Every time I see one of these cars, so clean and tight and sharp-edged and European, I pinch myself: this is really an American car, from the 1970s? Well, of course it’s not a true American car, given that much of its design emanated from France. But the fact that one of the Big Three actually pulled it off to build a competent, advanced and reliable new small car is nothing short of a miracle.
Having already written the Omni-Horizon’s story in detail here, I’m not going to re-write it again now. But it was one of the brightest spots on that automotive scene during a difficult period in America. Thanks to Chrysler’s foresight in developing this car jointly with its European Simca operation, which already built one of the very best small cars at the time the Simca 1100/1204, Chrysler smartly avoided the NIH (not invented here) syndrome, that afflicted both GM and Ford to varying degrees.
Yes, the US versions of the Horizon was modified a fair amount, sadly losing the Simca’s splendid long-throw torsion bar suspension and famous French ride for pragmatic Golf-type front struts and a twist-beam rear axle. On the other hand, Chrysler wisely left the somewhat fragile Simca pushrod four behind, instead substituting a unique 1.7 L version of VW’s 827 engine, with Chrysler-designed ancillary components.
Although the Simca engine did make eventually it into later versions of base US Omnirizons, but by that time the smart buyers were opting for the Chrysler 2.2, which made it a decently brisk machine, for the times, even with the (durable) Torqueflite automatic transaxle.
The Horizon obviously looks a lot like a VW Golf/Rabbit, which was its mission to chase. But it was just a tick bigger, actually, it was even somewhat bigger than the Golf MkII. That was another smart move, given American’s preference for room, and the Horizon gave a decent amount, especially compared to the many cramped small cars at the time. This was a limo compared to a Chevette back seat.
The K-Car is often held up as the savior of Chrysler, but it would never have come about if it wasn’t for the Omnirizon, upon which the K-Car was based. This Franco-American hybrid was the basis upon which Chrysler would re-invent itself, even if its off-shoots would look anything but clean and tight and sharp-edged and European. Not exactly Lee Iacocca’s cup of Joe.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Chrysler never again built a small car that was as all-round attractive and good as the Horizon. American car companies just always seemed to struggle with that alien concept.
And they still do. It’s just not in their blood.
More on the Horizon-Omni:
CC: Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni: Detroit Finally Builds A Proper Small Car
I always thought of the Omni/Horizon as a VW Rabbit clone, and an inferior one. This car had a very checkered history quality wise, very inconsistent build quality from year to year. I actually liked the original Rabbit (not the Golf) with it’s square lines, and the fact that it was available as a 2 door. One of the big attractions of cars like the Vega, Pinto, and Gremlin to me was that they had a lot more style, and were available only as 2 door models. I might have had some interest in the Omni-Horizon had it been available as a 2 door, but as a 4 door, I saw it only as a washing machine on wheels. A transportation appliance.
It was available as a two door beginning in its second year, the TC3/O24, later Turismo/Charger.
It was available as a two door. Unlike the Golf/Rabbit, the two door Omnirizon looked dramatically different, and shared no body panels.
The TC3/024 was akin to the Scirocco…Exactly same engine, chassis etc…Different suspension tuning, much more agressive styling….and price
JYD obviously don’t think much/very deeply.
🙂
You are referring to the Charger/Rampage. I know about them. But as was said, they were completely different cars. The only car pictured is the 4 door box.
The Horizon was obviously a Golf/Rabbit clone but I’ve understood the “inferior quality” thing. 1st gen Rabbits were hardly “high quality”. I mean the interiors were cheap and noisy, the rest of the car was just bare bones car.
I’ve owned several 1st gen Rabbits and don’t get me wrong, I love the cars but they aren’t exactly “high quality”, they were a good car for a good price but so was the Omni.
My grandma actually replaced her 1st gen Rabbit with a Horizon so I spent a lot of time in both of them as a kid. Her Horizon was given to my uncle after she couldn’t drive anymore and he drove it for years after that.
Her Horizon definitely had higher build quality in the interior (aside from being whore house red) than her Rabbit or any Rabbit I’ve owned.
We had four of them in our family over a period of 20 years, including a blue Horizon which prompted my Dad’s repeated song stylings on “Beyond the Blue Horizon” (an old song that was later resurrected for a “car” movie, “Rain Man”). They were great little cars, nimble, peppy and very utilitarian with that hatch in back. My Mom always liked hers, and years after it was passed along to a younger family member, Dad presented her with the Christmas present of a 15 year old Horizon with the prerequisite big red bow on its grille.
