My 1982 Chevrolet Celebrity served me well, but as the miles piled up, I decided to get another Chrysler captive import: a 1986 Dodge Colt with four doors for our growing family.
After months of endless interviews, I gave up trying to get out of communications and went back to work as a typesetter, with some sales, in Akron area. With steady employment, we bought a house with a 13% fixed rate FHA mortgage. I learned I hated to cold call on the telephone but could do sales in person, which were much easier. We were doing fine with our 1982 Celebrity, but the mileage was getting up there, so I decided to get another “Moparbishi.”
Before that, our friend Stephanie went to Arizona on a job search, and we parked her Datsun F10 along with our two cars in our two-car garage, with her car parallel with the front wall of the garage. The next year, we visited her in Arizona, spending our first day there helping her buy a Nissan Pulsar, which we then spent a week driving through Arizona. (It’s good to observe the car buying process in person when you aren’t the one buying the car.) I visited a Mitsubishi dealer — they were establishing a sales network in the USA, starting in the Western states — and the Phoenix salesman said, “Buy it here and drive it back to Ohio!”
I didn’t take him on the offer, but the idea stayed in my head.
I reconnected with one of my employers from Columbus, whom I had recommended for a consulting job at an in-plant print shop. We will call him Mr. Pinion (name changed to protect the innocent). I started freelance design work in my basement, putting together small newsletters for Mr. Pinion (a WWII veteran, who knew a fellow veteran somewhere in the bureaucracy of General Motors who worked on co-op advertising with the Mr. Goodwrench program).
The business plan was simple:
In the 1980s, you could buy mailing lists from the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles. Back in the 1960s, the Standard Oil Company of Ohio (Sohio) had a license plate sweepstakes — you went to the Sohio gas station to see if your plate number was listed, and if so, you were a winner. My middle school math teacher won a car that way.
Mr. Pinion’s son was an IT guru, and he would merge the dealer’s mailing list with the state mailing database to send mailings to, for example, all of the Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Cadillac or Chevrolet owners in a defined geographic area.
Mr. Pinion would write copy, there were coupons for service and parts, and the Mr. Goodwrench logo was inserted in appropriate places so that the dealer got reimbursed some (or all) of the printing and mailing costs. It all tied in to print ads, TV ads, radio ads, etc. And as the desktop publishing revolution took off, I was able to typeset and design pages on a personal computer at home.
The Celebrity was doing great for us, but it was a two-door. Also, wear was piling up; the front disk brakes needed to be done, there was some minor body shop repair from a parking lot incident, and there was a mystery dent on the underside of the car that could lead to rust (for better or worse, the first indication of iron oxide on a car, for me, means it is time to move on). And, I always had the feeling with American made cars that there was going to be a major expense right around the corner — transmission rebuild, factory defects that weren’t subject to a recall, etc. Also, families should have four-door cars because infants belong in rear car seats. In the fall of 1985, we knew we had a baby coming in the Spring of the next year. And I missed driving a Japanese car with a manual transmission.
In 1985, the domestic choices I considered were the Ford Tempo/Mercury Topaz (I test drove one and it seemed cramped inside), or another Celebrity or other GM A-body (probably too expensive at the time). Unfortunately, the early to mid-1980s weren’t known as a high point for Japanese automobile styling, so a used Japanese car was not under consideration. And the Camry, at that time, looked like this:
Meanwhile, the Honda Accord, which would have been the ideal choice, was still selling over the MSRP, and you waited weeks, if not months, for delivery.
Knowing I wanted to start up my own company as soon as possible, I felt that the most cost-effective route was another captive Chrysler import.
The Colt had become more angular since the early 1980s, but since I had owned two Mitsubishis before and the four-door Colt was available with a manual transmission, it made the most economic sense at the time. I bought the DL model, which JD Power website notes listed for $6492. The sales tax paid that year implies that I paid $3780 after trade-in of the Celebrity. Honestly don’t remember if we had A/C or not, but I think we did.
