Given the abundance of cheap economy cars in this country, it still remains a mild shock when one shows up apparently preserved since new. This 1980 Dodge Colt with the novel “Twin Stick” transmission featuring eight speeds of travel has somehow survived becoming someone’s beater commuter car decades ago, instead remaining a time capsule today with under 80,000 original miles. The seller has listed it here on craigslist for $5,100 in Phoenix, with no interest in trades at this time.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Jack M. for the find. Of course, Phoenix is a good spot to find a car like this, both for its dry, arid climate and the high density of retirees who live there and kept cheap cars at their winter homes for using as transportation when they sought shelter from the cold winters of their home states. I’m not saying that’s the case here, but it’s not uncommon for survivor vehicles to pop up that only saw regular use from December to April.
The interior remains in outstanding condition, not the easiest achievement for a car that was intended to serve as a college student’s chariot or an urban beater that could slide into tight parking spaces. The desert sun hasn’t done any serious damage to the cabin, with no obvious signs of splitting seams or cracked dashes due to prolonged sun exposure. Part of this is due to new cloth inserts and headliner, along with a refreshed rear seat, according to the seller.
The seller notes the drivetrain is in fine shape, and that the innovative transmission helps this fuel-sipping Colt achieve a truly respectable 51 MPGs. The car benefits from some recent improvements, including a front end alignment, and the seller notes no running issues at this time. The paint appears to be in excellent shape and consistent from the exterior surfaces to the inner panels, and is indicative of a car that’s been parked indoors, per the seller’s comments. If you’re looking for a time capsule econobox, this preserved Colt may fit the bill.
These were good little cars, and the Dodge Champ, sold a bunch. I believe, before the diesel VW, this was the highest gas mileage car you could buy. I had a neighbor that had a 5 speed Champ. The twin stick was pure poppycock, and the 51 mpg is a bit of a stretch. They would, however, get low 40’s, which was unheard of at the time. This has to be the only person to ever save a Colt like this. They were thrown away daily when the front shock towers disappeared.
It was NOT poppycock. I rode around in one of these a lot as a high school friend had a blue one. If you wanted some acceleration you used the twin stick for that, or MPG… Neat idea. That car was a lot of fun. This seems pricey but you may NEVER see one on the road again…
I think it was a sales gimmick, like the Rambler Twin Stick, and the silly Olds “Lightning Rods”. A) there is no need to “split the gears” on a vehicle like this, acceleration was limited, at best, and B) you’re not pulling 80K lbs. up Monteagle Hill, requiring a split shift. Like Fred says, it was used as an O/D and a 5 speed did the same thing. Like I say, I did plenty of that, and it gets mighty old.
From what I recall the Twin Stick wasn’t a sales gimmick. Mitsubishi (who built these for Chrysler) wanted to use a five speed for the Mirage/Colt, but were unable to develop one to fit (this was their first fwd car) so they used a separate overdrive unit with a four speed transmission.
I still have a 1984 Turbo – there was no 5 speed on the A150 (78 – 84) it came either with a standard 4 speed or the twin stick.
I am jealous! If this was a Turbo GTS it would be on the way to my house! I almost bought a silver one new.
Howard, it was the Plymouth Champ. I had both as a youngin’.
It was Dodge Colt, and Plymouth Champ.
Actually, that depended on the year. My ’83 Plymouth was badged Colt.
This has to be one of, if not THE the nicest one left. Charming little car..
The twin stick was blast to drive, but not quite as fun as a Mack Triplex though.
Familiar with a set of “clubs” are we? Mack made a Quadraplex too. I drove a Louisville Ford dump truck with a 5 and a 4, Gets mighty old after a while. I sure wouldn’t want to do that in a car after work.
one of my favorite videos…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lEYaTvvq4g
that auxerly transmission stick in the fords was a pain in the backside when it got sloppy with age ,to long andthe one in chev tandems was worse when it locked up between gears just when you needed it! dodge tandems were some what better but not by much!
Had one back in the day (Plymouth Champ) and loved it. The Twin Stick could be used like an 8 speed tranny, but no one ever did. It was used like overdrive – low range around town, high range on the highway. Worked flawlessly.
Was an 8 speed in every sense of the word – even split reverse so that you had 2 reverse gears
I tried with mine to use it like that, but it was a lot of work.
You all clearly have a different definition of what a “good” car entails than I do! Is high MPG the goal line? Knock yourselves out and drop $5100 on this. To each their own. Yikes.
It was a good car, but that doesn’t mean it is worth that price.
It’s gonzo. The seller deleted the ad.
One of my favorite teachers from a school in North Carolina had a silver Plymouth Champ. I always thought it was a neat little car. That car likely helped him save some money to buy some great mostly American made stereo equipment to play Frank Zappa on.
I kid you not, I traded a VCR for one of these once, and it ran!
I had this exact car in California. It was bought used from a Ford dealer and it was a nice little car. It was this exact spec.
I put my rear side marker lights on the inside though.
I think this guy is asking more for this car than what was paid for mine 3 years old.
How and why did you put your rear side marker lights “on the inside”?
Sold already, it seems! That was fast.
I think I might be bigger than this car lol.
Listing is back up again!!!
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/d/prescott-1980-dodge-colt/7043928355.html
Now the price has gone up $600.00.
OK, so a Phoenix car listed in SF. Scam, maybe?
