was a hot rodder. He told me he was proud to put his name on the Chrysler Shelby’s because anyone could afford them. The Chryslers all met the hot rod formula of a powerful engine in a light car. He did it mostly with existing parts from Chrysler products to keep costs down. Chrysler’s single (K car based) platform made it possible to upgrade brakes, suspension and engines with minor modifications at little expense. Trim prices may be getting hard to come by for a Lancer or GTS but the mechanicals are readily available.
“They were rare then and are even rarer now.”
Because they self-destructed.
Zero body rust means you can put your fist through the hole, some rust means your head will fit through. No underside shots, no spare tire well photo and no upper or lower suspension mounting point shots. I see the seller is wisely avoiding the excessive picture tax
My wife drove a 5 speed Shelby Lancer back in the 80s. I had a GLH Turbo for my car that I also Auto-X’d. At one Auto-X event, the GLH Turbo broke, so I asked the drivers in my class if I could drive the Lancer instead. All said no problem. So we took the race tires off the GLH Turbo and put them on the Lancer. Long story short, I won the class and everybody in the class changed their minds about my legality. In the end, I was moved to a modified class and everyone was happy then.
Current bid is $1500 the buy it now seems to have been removed not a bad price for what it is long as you know what you’re getting yourself into
Over 10 years it went 141,822 miles. Over the next 18 years it went less than 3,000 miles and nothing in the last six years, though it got sold, shipped and reregistered a lot as a ‘someday gonna fix-her-upper’.
Somebody forgot to tell the car it died a long time ago. Too bad as the profile looks like an Audi 4000.
Mom and Dad had a plain Lancer for a brief period in 1991 or so. It was only a few years old and already trying to shake itself apart. Held together with chewing gum and rusty nails. Dad got rid of it pretty quick. Shelby or not, HARD pass.
These didn’t sell because they were just too anonymous, even in loud colors. The Shelby Dodge really worth considering is the Omni GLH, which has this same motor.
Technically and legally this is a Shelby Lancer (no Dodge), as Shelby Automobiles Inc. is the original manufacturer of record, assembled at their facility in Whittier, California. The following two model years became the Dodge Lancer Shelby, as Dodge continued production in-house themselves.
Auction update: someone grabbed this sweet project Shelby Lancer for $1,775!