(first posted 3/27/2014) A couple of weeks ago, we covered the Dodge Colt lineup of Chrysler’s captive Mitsubishi products with a nine part series on the many variations available (describing both the Galant and Lancer based models). However, we did not include the Plymouth side, for one simple reason: we didn’t have any pictures. Last weekend, during yet another trip to 29 Palms (Located 60 miles northeast of beautiful Palm Springs), I spotted this very lovely example soaking in the desert sun.
In 1971, Chrysler passed out two captive imports to Dodge and Plymouth. Dodge scored the Colt, a Mitsubishi Galant available as a sedan, coupe or wagon. Plymouth received the Cricket, a Hillman Avenger in sedan or wagon. Guess which one caught on here in America? By 1975 the Cricket had faded into obscurity (after selling 41,000 cars over 3 years), while the ’75 Dodge Colt outsold Mazda, Capri, BMW and Saab combined. To solve their Plymouth problem, Chrysler asked Mitsubishi for another compact, and in 1976 Mitsubishi delivered this stylish hatchback to Plymouth dealers.
In ’76, the Dodge Colt was still based on the Mitsubishi Galant, but this Arrow used the smaller Lancer platform. The Lancer platform came in several body styles, and overseas they called this sporty hatchback coupe the Lancer Celeste.
For the first year, the car came to America with a 1,400 or 1,600 cc engine. On these cars, you could identify the engine displacement based on the nameplate. Cars with 1.4 liter engines were labeled the Arrow 140, and the 1,600s came as the Arrow 160. However, later years were just labeled “Arrow” regardless of engine displacement.
As this sharp looking stripe package indicates, our Curbside Classic is the upgraded Arrow GS first offered in 1976. In addition to the stripe package, the GS also offered styled steel wheels, that fancy rear view mirror, pop open quarter glass, and simulated wood trim on the dashboard. Based on the GS stripes, round headlights and four bar cover over the C-pillar glass, our Arrow must be a ’77. The nameplate no longer indicates engine size, but these years offered either a 1,600 or 2,000 cc four. Given the car has an automatic transmission, let’s hope the owner stepped up to the 2 liter option.
Points to the owner for springing for the whitewalls. It helps maintain that seventies vibe dripping off this rocking hatchback. This photo reminds me that the GS package offered chrome bumpers to go with the other upgrades. I’m also reminded the front of this car offers another distinctive seventies styling element.
To reduce the visual impact of those large bumpers, and provide the illusion that the car has additional features, the turn signal assemblies are mounted on the bumper and use a shape that mimics an accessory fog light. In addition to the Plymouth Arrow, we also saw these faux fog lights on the Honda Civic and Mustang II (see examples below).
Faux Fog Lights
This somewhat pretentious styling element disappeared fairly quickly, a victim of better integrated bumpers and a buying public growing wise to this not-so-subtle deception.
You may remember that I recently found a Toyota Corolla with forty year old factory stickers on the side glass (link here). Oddly enough, our Arrow also has factory prep stickers. The driver’s side quarter glass sports this NuCarPrep sticker, which shows no sign of cracking or fading. Very impressive, considering the car currently resides in the high desert, where the sun shines with laser intensity.
The other side includes an emissions specification sticker. I was hoping to use this data to determine engine size, but the sticker applies to both the 1.6 and 2.0 engines. In an ironic turn, the “OK” sticker is the least ok sticker left on the car. By the way, this picture may be the first “Selfie” to appear in Curbside Classic.
Frankly, that selfie is better than this interior shot, but I just had to share that center console. I’m not sure if the base Arrows come with one, but I KNOW that slathered on plastic wood must be a GS exclusive. These little touches were the benefits of an upgraded trim level back in 1977.
In 1978, the Arrow gained square headlights and flush bumper covers, along with an option 2.6 liter engine. Given the light body, this engine package returned very respectable performance (for 1978), and Plymouth christened it the “Fire Arrow.” For the first year, the Fire Arrow came with white paint and a subtle graphics package.