Others experiences notwithstanding, a five speed, fi, ’88 Dodge Omni turned out to be my one great buy. Bought at 51K miles in 1993, over the next eight years, I drove it 253K miles, with nothing more than replacement of wear items and regular oil changes. It consistently returned 38mpg, was unstoppable in snow (western New York) and was even fun to drive with plenty of pick-up, nice handling and good ground clearance to go anywhere. As a pure transportation module, OmniHorizon couldn’t be beat but turned out to be a whole lot more for me.
Your experience sounds similar to the one we had with my Grandma’s Horizon, which I believe was an 87. That car (as I said in a earlier post) was being driven until just a few years ago as a DD. I’m not sure what the mileage was when it finally was retired but never gave my grandma or my uncle any serious trouble.
When my uncle finally killed it it still looked pretty decent, no rust that I can remember. He trashed the interior with cigarettes and there was trash everywhere but even with his neglect and it’s advanced age if it had been cleaned up it would have been decent.
I would love to have a GHLS but those seem to be either completely trashed or fairly expensive if you’re lucky enough to come across one.
A once common car as a Chrysler and Talbot in the UK.Most were just run into the ground and the British climate saw the rest off
In October of 1979 I purchased a “Baron Red” Horizion with light brown vinyl interior, factory A/C, 4 speed stick shift, am/fm radio, no power steering. The dealer discounted it heavily because nobody wanted a non automatic/no power steering model.
After a most quirky, unreliable, rust prone Fiat 128, the “little” Plymouth was a pleasant revelation!
As long as I didn’t try to be “Speed Racer” the 4 speed (slight overdrive on 4th gear) was a smooth, direct shifter. The gears seemed to be well matched to the VW based engine.
No power steering kept me on top of keeping the tires “aired up” to factory specs. A 3 PSI difference made a noticeable change in steering effort.
Other than the sometimes quixotic Holley carburetor (which was sometimes balky during the warm up cycle) the engine was reliable and peppy (well, for the time period, anyway.)
The A/C was always freezing cold, even with those vinyl seats, easily a match for the potent combo of Heat & Humidity that permeates New Orleans, LA for much of the year.
When the factory Goodyear tires wore out around 25K a set of Sears Roadhandler/Michelin X replacement tires did wonders for handling AND ride quality.
Looking back at a handicap of 24 years, I honestly don’t recall any one glaring fault with the car. The dark red, non -metallic enamel paint was smooth & shinny, the interior well screwed down and rattle free, the non-reclining seats adequate, the fold down back seat/hatch area swallowed a surprisingly large amount of junk.
When I moved on to a 2 door K-car several years later; the first person that looked at the Horizion bought it at my asking price. 70K later, it still had smooth & shinny paint, cold A/C and a rattle free interior.
It seems like Mopars are either very good…..or very bad. I was quite lucky with this one!
My mother was in the market in 1980 and tried like crazy to buy a Baron Red Omni, so I remember that color exactly. She had to order it but it never came. Truth be told, I think it came in several times but kept getting sold to people offering more money. Finally, the salesman called her and said that they could no longer honor the price due to a couple of price increases that had taken place. She told Glenbrook Dodge to forget it, and bought a two tone Horizon in this color and navy blue from Tomkinson Chry-Ply nearby.
Does anyone when remember when Consumer Reports almost dealt a Corvair-like death blow to them when they first appeared? They concocted some kind of wacky test where you turned the steering wheel at high speed and then let go; ‘bad’ oscillations resulted… Not that I ever held CR in esteem, this really made me question their supposed objectivity.
I remember that “handling” test and the resulting Not Acceptable rating quite well. I remember 7 or 8 year old me reading it and asking my father why anyone would do such a weird test that did not make sense.
I also recall that Chrysler’s answer to the unfavorable test was a heavier steering wheel that damped the oscillations – the four-spoke wheel in the third photo, I believe.
This dumbazz “Real World Stupid” “handling test” was the final straw in my decision to not renew my subscription to this magazine.
CR was great for vcr or washer/dryer ratings; they were lousy on cars for most of my life.
