Dodge Omni
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The Dodge Omni and the similar Plymouth Horizon were front wheel drive subcompact cars introduced by the Dodge and Plymouth divisions of Chrysler Corporation in North America in 1978. While they are generally not credited, they were the first of many successful models, such as the Dodge Aries and the Dodge Caravan which helped return Chrysler to profitibility.
History
The Dodge Omni and the similar Plymouth Horizon were front wheel drive, subcompact cars introduced by the Dodge and Plymouth divisions of Chrysler Corporation in North America in 1978. It was a five-door hatchback. Although the car had substantial European origins (the car was actually developed by Simca, the French division of Chrysler Europe, before that company was sold to Peugeot, which released the car as the Talbot Horizon), it was presented as a very significant domestic development, since it was assembled by Chrysler, who retained North American rights to the car. Both the Omni and the Horizon were based on Chrysler's then-new L platform. The company had avoided building a car for the subcompact market up until that time, preferring to use captive imports like the Dodge Colt instead.The Horizon and its corporate twin the Omni (sometimes collectively referred to as the Omnirizon) appeared at a critical time, when Chrysler was desperately looking for government support to survive. News reports indicated that these fresh small cars, which did indeed begin to sell well, helped persuade Congress and the White House that Chrysler had a future worth saving. The Omni was Motor Trend magazine's Car of the Year for 1978.
Despite looking almost identical, the Omni and Horizon had few interchangeable parts with their European siblings. Aside from the heavier-looking American body panels and bumpers, the OHV Simca engines were replaced with a 1.7 L OHC engine sourced from Volkswagen, while MacPherson strut front suspension took the place of the torsion bar arrangement found in the European Horizon. The small Volkswagen engine used a Chrysler-designed cylinder head and intake manifold and produced 75 hp (56 kW) and 90 ft·lbf (122 N·m).
Early on, the cars had a shaky period after Consumer Reports magazine tested one and reported that it easily went out of control in hard maneuvering. Since front wheel drive cars were still establishing themselves in the American market, this was a serious charge and was reported extensively by the mainstream media, including a witty heading in Time Magazine: Storm over the Horizon. However, auto magazines reported no problems and indicated that the Consumer Reports test did not approximate real-world driving conditions. The car weathered the tempest and went on to success.
Chrysler's 2.2 L K-car engine appeared in 1981 as an upmarket option to the small Volkswagen engine. It produced 84 hp (63 kW) at first, rising to 93 hp (69 kW) and finally 96 hp (72 kW) by the end of production. The Volkswagen 1.7 was replaced by a Simca/Peugeot-produced 1.6 L unit in 1983. This engine produced 62 hp (46 kW) and 86 ft·lbf (117 N·m), and was only available with a manual transmission. The 2.2 L Chrysler was the only engine from 1987 onwards.
The Omni and the Horizon finally ended production in 1990. Interestingly, Chrysler invested in a number of significant changes; the cars gained a driver's side air bag and a mildly redesigned instrument panel.
The Arrogant Worms have a song dedicated to the 1984 Plymouth Horizon.
The comedian Lewis Black mentions the Horizon in a skit on his 2000 album, The White Album. He explains that it is not possible to take a Horizon for a joyride, as "...it is not a joy to ride."
Variants
Several variants of the platform appeared later, including a 3-door hatchback known as the Dodge 024/Plymouth TC3 and briefly a small car-like truck under the Dodge Rampage/Plymouth Scamp name.
The 024 and TC3 were marketed as sporty cars, although a modest 94 hp four-cylinder engine, decent aerodynamics and light weight didn't make them very formidable. The TC3 was renamed the Plymouth Turismo, and the 024 the Dodge Charger in 1983. The last 1,000 Dodge Chargers were modified by Carroll Shelby into Shelby Chargers.
GLH
The ultimate Dodge Omni was the Carroll Shelby-modified Omni GLH. 1984 was the first year of the GLH, which carried over most of the modifications that had been made the previous year to the Shelby Charger. 1985 was the debut of the real Goes Like Hell model with the turbocharged Turbo I engine option. The car carried over into 1986 unchanged and production was stopped. The final 500 GLH cars were sold to Shelby, who used them as the basis for the 1986 Shelby GLHS.
See also
External links
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