OK, maybe the graphics package wasn’t all that subtle.
Still, I’ll use this garish image to wrap things up. I’m delighted to share an Arrow GS with you, but this Fire Arrow remains a desired but elusive prey, one I hope to post sometime down the road.
Those tail lights look like they could a been put right onto my 85 reliant.
My thoughts also.
That white car looks exactly like the one owned – except mine rusted into dust. Just want to say that the Plymouth Arrow WAS not (LOL) based off of a Bricklin. I owned a Bricklin 10 year after I owned my sweet as hell Arrow. I would rather have the Arrow.
Do not ever forget – the Arrow was Chrysler’s HOT ROD back in the day when a Corvette could barely choe out 220 HP. The Bricklin? I got that POS because the asshole did not pay me for the repairs. It was beautiful back in the day, but it was fat, heavy and undriveable. I do miss my little Arrow. I traded a (well-rusted) Duster for a (not as quite well rusted) Arrow.
I HATE being reminded of my youth! Make it stop!
Not seen one of these for years,there were a few Colt Celestes in the UK in the 70s and 80s but the UK rust monster saw most of them off
Chrysler’s “Foreign Affairs” always came off as sadder and more desperate than the other members of the Big 3, but I’ve never been able to put my finger on why.
I don’t have a clue why that would be either, having lived through the Buick-Opel-by-Isuzu, the Pontiac Lemans(Daewoo), the Ford Aspire(Kia), the Saturn Astra, Ford’s habitual importation and then abandonment of cars from England and Germany, and Geo. The Colts were just fine in my book, and their buyers were probably the happiest of the captive import owners.
Lemans was the 90s, Aspire was the 90s.
I think for the 1970s hooking up with Mitsubishi is one of the “sadder” hookups. You are basically saying that “We at Chrysler are so terrible at small cars we’re going to look to Misubishi to shave our butts.”
At least Opel was respected in Europe even when they didn’t set the sales charts on fire.
I think Mitsubishi used to actually have a decent reputation in Japan, and for a long time, sold more than Honda did domestically.
Agreed.
My first “new” car was a 76 Arrow 1600, 5 spd, bright yellow with black stripes – it was an absolutely superb vehicle – very well put together, excellent gas mileage, sprightly with the 5 spd.
It’s only weakness was that it wasn’t that good in the snow and as I was about to start my first military assignment at Plattsburgh AFB NY, just north of Lake Placid, I traded it for a 79 Subaru 4WD Wagon. Still miss it……..
I was unaware that they imported them with the 1400 engine – I was under the impression they came with just the 1600, 2000 and later 2600 engines.
Good looking coupe. Metallic brown with orange and white graphics for me.
An attractive little car. I remember the commercials that played the “Me and my Arrow” song from the early 70s.
Think how many of these Chrysler/Mitsubishi would have sold if everyone in the south and midwest had known then what we all know now about Japanese quality from that time period. Pinto, Vega, Monza and the like would have become low volume curiosities instead of these.
hahaha, that commercial was the first thing that popped into my head. BTW the graphics are 70’s subtle 🙂
I would LOVE to find one of these. A friend’s sister had a Fire Arrow in the early ’80s and it was a great car.
Another friend, a hard-core Mopar guy and former drag racer, says he has one stashed in one of his garages in Milwaukee. I have never seen it, but I may just have to give him a call…
I had one exactly like the white one and also a black one. I loved them both. The black one was a five speed. Superb!
Seems like the whole ‘turn signals that look like foglights’ styling gimmick began with another Chrysler product, the 1964 Plymouth Barracuda. While there were exceptions, most of the A-body derivatives seemed to have stuck with it, all the way through 1972.
Even the E-body Barracuda reverted back to them in its final years from 1972-1974.