Oops, back in Phoenix as well.
https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/cto/7039110215.html
Learned to drive stick in my mom’s ’84 Colt. She was hosting a Tupperware party so dad took me out to a dead end country road to teach me, I will always remember he spilled his beer all over the dash after one brutal attempt to clutch on my part when I killed it.
Here’s some trivia for ya. The twin stick transaxle went on to be used in the Hyundai excel. The 5-speed option used the twin stick function just to act as a 5th gear. Totally useless info. But silly non the less.
That’s what makes Barn Finds great Alphasud!
Had a red turbo version when I was in high school. Quick little car handled pretty good too. Gave some of those bloated Mustangs and Camaros a run for their money. Fun car.
Sweet looking car. I had a neighbour who had one when I was a boy in the late 70s, early 80s. I didn’t find it very attractive at the time. But today, I find it more attractive than what’s being offered from Mitsubishi.
I had one of these in the 80’s.
Left it in power range always.
Light weight car, heavy right foot, screaming fast for what it was. Fun to drive. Hmmm… glad I never crashed in it… probably a death trap.
Oh as far as being crash worthy. Drove my Red Turbo under a tractor trailer. Tore the roof half off . Still around to talk about it. Guess I was just lucky .
i liked the Vista (I think was the bigger Colt wagon). Ray or Tommy had one…
I always thought these were about as pretty as an ’80s econobox could get, even in red. Loved’em when they were new, and am amazed to see such a solid survivor. Unless that’s a brand new paint job over lots of skillfully applied Bondo, I’ll have to say those shock towers have lots of miles left in them.
Just looking, as usual; any car I buy will either come with its own garage or to replace a good one with a better one, and this offers neither. But it sure is pretty.
This was my first car. Twin Stick, 1.4 not 1.6, no A/C. Black with a gold stripe. We named her “Christine” because it would break down for no reason and it ate spark plugs like they were candy. I went into debt keeping mine running as long as I could but they were a POS and I finally gave up, even after an engine swap which ultimately also became a spark plug fouler. At least it taught me how to change a spark plug on the fly!
I had one, first car, black with gold stripes, worked all summer to buy it before college. The Mitsubishi engines of this era were prone to fouling plugs (oil in chamber) and I bet I spent hundreds on plugs (and time putting them in regularly) So good luck new buyer, it will happen to you too. Remember the Caravans with the 2.6 were always oil burners, same with this 1.4
Disagree.
Never a problem with oil in the engine. Lost several teeth on the timing belt while on I-75, coasted off at an exit, had it running the next day with a new belt. Non-interference engine. Mine was awesome.
Fun to read all of the comments.
If this was a later GTS version, I’d be flying to PHX to drive it back.
I know more than probably anyone here about how the 8-speed worked, my ’83 Plymouth Colt with that setup won two National Championships in the SCCA’s Solo competition. The GTS had a built-in sway-bar in the rear axle, which transformed the handling, something that this car would not have. Bummer, actually, the Colt GTS remains the car which set the bar for handling of FWD platforms, IMO.
(Definition: L = Low Range, H = High)
So here it is: The 8-speed had one gear which was essentially useless/hard to use/not worth the effort. That was 1H. Going form 1H to 2L was….. too time consuming to make it anywhere near worthwhile, and 1H to 2H was a taller ratio gap. Gearing spacing was best advantaged by using the sequence 1L 2L 2H 3L 3H 4L 4H. For autocross, the 2L to 2H shift could be made “no lift” with just a touch of the clutch to briefly cut pressure on the driveline. So that was the “money gear”. The change from 2h to 3L was accomplished by a single motion covering both levers with an upturned open hand, the “big money gear” for faster events.
And yes, the Range Lever worked in reverse too.
As has been mentioned, rust was the end of most of these cars. NW Ohio being a salty spot in the winter, my car was taken that way. Brine got between the sandwiched stampings of the unibody and ate it away.
Those who blather about fuel economy must not have closely monitored it, because gas was not really expensive yet. I can’t recall my car ever getting much better than 35 mpg, and I kept it in a very high state of tune during it’s competition days. Between SCCA weekends, it was used as a DD.
I’d love to have a clean GTS, or a GTS Turbo from 1984. Light, Fun, Great handling.
Love this! I had an ’82 Dodge Colt that was my first new car. Silver with red interior, and the Twin Stick. I used it as a 5 speed, shifting up through Power and switching to Economy as 5th…. My wife-to-be had a ’79 Pinto at the same time. The difference between the 2 cars was night and day.
Had 2 of these, an 82 and 83. Great little commuter cars, but never saw anything near 51 mpg. Could count on a solid 35 mpg. The 83 was a stripper, no options not even a radio. Stickered out at $3,995 brand new. The 83 died at 135k miles in 5 years, it was also pretty rusted out. The 82 lasted a bit longer, and was running when I traded it in in 1998.
From 87-89 drove an 81 stripped down Champ in college. Paid a couple hundred bucks for it. Never let me down. Was like a snowplow in the winter. As basic as it got, but did its job!
I bought a brand new ‘82 Plymouth Champ with the 8 speed. Silver, blue vinyl interior, AM radio and “handling” package. With the $400 rebate at the time $6280 out the door. Averaged 36.8 MPG for the 65K and 6 years I had it. Best MPG fever 44.7 on a trip to Florida.
Car was a blast to drive, never had a failure of any kind. Simple, easy and incredibly reliable. Makes me smile to see that one has survived.