Must Love Plaid: 1978 Dodge Challenger
As we know by now, the captive import known as the Dodge Challenger was a spectacular sales failure here in the U.S. Despite being fairly clever from a business standpoint – replacing a hole in the lineup with a vehicle that already produced impressive fuel economy and adhered to rigorous Japanese build quality standards – the Challenger and its twin, the Plymouth Sapporo, bore little fruit for Chrysler, making them fairly rare today. This example features the top-shelf MCA powerplant, otherwise known as a “Hemi.” Find it here on eBay with a starting bid of $6,900.
The Challenger came in a few different flavors, and this one is loaded to the gills with the optional wheels, body striping, plaid interior, and MCA Jet powerplant, which stood for “Mitsubishi Clean Air Jet Engine System.” Now, despite my love for oddballs, even I can admit that the Japanese got slightly silly with their nomenclature, but it didn’t matter: Chrysler began calling it a Hemi, which did nothing to appease the brand fanatics still sore that the original Challenger was rudely terminated from the lineup and replaced with a rebadged Mitsubishi.
The shame of it is that these were good cars. If I could go back in time, I imagine I’d stand on some street corner, holding a sign that said the end was near and shouting, “Give the new Challenger a chance!” The engine was fairly novel, and did incorporate hemispherically shaped cylinder heads, all the while operating exceptionally smoothly for a four-cylinder thanks to its balance shaft technology (that Mitsubishi would eventually license to Porsche, by the way). The plaid interior isn’t for everyone, but the quality was quite high for an economy car, with a high-end audio system, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, and these wicked bucket seats.
This particular example is one of the better ones I’ve seen, with many of its original details very well preserved. The underside shows no sign of rust, and the jack points look sound, too. The seller doesn’t provide many details on this specific car, but does note the low mileage and the fact that it was stored during wintertime. A previous owner clearly loved this Challenger, despite the strong headwinds against it when introduced. The Japanese-market cars look quite tasty when lowered on some period mesh wheels, and I really wish someone would modify one of these baby Hemis with period JDM bits.
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Comments
Your comment is mainlining one of my day dreams. I badly badly want to buy one of these babies and bring it back to JDM standard.
The Galant-series Mitsubishis of that era are well-built cars (rust issues excepted) and the engines are quite tuneable. They’re quite comfortable and pleasant to drive.
Looking at the price, I’m not sure what the market value might be, stateside…
Can’t put my finger on it, but I have a desire to own one each time they’re featured on BF. I recall seeing them in my youth, but didn’t give them a second glance…but now, I friggin’ want one!
Classic lost my themos on the test drive 🙃
Wowsa were these ugly !
A little to ambitious on his price. Not there yet but there can’t be many left.
Lovely looking car. I’ve never understood why the Japanese “captive” import didn’t sell in the USA very well. I find it more attractive than the 1978 Toyota Celica.
Starting price should be $5000 and hope to get his price of $6900.
IMHO, the biggest reason why these rebadged imports didn’t sell well was mostly marketing, you can’t put an iconic muscle model name on these and expect to sell them. Look at the latest GTO offering from our friends down under at Holden, if you would of named it anything else, it would of sold like hot cakes.
NADA High retail on this car is $4950…which would indicate a near perfect car…this is nothing close to that. Low to average range is $1550- $4,000 and that sounds about right for this one. I’m thinking $3000 would be an ok buy. Dealer probably got it for next to nothing. No bids and only 3hrs left. I don’t think it will sell. Sometimes old cars are just that, old.
Never gave these a second look as a young man but I would have fun in this now.
I can’t believe the publicity this car is getting these days! I had one as my first car, it was orange with the crazy plaid interior. It was a good first car but it would vapor lock regularly in hot weather. It vapor locked in the middle of the busiest intersection in Las Vegas one day, i pulled the fuel line to clear it, while 100’s of cars backed up. I drove 1/4 mile to the toyota dealership and traded it for a Paseo. Best decision ever! Btw i paid $500 for it and a lady was letting her dog sleep in it. She said the a/c didnt work, which is a big deal in Vegas, obviously. My dad and i took it on a test drive around the block and opened the hood, i said “hey dad, looks like there is a disconnected wire here” i connected it, instant air conditioning…..
Never sold well? They seemed to be everywhere on Long Island in the late ’70s