At least they had a true function. They may have looked like fogs but still served as a proper turn signal. Nobody topped Ford’s Maverick Grabber and Mustang Mach 1 in the “most cynical lamps” contest. The ad even refers to them as “simulated driving lamps”.
Imagine a fixture that takes up as much space as a regular fog lamp, and is even controlled by a separate switch like a regular fog or driving lamp, but provides none of the utility of such, failing to equal the usefulness and/or intensity of even a decent cornering lamp. The Maverick boys called theirs “Sportlamps”.
The Maverick version.
And that saved what, three cents per car compared to either putting in real fog lamps or wiring them so that one set was turn signals (only) and the other separate parking lights?
Most cars made in the last few decades with factory fog/driving lights are decorative, save for the handfull that actually got something decent like Marchals as an option. They make no difference what so ever other than make the car look more “loaded”
This was the only Japanese car that I could get my size fifteens into the pedal area to drive a stick! What a suprise that was. Now I am limited to old bugs and big pick ups. I haven’t tried to drive a three pedal in quite some time.
Great find Dave! Some much-needed appreciation for Plymouth around here.
The Arrow is a very underrated car indeed. I love the slant of the roofline, and the upward curve of the rear windows. Those louvered rear quarter windows have to be some of the most interesting and well-executed ever!
I never realized before that there was a window there – I always though it was just a fake vent.
Mitsubishi Celeste Havent seen a live example in ages, I didnt know they came in Plymouth too though I’m not surprised its sure in nice condition for a 70s Mitsi.
I think these were all rusted out by the time I was born in ’77 (at least in the salt region). 🙂 I wish there were more around here; I think they look nice for what they are. Every time I see something like this, it makes me think of watching Chips as a kid (which is an absolutely cheesy, awful, but still somehow endearing show if you watch it as an adult).
These were actually sold until 1980, but to your point, they had probably all rusted away by the time you were old enough to be aware of car makes and models. They probably didn’t sell in huge numbers to begin with, either.
I’m old enough to be aware of these being around (I was born in 1970), but I can’t remember the last time I saw one here in Massachusetts.
There used to be an almost identical Dodge version that was someone’s daily driver here until recently. Sadly I heard that it went for scrap.
I take it the Dodge Arrow was a Canada-only model, under the longstanding principle that the two dealer networks maintained by each of the Big Three in Canada had to have equivalent models to sell, in case only one network was available in some areas. The same reason why there were Plymouth Colts in Canada years before there were Plymouth Colts in the U.S., and other north-of-the-border oddities like Fargo trucks, Plodges, the 1960-66 “Valiant” sold in identical form by both Plymouth and Dodge dealers, the M-body Plymouth Caravelle, and the Chrysler Neon we saw the other day.
To my knowledge, there was never a Dodge version of the Arrow in the U.S. The Arrow was a Plymouth exclusive, and the RWD versions of the Colt were a Dodge exclusive.
Wow a mopar (sort of) that Ive never seen before. Awesome.
And YOU call yourself a MOPAR guy??
Just kidding. We all snooze once in awhile. lol 😉
Wow, I haven’t seen one of these in years. The Fire Arrow was popular in SCCA Pro Rally in the early 80’s
http://hooniverse.com/2014/01/30/video-plymouth-fire-arrow-blazes-through-nighttime-rally-stage/
There is a Plymouth Fire Arrow GT ‘replica’ rally car locally, I gather the idea was to convert a local-market Chrysler Lancer fastback to be able to run the 2.6 engine instead of the 1.6L.
In the US, the car came was introduced in 1976 or 1977. The base engine was 1.6 liter, optional was 2.0 liter.
Car and Driver commented the 2.0 had better pick-up, but the “extra weight” (50-75 lbs?) on the front wheels made the car understeer too much.
The 2.0 liter has the ‘Silent Shaft” treatment–not sure about the 1.6 liter.
Later on, say 1980 or so, just before the end of the car’s life in the US, it was availaibe with a 2.4 or 2.5 liter “Silent Shaft”, the “Fire Arrow”.