Starting up my own business, I was able to deduct automobile expenses, which mitigated some of the pain of a car payment. Observing the struggles my dad and brother had with cars, I prioritized reliability, so steady maintenance costs with relatively new automobiles was a good thing.
Talking about Dad, the Colt’s memorable malfunction was that its clutch went out, in a period when he was making deliveries for me with the car. Dad always seemed to have transmission problems, probably a legacy of having learned to drive on a Model T. He had a number of bad driving habits: He braked with the left foot in automatic transmission, towed trailers when the car was not equipped for it, and once drove 200 miles with the transmission in L instead of D. Then again, it is possible that the Colt’s clutch was going to go anyway… how would we ever know whose fault it was?
In any case, Dad and Mom decided they would pay for the fix.
We took the Colt to Florida and back once or twice to visit my bride’s parents. We were younger, there were fewer trucks on the highway, and the Interstates were in a lot better shape. This was a great car to drive in the Akron-Cleveland area. The Colt was my daily driver when, in July 1987, I traded steady paychecks for intermittent paychecks when I decided to become self-employed.
Related CC Reading
CC Colt Chronicles Part 7: 1985 Colt – Eight Bit Origami
This car is so 80s! The control pods on the dash, the A-frame steering wheel, the red velour and the ultra-angular styling. I love it much more now than I did back then. Although I’ll bet that it was a really pleasant car to drive.
The ad copy is interesting – it wasn’t so much the 2nd set of doors that was new as it was a trunk. The 83 Colt hatch that my wife bought new (and that I later bought back) was a 4 door.
Meant to mention in the article how much I liked the low end torque. Climbing the many hills in the area was fun.
When I was looking at some of the design details, and especially the interior photo of that red Colt, I thought the same thing. Mitsubishi designs were made to conjure up feelings of a high-tech vehicle, even if the tech wasn’t all that high.
Then it occurred to me that Hyundai and Kia are doing a similar thing now. There’s a few design similarities between 1980s Mitsubishis and cars like the Kia K4 – very angular, and with an envelope-pushing interior. The strategy seemed to work for Mitsubishi back then, and judging by the number of K4s I see, it’s likely working for Kia too. Just a random thought, there.
I liked these Colts… knew a few people who had them. They were a good alternative to the more expensive Hondas and Toyotas of the day.
Sohio! Man I miss those days! No fuel line freeze up or Sohio pays the tow!
A friend traded in his perfect 1978 Trans Am on a new 1982 Colt. He said 9mpg was terrible for him. That Colt was indeed a really nice and dependable car for him.
Lots of memories with Moparbishis. My buddy’s dad had the prior gen Colt GT with the dual range manual. That car was a hoot. Another friend had the prior gen Plymouth ‘Chump’ that was utterly indestructible despite his best efforts at deferring all maintenance and driving it like he stole it.
I also recall a neighbor trading in an old Aspen on this Gen Colt Sedan in Premier Turbo trim, and being taken by what a high- quality product it seemed compared to the concurrent American compacts. Japanese cars were still less common in my area then, as we were a pro-union steel town with a big ‘Buy American’ ethic, so we would see a higher proportion of the captive imports than the established Japanese brands.
It really is a shame that Mitsubishi flamed out in the US. By the early/mid ‘90s it seemed they were coming close to parity with the mainstream Japanese brands. Galants were regularly cross-shopped with Accords and Camrys, the Diamanté was well regarded, and the Eclipse and 3000GT were desirable. Then, they just seemed to faceplant over the next decade with subpar products and subprime leasing/financing deals that impacted their target buyer demographic and rapidly diminished their brand equity.
