The actual car.
What is it about this little car that endeared it so much to me? A common little hatchback, unassuming and utilitarian? Allow me to explain…
I was going to college, and the Monte Carlo had donated its engine for my truck. Once the fall came, it was time to start looking for another cheap winter beater. A friend of my father had recently bought a new car, and was selling his old Horizon. Was I interested? I went to look. An ’85 Horizon, 2.2 L/5 speed combination, in need of paint and some rocker panel work. It started right up, with no smoke or valve or piston clatter. The clutch was slipping, so that would have to be attended to. I could have it for $200. The price was right, so I bought it. The clutch was replaced by a friend of the car’s owner for another hundred or so dollars, and we picked it up. I was impressed. We fixed up the body, gave it a coat of blue paint, and called it a day.
The car was peppy on the road, so much more so than the Cavalier and Acadian previously owned. It seemed to me, anyway, to have power delivery similar to that of the F-100 with the 300 six – in that it had lots of torque on the pull away, but not much above 3500 RPM. It didn’t have power steering, but the steering wasn’t really heavy at all. The shifter had some play, but shimming the bushings in the rod-based linkage with some plastic helped a bit.
Via Turbododge.com
The car held other revelations as well. Despite having as what I remember as an odd driving position, sitting low with seatbacks that did not come up anywhere near straight, it was comfortable enough. The car, despite not having power steering, did have a full gauge cluster, complete with a 160+ KM/H speedometer, and a little green triangle light in the right hand gauge pod that’d come on to get you to shift early and save fuel. It had intermittent wipers. The armrest would slide out of the way when the park brake was applied, and the first decent cupholder I’d ever seen in a car – ahead of the shifter was a little bin, with a sliding cover. Under that was another plastic plate that’d take two Tim Hortons coffee cups. I fell in love with the little car. I tinkered a bit with it, giving it a tuneup. I noticed what looked like liquid in the secondary barrel of the carburetor. The throttle plate had siezed closed, what with the car being used in town all the time. Upon cleaning it and freeing it up, the car had quite a bit more power.
I think they were all this shade of blue.
The car served me well. Two years back and forth to college, to work terms, trips to the provincial capital of Halifax – over 400 KM away. The car never failed to start once – not in the cold, not in the wet, or even in the depths of winter. It was fun to drive, economical, and reliable. The narrow little 13 inch tires allowed it to go in amazing amounts of snow.
All good things have to come to an end, and this one came to an unfortunate one in my eyes in retrospect. The car had developed a rhythmic thumping noise, which would diminish with a little bit of pressure on the steering wheel, either right or left. As I had recently gotten a work term through university with the computer department of a federal agency in Halifax, Dad determined the car should be checked over by the family mechanic. He diagnosed the differential was at fault, and the car was parked. Looking back with the benefit of experience, I suspect it was just a set of inner or outer tie rod ends at fault, and the car could have been easily fixed. However, given my father’s distrust of Chrysler products, and his love of General Motors products – he figured I should get a good, reliable GM product…and my uncle just happened to have something that fit the bill.
Finding that secondary throttle port must have felt like discovering gold in the little Chrysler.
I love electronic fuel injection and would never want to go back to the [good] old days of carburetors, but they could be worked on and repaired under the crudest of conditions with the most minimal tools.
There’s an honesty about small base level cars and trucks that appeals to the prudent financial objectives of my early days, which included a bare bones and 3 speed stick Comet and Duster. But then I was slowly seduced by the dark side of automatic transmissions, A/C, more powerful engines, and an occasional convertible top.
Enjoyable story.
Yes simple reliable cars are great my current ride has massive amounts of computerisation from the automatic ride height control to the way the oil check is displayed when the ignition key is turned, I have no idea how to repair anything on it if a fault occurs, so far nothing has gone wrong.
My other cars is as simple as a wheepbarrow no automatic functions on it, only the self cancelling turn signals were ever fitted, On the rare occasions it hasnt wanted to go its very simple to diagnose and fix, but it too has been extremely reliable since I put it back on the road most of what Ive done since have been mechanical upgrades rather than fault repairs.
Thanks! As I get closer to current-day, the stories will get a bit more in depth.