There was no 1.4 liter.
Thanks for another memory of one of the little flickers of light during the depths of the Malaise Era
Nice find and write-up. I’ve been surprised to not find one of these in Eugene.
We did cover some of the Plymouth Mitsus during our Colt cavalcade, as many of them were also branded as Colts, starting with the FWD era. And I purposely left out others because it seemed we had more than enough, especially according to one of our more vocal commenters 🙂
There have been fair number of selfies at CC too. It’s hard not to when shooting a close-up detail on a window or chrome bumper. Maybe we should do a selfie compilation post.
Speaking of odd-ball Mitsubishis, remember this car that I posted as the “mystery sedan” a couple of years ago? Well, I saw one in traffic in Reno, Nevada, a couple of days ago. I couldn’t get close enough to see any nameplates, but that six-window profile is easily recognizable. The car was pale metallic turquoise and looked to be in decent shape.
I do like these, though I’ve not seen one in ages. Neat little cars, typical of the relatively interesting Mitsu-via-Mopar offerings of the 70’s.
That rear 3/4 view does bear a strange resemblance to an AMC Spirit liftback though. Never noticed that until just now!
Yes, back in the day, I kinda liked the Arrow and thought about getting one. The Fire Arrow had even more appeal to me. Haven’t seen one in about 20 years.
The California Desert including Joshua Tree (I hear U2 albums grow on the trees) and the Salton Sea is a place I would like to check out more someday. I passed through there at the end of a 3 week road trip and was getting a bit tired of the journey. I hear the stickers of yore used lots of cancer causing materials that makes them last longer than a concrete bunker in the Mojave Desert. At least that is what older folks have told me. Wonder what caused the shallow dent on the driver’s door? Coyote, Road Runner, Tumbleweed?
The title “Celeste Before the Fire” made me giggle and brought back memories: Back in about 1980ish a schoolmate’s mother had a bright red Mitsubishi Celeste (all our Kiwi ones were Mitsis), she left my 6 year old school mate and his older sister in it while she dashed into a shop one day; 6 year old found the in-dash cigarette lighter and you can imagine what happened next! Both the kids were able to get out, and the fire was extinguished but the interior was irreparably damaged. I still remember that bright red Celeste, before the fire… 😉
Since the Plymouth Arrow originally was a Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste, I had created a Family Tree Photo Montage Compilations of the Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste 3 Door Hatchback Coupe beginning with its indirect predecessor Mitsubishi Colt Galant GTO 2 Door Fastback Coupe and all the way to the final design of the Mitsubishi Eclipse. Many readers may not be aware of this lineage but this one is based on The North American version. Its really hard to believe that the Plymouth Arrow (actually Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste) had an unassuming humble beginning especially as a run of the mill small sports coupe which many decades later was succeeded by the hot and flashy Mitsubishi Eclipse (in which the 1G version was also called Plymouth Laser).
The Celeste and Cordia in your montage are both wearing New Zealand rego plates, so out of curiosity I just did a history check on both.
The Celeste was new here on 13 April 1981, and is the 1800cc version. It was still on the road in January 2011, with 192,257km on the odometer.
The Cordia was new here on 11 November 1987 and is also 1800cc. It was still on the road in December 2012, with 191,393km on the odometer.
After surviving so long, it’d be nice to think they’re both in storage somewhere!
YES here in North America, the Mitsubishi Celeste is our Plymouth/Dodge Arrow and the Mitsubishi Cordia is just the same Mitsubishi Cordia. I just tried to keep the Photo Montage Compilations strictly Mitsubishi since outside of North America the aforementioned Chryslers were originally Mitsubishi. Otherwise, they are all the same cars. If you noticed, I am also fortunate enough to find similar shades of Blue for all 7 cars as I had intended to do and so were the angle of the cars in the photos. Your research is well appreciated and very interesting as well. I must commend you for that. In the US, none of these cars will last that long due to miscellaneous reasons many avoidable and a few it goes along as the cars ages here along with extreme seasonal changes.
