For those of us "into" history and automobiles, it doesn't get any better when they both come together like it did for me the other day when this 1984 Dodge Omni GLH popped up for sale on Facebook Marketplace out in Findlay, Ohio, roughly halfway between Cleveland and Toledo. This hardly looks like a historically significant automobile but, trust me, it played an important role in the advancement of the American automobile. And a good one at that.
Prior to the mid-1970's, most cars made and sold in the United States were rear-wheel drive with their engines mounted longitudinally in front of driver with torque diverted to a differential via a shaft running under the car. The only front-wheel-drive cars made and sold here at the time were General Motors' Oldsmobile Toronado, since 1966, and Cadillac Eldroado since 1967. Long defunct Auburn Cord had manufactured and sold FWD cars in the 1930's as well. The only other American car deviation from a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive configuration had been General Motors' 1960-1969 Chevrolet Corvair.
Beginning in 1978, the Dodge Omni and it's corporate clone Plymouth Horizon, were the first front-wheel-drive compacts assembled in North America. What's more, their engines and transmissions were transversely mounted whereas the GM luxury cars and even the Cord's had engines and transmissions that were longitudinal.
The interior packaging efficiency of an automobile the size of the Omni\Horizon afforded by its powertrain alignment was unlike anything ever made in this country before. That is... except for Volkswagen and their FWD Rabbit that went on sale here in 1974.
Appearances being everything, when these came it appeared obvious that Chrysler had their eyes all over the Rabbit. However, it was VW who had their eyes on the front-wheel-drive, compact sedan manufactured and sold in Europe by Chrysler subsidiary Simca since 1967, that was known as the 1100. The Simca 1100, and subsequent models, were remarkable for their combination of what are now construed as modern automobile engineering; transverse-mounted powertrains, unit-body construction, and independent suspensions. All in a compact economy car too.
Therefore, when Chrysler (America) went looking for a suitable platform for a compact, front-wheel-drive sedan, they didn't have to look too hard to find one. You'll also find much Simca 1100\1200 and Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon DNA in the famous Chrysler K-cars that all but saved Chrysler from bankruptcy in the 1980's.
By 1984, though, compact, front-wheel-drive economy cars were all but the norm, particularly from Japanese manufacturers who had engineered out much of it's quirks and foibles. To infuse some much needed pizzaz into the aging Dodge Omni, Chrysler fitted it with a high-performance version of their 2.2-liter, inline four-cylinder engine, bolted on the suspension baubles, bits and tuning from their Dodge Shelby Charger, which was based on the Omni 024 coupe, and, voila, America's first "hot-hatch" or "pocket rocket" was born. They called it the Dodge Omni "Goes Like Hell", or "GLH".
As far as our $1,400 Facebook Marketplace find here, it's seen seen better days. Poster of the ad claims it had sat for 16-years prior to their purchasing it from the original owner. It's currently not running and they patched the rusted out floor boards themselves. Lovely. Worst is, apparently there's structural rust (decay) on the driver's side rear where the axle attaches and they say that will need to be fixed. Good luck with that. He, or she, waxes on as well how they're tired of answering questions about wheel sizes, engine swaps and negotiating the price by text. Sounds like a swell person to deal with. You've been warned.
One of these days I'll blog about the right and wrong ways to sell a car on social media; I've sold five cars on FB Marketplace and bought at least two on Craigslist so I think I know a thing or two about it. Rest assured, coming across as anything less than hospitable is most certainly not the way to get things sold. Even for a car as historically significant as this one is. Don't get me wrong, though, at the end of the day, we're talking about a Dodge Omni here.
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