The Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance were low-buck transportation. When new, they sold for well under $10,000, at a time when the average new car’s sticker had just gone north of those then-foreboding five figures. Then, as now, cheap cars tended to get used up and then discarded, especially due to the minimal maintenance provided by their second, third or fourth owner. Which makes it truly remarkable that this Dodge Shadow ES made it to 2014 with just a couple of bumper scuffs and a tiny bit of rust on the left rear fender.
When new, these were pleasing cars within their class. In 1989, I was in the market for a brand-new, sub-$10,000 car, and test drove the Ford Escort, Ford Tempo, Chevy Cavalier and the identical Plymouth Sundance. The Escort was still in its rude and crude first generation, and the Escort-based Tempo was no better. I didn’t like the Cavalier’s low, low driving position and how the body flexed over bumps.
I liked the Sundance best by a mile. It felt a little narrow inside, but the weird flat, shallow dashboard lent the impression, especially to the front passenger,of enormous depth. The upright seating made for a commanding view of the road. The 2.2-liter four provided adequate power and, as I recall, was quicker from a stop than the others. You could get an even torquier 2.5 four if you wanted it. And I really liked that the hatchback wore notchback styling. I ended up buying a Chevy Beretta, as it was roomier and better appointed even in basic trim, and I was able to negotiate its price below that magic five-figure mark. A friend of mine bought a Sundance that same year, and I rode in it often over the next five years. I could have been almost as happy in one of those, and would have saved more than a thousand bucks.
This Shadow was pretty stylin’ for its time, with its body-color wheels, rear deck spoiler and black trim. It’s a clean design that still looks good today, especially with all its bits still present. Kudos to its driver for taking it out on a snowy day.
Full Shadow/Sundance CC here.
My first message didn’t post, so I apologize if this one turns out to be a duplicate.
I had an ’89 Sundance RS that was equipped how I would’ve ordered one new: a loaded 5-door with a 5-speed. It was a delight and would go in the snow like nothing I’ve had since. It had the smooth and balance shafted 2.5 turbo, which was the engine to have. It was white with tan lower body and tan pinstripe interior that looked sharp, too.
The Sundance RS models were my favorite Sundance/Shadow. I liked the two-tone paint, cross-spoke wheels, and red-accented interior fabrics.
Same here, I think they looked best as a Sundance RS, preferably with a turbo and in red or turqoise/silver two-tone. The 4-door looks a little better than the 2-door, IMO, but they’re both OK.
I also think these cars are pretty underrated as far as American small cars from this era go. They were somewhat crude, but they weren’t at all bad to drive and seemed to run forever with zero maintenance. I still see a surprising amount of them in a place where there’s little love for domestic compacts. Most are seriously ratty at this point and probably better off being put out of their misery, but they’re still knocking along.
I could only find a very tiny picture. Somebody posted this same one in the hatchback QOTD, and the fakeout hatch on these was a nice feature too.
I believe the turbo 2.2 and 2.5 engines were also available as an option (as well as the Shelby option).
Well poop. I thought I had this one queued up to post next Saturday!
I think Perry moved it up to round out the day’s schedule.
Actually I don’t care when they go … I thought _I_ had goofed!
I remember that they stuck a V6 in one these, I think it was the Sundance and named it “Duster” which I always though was kinda neat. These looked kinda cool in their full “SPORT-TURBO” regalia, unfortunately, most of them were like my friends grandmothers Shadow, base, blue with an automatic and an AM radio. I remember that the Sundance emblem was all “jiggled” to look like its “fun and happy” but it ended up looking like the letters were applied by someone with a drinking problem.
The Duster could also have a 2.5. I dated a girl who had one with a 5-speed, a ’94 I think (which would have been the last year). Her sister had a Shadow convertible with the turbo and a 5-speed. I also dated a girl who had a Shadow convertible with the V6. I guess I’ve been around a few of these in my day.
Never understood why the Sundance didn’t get the ragtop option – Sundance convertible sounds better than Shadow convertible.