Getting the secondary working made the car even more fun…you could stomp the throttle and actually hear it start to open.
It was the fact that it was a basic car, but not a penalty box – pulse wipers, gauges, and those cup holders! A cheap car didn’t have to be spartan inside.
I am not at all surprised by the fact this small, efficient, reliable as a dog hatchback is one of your all time favorites. Mine was an ’86 Mazda 323 in the same shade of blue as your Horizon. I once used a Horizon for a trip and remember that the foot space was a bit crowded. I have no recollection of the seat back angle being an issue. But then I was used to the pseudo-formula 1 positioning: arms fully stretched out whereas people this side of the pond were used to the pseudo-NASCAR positioning: elbows at 90 degrees.
You are probably right that new tie rod ends would have fixed the steering issue.
Nice, a cheap car that gets the job done is always a good thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlXhHQQFCfk
There’s even a song written about these cars. Luckily yours did not become the meat between a Buick Honda bun. 🙂
Having owned an ‘82 Omni, I understand your love of the car completely. Mine was the first new car bought by my first wife and myself, and although an automatic was close enough to what you’ve described.
Good enough in fact to have started a line of ownership of Dodge products that outnumbers any other single brand in my lifetime. At least six, if my memory is functioning this morning. And this fall I’ll be looking for a used pickup truck. Guess what’s priority?
Chrysler did so much that was right on these. I still have a soft spot for them owing to Mom’s 80 Horizon sedan. The 2.2 and stick would have probably been the most fun combo to drive.
Your father’s attitude was so common then. After that perfectly awful little Acadian you buy a $200 Horizon that never fails you for 2 years. But that didn’t matter because GM = great and Chrysler = crap.
Hate the styling though. Back then most small cars copied the ugly vw rabbit . My friend John had one. It seemed so tiny compared to my Delta 88.
This Horizon has been parked at a house that nobody lives in for as long as I’ve lived in my current house. The house is empty and I’ve never seen anyone there. I keep telling myself to leave a note on the car telling whoever owns it, that if they want to get it off the property to let me know. It’s in decent condition on the inside. The last registration was 2006.
Welcome to the OmniRizon COAL club! Having bought my ’89 brand new, I took a huge bath on depreciation, but 2nd owners got a real bargain.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1989-dodge-omni-my-first-and-last-brand-new-car/
Nice to hear your memories are so positive. A friend of mine had one in high school and his experience was pretty similar: a good no-nonsense car that got you where you needed to go.
Your story also brings back an Omnirizon memory from years ago: a couple of older ladies who lived near us owned one, and used it for their weekly shopping trip. You could set your watch by them, and probably should have, since they drove no more than 25 on the primary road past our neighborhood and many others, two lanes, no passing zone. On a good day they could stack up traffic for a mile or more. The car never failed them, though.
Wasn’t there a CC entry about these just recently? Anyway, when that one was up I thought (and maybe wrote) that I hadn’t seen one in many years. I had an ’88 until I rolled it in about ’98. And I now live in the Northeast, where cars do not last long.
Well, naturally, I saw a late ’80s Horizon in traffic the next day. It was that metallic red color that a lot of them came in, other than the light metallic blue like the one I owned, and oddly enough looked perfect.
My best friend in high school in the late ‘70’s had one courtesy of his Dad, was teaching his girlfriend to drive stick when he had an accident. Which led to our following amended lyrics to the Joe Walsh song “Life’s Been Good”
“My Dad’s Horizon does just 85*
I somehow crashed it, now I don’t drive.”
(* a reference to the top speed of its speedometer)
I’ve mentioned on here before that me and a buddy used to race (Solo I) one of these.
Long before that I used to car pool with a guy who had one of these. The car was about five years old at the time and rode and drove rather well. The seats were really comfortable, which is my biggest take-away from that car.
Glad to see it served you well. I miss cars like that.
I grabbed an ’81 Horizon at an auction back in ’91 – I needed a little 4 door for the occasions when the family came to visit…it truly had been well ridden and put up wet. Still, that little thing was a blast to drive, easy to park and low maintenance.
My ’83 Omni that I bought used in 1988 was my first Chrysler product, and one of the most reliable, trouble-free cars I’ve ever owned.