I never saw to many of these running around, but I nearly bought one with a 340 and torqueflite in it. It was very well done, and scary fast. Where you saw a lot of them was at the drag races, where the Arrow and Dodge Omni were the bodies of choice for a couple of years.
http://www.speedhunters.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/LA2010Rod-8264.jpg
I saw Celeste for sale not so long ago here in NZ with the ubiquitous Chev 350 in it. It was also well done and no doubt terrifyingly quick…!
Was the engine compartment bay of the Celeste large and spacious enough to accommodate a 350 Chevy V8 engine?
Oddly enough, I saw an Arrow several years ago, at the Mitsu stand at the Detroit Auto Show. Have no idea why they were giving a 30 year old model space, but there it was, up on it’s own stage as if it was a prototype of a new model.
Here is an advertisement and cover of a brochure for this neat little captive import, both for 1976. (sorry if this double-posted).
Nice colour
I can’t believe, I turned down a chance to buy a GOOD running, yellow 77 Arrow, just because it needed a tie rod end… and just for $100.
Of course, this was back in 1987, when you could buy a running car for around $100-500.
Oh well. lol
This is my car! At applebees in yucca valley california! Its actually a 1978, missing only the grill and the rest of the car is 100% functional and passes cali smog with flying colors. This is the 1.6 liter car though, but surprisingly isnt horrible to drive around. Its a bit buzzy at modern highway/freeway speeds though. I got it from the original owner in pasadena who was a 91 year old woman who was no longer allowed to drive. It had 85k miles when i got it and it now has 88k.
Wow, that’s low mileage, given that the car is 36 years old! Glad to hear it’s in good running order and that it has an owner who takes care of it–keep up the good work in preserving this classic!
Good News Everyone! I own a 1976 Plymouth Arrow it is yellow and automatic. I have it in storage in the island of Puerto RIco. It does run fine but just needs a fresh coat of paint and a touch of bodywork. It is 99% RUST FREE. In Puerto Rico I have seen dozens of these. Mostly in the color blue, but I don’t know why just that color. The one I have has the original manual and it states that it was sold from a car dealership in Ponce Puerto Rico. During my years on the island of Puerto Rico I have seen many of these arrow/celestes. From my observations these cars are most often modified for drag racing or other types of racing, In the last few years they are more scarce. Indeed you might be able to find one to buy. The sight where I often see then for sale and where I got mine is classificadosonline.com I am a big Datsun fan and I purchased mine because it reminded me of the 1974-78 B210 Liftback ( honeybee) which I used to have and could not find, so I replaced it with the arrow. If any one is interested in BUYING it for export or has had one of these email me and wants to talk about arrow/celeste my email is BORICUA197569@YAHOO.COM
Thank you. I might post a pic eventually
Here is the pic of my 1976 Arrow, I might sell it or restore it to its former glory
I had a 1978 Arrow that was my first Brand New car! $3,800.00 out the door. That $117.00 a month payment was tough at times:) I have very fond memories of my Arrow. I finally had to put it to sleep in 1986 with 265,000 miles. Not bad for my intial investment. Was a very reliable transportation that saw me through the beginning of my independance.
Just want to share my 1977 plymouth arrow
Very nice and super clean! Love the panasport wheels.
Jake, where do i get bumpers like yours?
Here’s another one
When I was a senior in college at West Virginia my parents bought me a 1600 cc 1977 arrow. It was metallic blue just like the one pictured and with a black and bright white interior. I don’t think it had a single factory option (power nothing, no A/C, vinyl mats instead of carpeting) except for (very unfortunately) an automatic transmission. It was in like new condition…not a mark on it and about 40K miles. It was by far the most profoundly underpowered car I have ever driven. There were hills in Morgantown that were too steep for the car to climb. I would have to back down in reverse. When I graduated I took a job in upstate NY. The Arrow didn’t make it through the winter up there. The timing belt broke. Instead of fixing the piece of crap I factory ordered a 1987 Buick Grand National as my new ride. I took the plates off the Arrow and abandoned it (keys in ignition) in the parking lot of the apartment complex when I moved to Florida the following spring.