One of my neighbors when I was a kid had a Duster V6/5-speed as his first car. It was dark green with the “Duster” trim in gold and he would dump the clutch at 5,000rpm every time he left the house for the year or so he had it until it was wrecked. Every single day I would hear “FUCK YOU MOM AND DAD, TAKE YOUR OWN GARBAGE OUT TO THE CURB!!”, or some such, and then ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-RRRR-RRR-RR huge smoky FWD burnout + Wu-Tang Clan blasting out of the stereo. I thought it was pretty badass!
It looked just like this, complete with a douchebag behind the wheel:
EDIT: Didn’t see that Tom had already posted an identical car below. My bad!
Were all the Dusters green? It seems that every picture is of a green one.
They definitely came in other colors. I remember as a teenager lusting after a white Sundance Duster on the local Chrysler lot for quite a while. The hidden hatchback was neat, and they looked great with the spoiler.
It looks like these got slightly brougamed-up for their last years, look at all the wood they applied to the dash of this thing, Lido must have still had some loyal agents in the product planning dept. On the opposite end, they also did the scumliner “America” versions with black bumpers and no passenger mirror.
There’s something appealing about a small car with a big V6, crammed full of features. I felt that way about the GM J-bodies with the 3.1 and the N-bodies with the 3.3, also. If you do average, everyday driving, there’s every reason to appreciate such a car and I felt they were Detroit’s strength by the late ’80s.
They were like a mini-muscle car, I always liked the Z24 Cavalier with the 3.1.
You’re right Carmine, in my ’93 Shadow brochure, the fake wood is in evidence. When I was in junior high (’92-’94), a friend’s older brother got a brand-new Sundance Duster. Dark green, beige interior with the gold-accented wheels and emblems. It also had the fake wood dash–odd for the “sporty” model.
It looked like this.
While it was generally appropriate as a landing spot for the Duster name (which was always down market), it was still kind of sad when affixed to a Sundance. Although, in hindsight, it was probably no worse than being slapped on the Volaré or Turismo.
My favorite memory of the Sundance Duster was that it was known within the industry as a ‘kid car’. As one might surmise, it was marketed to younger people as a car that would appeal to them, as well as being one they could afford.
The Sundance Duster, with it’s standard 3.0L V6, was no slouch for the low price, but, IIRC, there was plenty of torque steer. While it got the job done, in a word, the car was ‘unrefined’. As an example, that picture of the interior door panel shows the exceptionally poorly placed armrest pull. It was simply impossible to comfortably rest your left arm anywhere on it.
The Neon coupe that followed, while nearly as crude, was a lot more fun.
I think in this day and age you can make anything last if you want to. I liked these cars but never enough to take the mopar plunge (from Nissan).
You would have been better of with a used Honda Accord.
I know the 3.0L v6 was installed in these, I wonder if the 3.3-3.8 would fit too.
When I was attending university in Victoria BC in the late 1980’s there were just loads of these things on the road. They were low-cost appliances, used up and discarded. The Canadian dollar was very weak in those days, which made a huge market for the domestics. Cars like the Shadow had tooling that was paid off for years, hence the low prices. The worst of the engine maladies of the 2.2 had been rectified, although the 2.5 was much better in my opinion. Neither was a paragon of smoothness, as they had only three main bearings, although I believe later ones had five.
These cars went from new to scrap in a decade. The whole thing was designed to last 140,000 km and then self destruct. That was plenty for most first owners. but the second and third owners would have to go through a myriad of Moproblems, as the parts in these cars are crap. Everything wears out quickly and the aftermarket stuff is actually a lot better Most of them ended up with hillbilly types who thrashed them and then tossed them in the bush.
as they had only three main bearings Still puffing on that BC weed? 🙂
Seriously; if Chrysler had designed this all-new engine in the late 70s with three main bearings, they would have been laughed out of Detroit. Geez; even BMC gave the venerable B-Block five main bearings back in 1967.
My understanding is that the 2.2 looks quite a lot like a slightly scaled-up VW Golf E827 four inside, which they had lots of familiarity in using it in their Omnirizon cars for a number of years.
