Take Your Pick: 1978 Dodge Challenger or 1990 Jeep Cherokee
What do a 1978 Dodge Challenger and a 1990 Jeep Cherokee have in common? Well, they both had Chrysler’s footprint on them. At one time, Chrysler owned as much as 20% of Mitsubishi Motors who built the 1978-83 Challenger, and Chrysler bought American Motors in 1987 who had – in turn – owned Jeep since 1970. The seller has one of each for sale and – given the limited information provided – we assume an estate is involved. Located in Lake Oswego, Oregon, this pair is available here on craigslist for $6,000 to $6,500 depending on which one you pick.
The Challenger was Dodge’s entry into the “pony car” market in 1970. As that market shifted, demand quickly declined, and Dodge exited the sector in 1974 along with Plymouth (Barracuda) and American Motors (Javelin). Dodge resurrected the Challenger name in 1978, applying it to a rebadged Mitsubishi Galant coupe built in Japan. The nameplate retained a sporty look and long hood/short deck proportions, but little else. It could no longer be considered a muscle car.
This Challenger looks rather nice, but we get the impression it may have lived under that carport for a time. The interior is tidy with plaid seat covers that have retained their ‘70s appearance and shape. There is no indication if either vehicle runs, and no photos are provided of what lies under the hoods. The Challenger is priced at $6,500 while the companion Jeep is $500 less.
The Cherokee began as a Jeep SUV in 1974 and is currently in its fifth generation. In 1990, it was more like a boxy station wagon and this one looks to be in pretty fair shape. However, the interior is going to need a good cleaning and we don’t know the status of the engine, likely a six-cylinder. The seller says it has a salvage title for reasons not mentioned and we wonder if the same applies to the Challenger. The seller would have better luck with moving these vehicles if they were listed separately and with something other than basic information.
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Comments
Oh Challenger, you were once so proud and mighty, look what they reduced you to,,,was the cry. We knew change was afoot, but not this. The car itself was really a pretty good car, Mitsubishi made good vehicles, but was a pill just too bitter to swallow. This is the car Challenger aficionados would love to forget. The Jeep XJ needs no words except, it changed everything for Jeep.
I disagree. I really liked these when they came out. Yes, I thought the 70-74s were great, but that was almost a half decade ago by this time. Time to stop crying and look ahead. Gas prices were a thing of worry in these days and a Hemicuda was not going to cut it. (you couldn’t give those things away in those days). These had great feeling shifters and that dash was topnotch. Smaller cars were selling for well over list back then, if you could get one at all. You would have had to live then to understand, I guess.
I had a 79 Challenger with the 5 speed. It was a fun car to drive, but Dodge should have chosen a different name. I sold mine after 142,000 trouble free miles when I moved overseas. One of several cars I wish I’d kept.
I’ve owned three of them – a 1970 w/440/4spd, a 1985 Charger 2.2/5 speed, and a 2017 Scat Pack.
The 85 was a fun car (for that era) and reasonably sporty, economical, and handled well. It accelerated like a boat dragging its anchor and definitely not a worthy successor of the Charger name.
Some would argue that the Scat Pack isn’t a ‘true’ Charger because it has four doors. To each their own, but it is by far the quickest and fastest of the three, and it runs away from them while equipped with power everything, nav, sat radio, heated/cooled seats, a/c, sunroof, etc.
On the Dodge it should have a 2.6 engine. Being over 100,000 miles the timing chain and guides need to be replaced. Since this is rear wheel drive. The engine sits normal. I had a 79 Hemi orange with a stick. Working at a Chrysler dealership I had this to run around with! That 2.6 really moved out. It’s a great old Japanese car. And it will run forever if you take care of it. I would show up with $4,000 to buy it. With the pictures we are given it’s very clean. As for the Jeep enough said. Fair price looks great! 🐻🇺🇸
Agreed, Big Bear. In 1979 I worked at a Dodge dealer and had to make a late night run for parts, about 150 miles each way and they threw me the keys to a new D-50 Sport 2.6 5 spd. Grabbed my friend Greg and hit the road. Hauled ass. Great times.
Both are awesome vehicles. I remember when the Jeep XJ Cherokee was on the market. I also remember the Dodge Challenger (Mitsubishi). I’d buy either if I were in the market to buy a classic car, or I’d buy both vehicles.
Wow… they don’t make plaid like that anymore…
If I recall the Challenger is a rebadged Mitsubishi Sapporo, not Galant.
When both the Dodge and Mitsubishi versions were out I thought they were nice looking cars. Wouldn’t mind the Dodge, looks like a nice car to scoot around in.
It’s a rebadged Mitsu Galant.
The Plymouth version is the Sapporo.