The 1978 still had round lights as I owned a 1978 GT (burnt orange, thank you very much!). 1979 saw the first Fire Arrow…my best friend owned a white one that regularly trounced my 2.0 GT! We loved our Arrows…later in life I found a clean base Arrow and bought it for $400. This was around 2003 or so. Virtually zero rust and complete. Unfortunately it was saddled with the lowly automatic which made acceleration a planned event. I drove it for a year with big plans to restore it…even found a replacement three spoke steering wheel. But the transmission grenaded and I had no way of storing it so I reluctantly sold it. I still look out for a Fire Arrow (a true 2.6…not the sad 1.6 Fire Arrow they sold in 1980 with the appearance package) but these are truly rare cars. Great memories…
This brings back great memories. I bought a white 1980 Fire Arrow with the 2.6 & 5-speed brand new in 1980 and to date it’s the car I enjoyed the most. Performed extremely well for its day with excellent ergos and great reliability. Later after it hit 175,000 miles I swapped the engine & trans from a Starion into it, which transformed this little hatchback into a beast. I then sold it to a rally driver who used it for racing. I wish I could find another unmolested one to enjoy, but they’re becoming extremely rare…
I owned 1979 Plymouth Fire Arrow. My first cool car!! I loved it and so did the girls!! 🙂
just want to share my 79 fire arrow, has an amc small block in it now, fun car
Here is a photo of my GT… circa 1978. I bought this in Reno, Nevada while I was stationed at Hawthorne, NV in the Air Force. Loved that car… my 1st new car purchase.
i remember getting a ride home from a summer job in about 1980 in one of these by a co-worker. it had this amazing super shift transmission. it was this bizarre twin stick 4×2 overdrive setup. i thought it was the coolest thing i’d ever seen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Super_Shift_transmission
The Mitsubishi ‘Twin-Stick’ was simply overdrive that could be engaged in any gear. It was mainly used in the upper-tier Colt 2-door at the time. I suppose if someone really wanted to squeeze the last fraction of an mpg, they could sacrifice performance and leave the lever in ‘economy’ (overdrive) all the time. But it was really only useful in fourth gear on the highway. Most manufacturers simply went with a 5-speed.
Or they could play truck-driver and go from economy to sport in each gear, but that’s a lot of shifting for not much reward.
The twin-stick is like a 10 speed bicycle in concept I guess. ( I never switched to the larger sproket. Just pedaled through the 5 axle gears.) Still, neat idea.
When I had mine, SOP was to shift through all 4 gears in low range then throw the second stick for “5th”. At each stop the main stick went into 1st and the second stick went back to low range.
You could leave it in high range and drive it like a normal 4 speed, but it made the car feel a little sluggish coming away from a stop. Driving both sticks was rewarded with much more fun.
One of the young guys (18) at my radio station bought an Arrow. Didn’t impress me much at the time. But back then they seemed to be popular with young teens or college kids.
Fast -forward to 2017 and I appraised a one-owner 1979 Arrow GS. It was bought new by a woman who only needed it as transportation around the prairie town she lives in with an occasional trip on the highway. At the time it had just over 57,000 kms. Repainted and in overall good condition.
I dimly remember these; They strongly resembled a Opel by Isuzu or a B210 which hadn’t been beaten with an ugly stick. It proved the Japanese could do clean, simple, attractive styling which Toyota and Datsun and Honda would soon adopt.
It’s really funny to think that when this car debuted in 1975ish, the jury was still out on FWD for smaller cars until the Rabbit and Honda Civic/Accord got well enough established to definitively show that was the Way of the Future. By 1980, when this car was replaced, although by a RWD successor, everyone had committed to FWD even if the products weren’t quite ready yet.