I came mighty close in buying on in the early 1990’s. By then, Chysler had a full lineup loosely based on the Kcar chassis (pre-cab forward design) and has these pretty well sorted. I started searching for an earlier turbo charges one and then almost signed on the dotted line for a Duster (racing green with the gold wheels and a Mitsu. V6). While I liked the turbo charged punch of the earlier ones, the Mitsubishi V6 was smoother and more linear than the earlier cars. I would up waiting and purchased a new 1994 Neon Sport. That was a fun car but plaqued with early production teething problems. I never had the head gasket problem that others did, but I did have a nickel size paint chip peel on the roof, and the clutch grenaded itself the day I paid off the loan (at 60k mileage)
When I think of dull, boring, ’90s cars, this is the one that always comes to mind.
This is what happens when Joe Patriot thinks he has to buy ‘Merican…no matter what!
It’s in the right parking lot for sure.
I will say the 4drs. are better proportioned though.
My dad worked for GM and when he went shopping for a cheap commuter car he couldn’t find anything cheaper than a Shadow, even with his GM discount.
His was that ugly light greenish/blue color, and as cheap as you could get, I believe it had zero options. No cassette (shortly after buying he had one installed) only a radio. No AC. No power options. Just a cheap car to get from point A to B.
It was totally unremarkable in every way. I drove it to a Florida from Indiana one vacation, and it wasn’t a bad car. But it was basically an appliance.
Had a ’91 Sundance RS. 2.5 Turbo. 210 pound feet of torque at 2100 rpm. Fast car.
My son had a ’93 version that he drove during his college years. His had the V6 and 5 speed, bright red with a grey interior. I had driven a few of the regular 4 cylinder sedans, and the loaded out V6 edition was light years ahead of those. He bounced it off a curb once and ruined the rack and pinion. And we replaced the transmission because it was not shifting right, diagnosed by a nationwide transmission shop that shall remain nameless. It was in a different city, and did not seem worth the cost to have it towed home at the time. However, later he had the same problem when he was home, and the issue was with the shift cables. So, I really think we bought a transmission we did not need. All in all, it served him well and got him all the way through college. And in most cases, that is some rough service.
I always found these to be strangely attractive cars. I never got close to buying one myself and don’t think I have actually ever even ridden in one, but the proportions look good and it has no real pretensions of being anything that it isn’t. The one that you found looks extremely nice what with the color-matched wheels but I even like the really stripped down “America” version.
“I always found these to be strangely attractive cars.” You summarize my opinion on these exactly. The proportions were just right and the cars looked so much better finished than the L body that they replaced.
I have zero experience with these, but a V6 with a 5 speed sounds like some fun.
Shoot! I work at Autozome and had one pull up just yesterday.
I owned one. 2.5 and 5 spd. Great commuter car had it for 8 yrs no problems. Sold it to a friend of my sons He drove it for several more. As good as anything else at the time.
My wife had one of these years and years ago as a hand me down from her father. 2.5L and five speed made it quite zippy. It was reliable for the first ten years of its life then quickly fell apart.
Don’t. Give. Away. The. COAL’s!
You really hit my Chrysler soft spot with this Shadow Jim! You forgot to mention its “Hidden Hatchback Versatility”!
Yes, this is the very car I think of when the term “hidden hatchback” comes up.
I know there were others (Vega) with this body style but it is pretty rare. The shape of the hidden hatchback undoubtedly takes some of the useful space away under the hatch, but I guess that’s part of the price you pay for “style”.
I guess at the time these came out (mid-late 80’s) there was an aversion to standard hatchbacks being cheap economy cars. I would guess that Dodge was trying to move up market from the Omni, and K Car roots by making a hatchback look like a sedan. I remember reading the article in Road and Track (must have been in 1987) when these were coming out. I wasn’t in the market for a car at that time, and by the time I was, these were no longer being sold (at least as new cars). Being a hatchback fan I’m sure I would have considered one of these….maybe a matched set…get one of those ’78 Oldsmobile Cutlass or Buick Centurys that look like a hatchback, but aren’t …to have all my bases covered (plus I’d be numerically covered too…a 78 and an 87).