Both are right…. It was a Mitsubishi Sapporo in Europe, Gallant elsewhere and it was the Plymouth Sapporo here
either would B fine due to THE wrd in any automotive Q: What Is The APPLICATION?
the heep, ifa i6, is a 4oh by this time (early 258 is beddah) w/?4 speed auto (OD)? Almost a 35 y/o- er? 2, 2.5K$ round here (but there – less rd salt/rust).
Dont forget what is being bought (its @ the manif. time and make).
The Mitsu would B 5 speed manny and ~2.5L for good MPGs (30+ I’d bet).
Kinda opposite cars. Heep? all the extras break @ low mi but durable drive train, multi purp & load rm / haul capacity. The mitsu good all round but low MPGs & manny transmis. You sure this aint his/hers pair for an ol Boomer couple just died?
do us all a favor and learn English.. this is not the place for ebonics..
Like someone else mentioned, that “Challenger”…most likely has the 2.6 Mitsubishi engine. The chains and guides would need to be replaced, if you want this car to stay on the road. I worked at a Dodge dealership back in the day, in the part’s department. We were always ordering a lot of stock of 2.6 engine parts for these cars, along with Dodge Raiders ( remember them?) The Jeep is a great little SUV… it’s got the 4.0 engine which is just about bulletproof. Too bad it/both? Has a salvage title… bummer!
Ah, another chance to post a favorite car ad of mine!
WTF BRO!!? thanks my lord for being too young and very far away from any dodge agency those years and NEVER see this aberration fooling around!
Again — as I’ve seen many times before here; you guys must be too young to know your vintage cars. The Mitsubishi Gallant in the 70’s was a re-badged Dodge Colt and it did NOT look like the Dodge Challenger. If I could post a photo of the ’78 Gallant (no option to do that here), you would clearly see it has the Dodge Colt body that is simply optioned to the hilt, which again does not look like the ’78 Dodge Challenger. — The Gallant was always a “sedan” geared for family use, not a sports car. In the 80’s, the Gallant became a design of its own – became larger with more engine power, which is how it evolved from there into the 90’s and beyond.
The ’78 Dodge Challenger was based on the Mitsubishi Gallant Lambda built in Japan from 1976 until 1984. It was exported under various names; Mitsubishi Sapporo in Europe, the Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Sapporo in North America…
If I could post a photo of the Gallant – you would see it is based on the Dodge Colt body – and the Japanese Challenger body is much lower and sleeker than the Dodge Colt body. Mitsubishi may have had a “version” of the Gallant — called the Lambada – that was based on the same body as the Challenger — they were strange that way – trying a lot of different things out with their “badging” to see how they stuck – but the base Gallant had a Dodge Colt body.
It was the other way around. The Colt was a rebadged Mitsubishi, as was the D50 pickup.
The Colt was built by Mitsubishi for Dodge (Chrysler owned 20% of Mitsubishi at the time) exactly as they did with the D50 pickup. Both were not on the American market before they were built, so they could not be re-badged. They were built in Japan from the start and both names were original to those vehicles for American market. The engines in both were actually designed by Chrysler and built in Japan. The 2.6 liter engine was literally half of a Chrysler Hemi. The 1.6 liter was a Japanese engine that was design-modified by Chrysler for the those vehicles with more HP than the original design – using Chrysler-design parts. — The Colt name was dropped and replaced with the Gallant name – using the same car – body, frame, everything – but with a lot more luxury options available and there was a station wagon added to the line under the Gallant name. In the 80’s, the Gallant was redesigned to be larger (no longer built on the Colt frame and body) and from there it just got larger as it evolved. The Gallant was always meant to be a family car. The Challenger – no matter how you look at it – was obviously never meant to be a family car. The Lambada – even with the misguided idea of putting the Gallant name with it – was a different model car, which probably become the Challenger for the American market, but with Mitsubishi’s way of doing things, that may not be certain either.
“The 2.6 liter engine was literally half of a Chrysler Hemi.”… Ummm, are you talking about the 2.6L in the ’78 Challenger?… Other than they were both internal combustion and marketed by Chrysler as “HEMI” engines, I don’t think there was much in common. The Mitsubishi “Astron” 4G5/4D5 was a family of engines built with different displacements depending on the application. They were a cast iron block, aluminum head, SOHC designs. The 2.6 even had balance shafts (I believe the first use of such in a volume production vehicle power plant). I don’t see much similarity with either the 1st Gen (Firepower) ’51 to ’58, or 2nd Gen (HEMI) ’64 to ’71, Chrysler motors.
You’re mixing up the Galant with the Galant Lambda, completely different cars despite the similar names; they only shared related engines and running gear under their vastly different skins.
The regular Galant got rebadged as the Dodge/Plymouth Colt. The Galant Lambda got rebadged as the Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Sapporo.
I had a 1980 Challenger. Two tone blue with the plaid interior. I wish I still had that one. Unfortunately some jackass tried to pass me at a four way intersection, failing to see my left turn signal, and T-Boned me, totalling the car.
I had an ’80, black and silver, gray interior with the plaid. Loved it!