Brock Yates wrote in his book “The Decline and Fall of the American Automotive Industry” that Chrysler had strongly considered coming up with a subcompact Pinto/Vega class car on its own and discovered it wasn’t ever going to come close to profitable. Since the only really strong sellers for Chrysler in the early 70s until the Cordoba arrived were the Valiant/Dart, introducing a car below that which might cannibalise Valiant/Dart sales was not a good idea so they brought over the Cricket, and amazingly sold 41k in 3 years as mentioned despite being of woeful quality and design. Then they brought over the Colt, and Chrysler dealers didn’t really want to sell it and a lot of buyers probably would have rather had a stripper Dart/Volare for the same price. People who wanted a Japanese car weren’t buying it from an American brand showroom, as GM would later learn as well.
I also remember the C/D test where the Fire Arrow was if not the most potent thing Chrysler sold, real close to whatever the biggest Cordoba equivalent had in it. Sad times.
Since Honda and Nissan and Toyota have brought back the atomic cockroach era of Japanese styling, replete with awkward creases and fake plastic vents, can stripe packages, whitewalls, and woodgrain on CUVs be far behind?
Since Honda and Nissan and Toyota have brought back the atomic cockroach era of Japanese styling, replete with awkward creases and fake plastic vents, can stripe packages, whitewalls, and woodgrain on CUVs be far behind?
Sadly, no. What goes around comes around….However, the retro timetable seems to be closer to 20 years rather than 40, so the late 90s are more likely the comeback rather than the late 70s. If anything from the late 70s comes back into vogue with the OEMs, my bet is on decontenting. Cars are getting too expensive, sales are down, so they can either drop profits or drop content.
I recall these were once popular as drag cars.
Bob Glidden ran a pro stock Plymouth Arrow for a very short time. I saw an article on it as a kid and remember thinking “What the heck is a Plymouth Arrow?” I’ve seen a few 70’s Colts but never an Arrow.
Bob had the Plymouth factory sponsorship for 1979 and 1980. Killer car.
Don Prudhomme used an Arrow funny car body for several years.
Had a 1978 Arrow, first new car I ever bought. Metallic burnt orange, with flaming arrow decals on both sides! 1600cc, 4 speed. Very fun to drive!
I think most of you are wrong on the placement of the parking lights – I believe the DOT standards at the time prevented parking lights embedded in the bumpers where the Celeste had them in this vintage of the Arrow. Consequently, the Honda Civic and Plymouth Arrow had to mount them as inexpensively as possible and this was done above the bumper. This very same vintage JDM product had the turn signals mounted in the bumper. It was not until 20 or so years ago that DOT standards were loosened and lights began to appear in bumper assemblies.
And this would explain other European products having similar light treatments.
The Mustang II’s lights were never in the bumper and were in the grill; later Arrows had them integrated into the grill with the advent of the rectangular lights that were used.
My mom had a 2.6 blue with white stripe GT with 4 speed stick. Many may think that was a small 2.6 V6, nope, it was a big 4 cylinder. Chrysler made a huge deal about a counter rotating balance shaft located in the block to smooth out the 4 cylinder imbalance shakes. Having owned a 2.3 liter Vega (my bad), I was eager to test drive this bigger engine. Due to the hype, I expected turbine smoothness. It fell well short of that expectation but it was smooth enough. It was not a rocket either but had ample power for hills and AC. Only bad thing I noticed about the car was that the windows would fog up in hot weather. The oily substance was all but impossible to get off. The plastics in the interior were outgassing, not an unusual situation back then. An hour in the heat and the windows were a mess again. Overall, after owning a Vega, the Arrow was an impressive small car.
And this is how the car currently looks like now. This car is a 1978 model as it says on the CA title. The square headlight version didn’t come out til 1979-1980.