I still have one after all these years. Other cars have come and gone but I still have my 92 Plymouth Duster V6 5sp. Great torque up to 60, but not much after. My brother bought it new in Alaska and after only using it for SCCA for a few years, it ended up mine. Grew up in that car, dated my wife in that car and got pulled over by the police in that car, but would never give it up. Even had a white ragtop in later years and 2.5 red Shadow. Shame you never see them anymore, even mine only comes out on nice days anymore.
I have so many fond memories of driving my 1991 Dodge Shadow over the years. My dad (not a car guy in the least) bought a white 3 door Shadow America in February 1992 as our family’s second car. No wheel covers, no air conditioning, no right side mirror. The America model was a true value leader model. I can still vividly see my dad pulling it into the garage for the first time. I learned to drive stick shift on it, and this was always the preferred car to drive growing up–the other choice was a Caravan (a much better car, but hardly cool). I bought the Shadow off of my folks in 1999 for a good price and babied that thing like it was a brand new luxury car. It wasn’t spectacular in any way except for capacious hatchback design that looked like a notchback. That thing could swallow a lawnmower or a bicycle without taking off the wheels. I continue to wonder why more cars aren’t built like this. Ultimately, the car ended up having a bunch of mechanical problems around 85,000 miles. And the rust was eating away the rocker panels and door bottoms…my cheap patch jobs just couldn’t keep up with Ohio winters. I could see the writing on the wall and tried to sell it…I eventually sold it to my brother in 2002 as I moved on to more reliable transportation. Call it a combination of being sentimentally attached and being appreciative for what I had as a college kid, but I have very positive memories of the very basic and boring Shadow our family had for over a decade.
My grandmother also had a 1991 Sundance America. She had the 5 door and the 3 speed automatic. We went with her in the summer of 1995 to find something economical and affordable and that’s what we ended up with. She had that car until she was unable to drive in late 2006. Her car held up quite well, although she didn’t have many miles on it and wasn’t very demanding of it.
Im a fan of these cars! The ‘stealth hatch’ design is genius and something that needs to be re-visited…QUICK. While not a fan of the 4 doors, that allows me to at least accept them, since a hatch utility has at least SOME justification for the sacrifice in looks/weight. My middle sister had (almost) the worst possible version of these: ’89 4 door base model Shadow with 2.2L and slushbox. At least the Dodge edged it out with a bit more aggressive styling in lower end versions. At their best (ES and Duster) the Duster wins, as it taps the muscle car tie in. While it was a total slug thanks to my fuddy duddy sister’s refusal to learn a manual, it at least handled well and was a solidly built, tight little car. Especially considering it was the cheapest car available at the time.
Id love to have a 2.2 turbo II with manual in a 2 door. A simple, clean looking and fun car with easy upgrades. Carroll Shelby even put his mark on this platform with the CSX version. Theyre rare as hell these days but what a cool car! It even had wheels with a composite center!
My dad had a 1990 Shadow ES, Red/Grey. It was a non turbo but with the 2.5 felt quick and with the sunroof was such a fun ride for the econobox it was. The only issue was the horrible paint which seemed to peel off with the slightest breath. .
I had a 1992 Dodge Shadow ES coupe 3.0L V6 tha could giddy up and go. She was brilliant white, burgundy interior, white ninja star alloys, sunroof, 5 speed manual. Mitsubishi did an excellent job with the motor, you couldn’t even tell she was running, so quiet. A neat trick I used to do was I could pull the key out while she was running, lock the doors and keep the AC on while I was shopping. Sadly the paint started bubbling up, and eventually I had her repainted from Maaco, right down to the identical custom decals she came with. Only other problem for that model was the engine mounts and right side wheel bearings….went through a lot of them, design flaw I think. Lots of power in a small car…used to love racing her!!