Agree on the flaming out. 20 years ago their product had transitioned to mediocre, aimed for the LCD finance deals. Sad to see – they had their jam on in the ‘80s…
I had an ’87 Colt DL 3-door hatchback with that exact same interior but in blue (and to add to JPC’s gush above, just about the only thing more ’80s than that interior in blue is it in red). Bought it in about 1994 and it was the first car I ever owned that wasn’t a totally rusted-out junker by the time it got to me. Had clutch problems too, as in it wore out when the car was about 10 years old. Sadly I lost it in a (no-injuries) winter crash not long after. Still, it lasted more than 2 years which was a personal record.
A 1986 two-door hatch Dodge Colt was my first small car. Myself and companion moved from NYC to Philadelphia in 1985, not one of our best thought out decisions. I had been offered what appeared to be a good design job, at my NYC salary, up-scaling the design staff at a firm specializing in McDonald’s interior fit-outs. My previous job in NYC, designing casino hotels was prestigious, paid very well, but I was getting burned out with some clients like my primary client account, D. Trump. Some clients were excellent to work with, but others not so much (guess who?). This firm in Philly hired me to up their game, expose design staff to new thinking, and take them to a new level. Yes, I did that but it was a battle from day one and worst career decision of my life. At the same time my companion was offered a job at a Philly advertising firm, at his previous NYC salary. NYC salaries in Philly sounded great, sure we had a nice loft apartment in the historic center city like nothing we could afford in NYC, but taxes & insurance wiped out gains. I still had my 1976 Eldo convertible and I commuted, against rush hour traffic, from center city to North Philly. Not a bad commute but adding miles to my Eldo. My companions job was in center city so he could take a bus or cab and he didn’t like driving anyway which was a good thing. He had a near genius IQ but you had to tell him ‘my way or your way’ instead of left or right. His depth perception was not great which made driving an Eldo a challenge.
One afternoon after a three-screw driver brunch I decided we needed a small commuter car. I had seen an ad that morning a Dodge dealership was having a sale. Off to the dealership, spotted a little 2-door Colt in a color I liked. Deal was done because I liked the color and after three screwdrivers what else mattered. For a number of months the Colt was my commuter car and I loved it. I was driving a floor shift again, it kept up with traffic, ended up selling the Eldo because parking in center city Philly was so expensive. One morning, commuting on I-95 North to North Philly I was on the inside lane, next to the dividing guardrail, passing an 18-wheeler. Heavy bumper to bumper traffic moving about 60-65 mph. I was beside the trailer, cars in front and back of me, and the trailer started to tilt towards me. I instinctively leaned to my right before the seat belt tighten and the trailer rolled over on me. That is all I remember. Later I was told the trailer rolled on top of me, peeling back the roof, wedging me under the trailer and guardrail between North & South bound lanes.
All was not bad as I did get another little two-door Colt that I drove for about 90,000 trouble free miles. They did have to sew my scalp back on but the end result I looked ten years younger. Looking ten years younger in the NYC design community was a benefit. We moved back to NYC where I started designing five-star resorts. You might say my career improved because I was crushed in my 1986 Dodge Colt two-door hatch.
Thankfully you survived that crash.
Found a sweet 87 colt Premier for my gf to replace her faded grey Pontiac sunbird coupe with no power steering and no a/c… Was a one owner originally purchased at Potamkin in manahattan. Silver blue sedan with the alloys as pictured above And trunk mounted luggage rack .. Was not a turbo and automatic, also was not a power house. Was a decent running car for a couple of years, Head gasket began to leak a bit, I put some sealer in it and moved it along.. Set her up with one of the 240 volvos I was buying and selling at the time..
A practical and logical choice at a time when Mitsubishi was at or near the top of their game.
I had a blue “86”, 3 door. Was a cool, car! Excellent “a/c”!
Interesting to see how open Chrysler were in the advertising about the origins of the car. It’s almost “this one will be reliable, as we don’t built but buy it from Japan”.
It feels that Chrysler must have been playing all sort of tunes of find discrete slots for these, the Omnirizon and entry K cars in the market place.
I had the Malaysian version of this car called the Proton Saga. It had horrendous chassis flex.
At least one Proton has survived, sighted in New Zealand in 2024