Yes, I remember that. They certainly proved that letting go of the steering wheel during maneuvers is a Bad Idea.
Their claim to objectivity is laudable, but even the most diligent researchers cannot avoid making arbitrary, subjective choices.
What made it even more infuriating was CR’s promotion of the Chevette over the Omni/Horizon. Having driven both extensively, I knew it was incredibly stupid advice. I never trusted CR again.
It was as though Consumer Reports had been TRYING to find a way to rate the first good American car as Not Acceptable.
That moronic report from Consumer Reports opened the eyes of many, who saw it as indicative of innate bias. Already Consumers Union were infamous among many automotive-minded for favoring low-horsepower cars in their preferred low-speed Eastern US driving environment, without regard for those in other areas, or those whose driving involved mountains (Eastern “mountains” are “HILLS”).
To CU, an automobile may have as well been an appliance.
A look at early Consumers Union publications was enlightening to me. There was no doubt that they were a politically extreme organization, intent on pursuing their own agenda and then recruiting the public with the name, “Consumers.”
Their decades-long infatuation with the Toyota Camry shows how far they have NOT moved from their view of the automobile as an appliance. Only twice in my memory have they ever admitted that a popular-priced American car could perform as well as the Camry: the 1993-1994 Dodge Intrepid/Chrysler Concorde/Eagle Vision, and more recently the current Chevrolet Impala (their current price-no-object darling the Tesla is not popular-priced, more like elitist).
Their decades-long infatuation with the Toyota Camry shows how far they have NOT moved from their view of the automobile as an appliance
Prior to the Camry CR’s end-all be-all was the original Beetle. Nobody needed such anti-consumer frills as adequate heat (especially on their home turf in NYS) and a spare tire that remained fully inflated even when the windshield was dirty.
I would SO LOVE to have one of these. This blue is my favorite color. I’d drive it to work and the grocery store, that kind of thing.
A dozen years ago my elderly neighbor died and left behind one of these, a late one with an airbag. I gently asked his widow if she would sell, but she had already promised it to a granddaughter, who promptly ran a red light in it. Next time I saw it, it was parked in the driveway, bashed in on the driver’s side.
There’s on that parks in front of a Qdoba near where I work. It looks pristine. I have been seriously tempted to leave a note under the windshield wiper, offering to buy.
Had an elderly neighbor down the street from me who had an early one – light metallic green with the woodgrain sides. Her husband died and the family took the L body car somewhere. An late 80s Civic wagon is still in the garage, not sure I have seen the widow drive it ever.
The first new car purchase I ever made all on my own was a charcoal gray 1984 Dodge Omni Charger with a 2.2 engine, automatic transmission, power steering/brakes, air conditioning, am/fm radio, and the rare, but sometimes seen, cruise control.
It was basically one problem right after another with this car. The a/c, when cycling on and off, made it feel like one was hitting the brakes (especially noticeable with the cruise engaged), the automatic transmission was problematic, and my car also suffered from a couple of exhaust leaks as well.
I pretty much found myself sitting every day I had off from work in the service department of Freeman Motors in Lumberton, NC. Enough was enough after about a year, and with the help of my dad, my next new car was a 1986 Buick Regal Limited from Folger Buick in Charlotte that was complete with sunroof, leather interior and special little console storage compartment, and the rarely seen cornering lights.
Now, that Regal is one car I wish I still had…
Mr. Bill
Hamlet, NC
My friends Dad owned one of these. He purchased it new, but I don’t recall what year it was. If was the Plymouth Horizon one. The exterior was cream with the fake wood paneling. It had a camel color interior and was loaded with all the extras. It was actually a very nice little car. My friend would borrow it from his dad on occasion, and a few of us would pile in. There was plenty of room inside and it was very comfortable. I was very impressed with the ride quality as well as how well that little car was made. His dad kept it for years and traded it in when it had over 250,000 miles on it. He never had any problems with that car and just did the regular maintenance.
There is a Horizon (or Omni, I’m not completely sure which) in exactly the same blue color regularly driven by an older woman in my town. I frequently see it in the parking lot of one of the main banks in town. Having an Omni/Horizon as her only car for 35+ years may account for why she is at the bank so often — the money that she saved on new cars, gas, etc. and the compounding interest would give her a lot of assets to manage.
Good point. It’s always nice to see the bank account start building up and up in the time after buying a car (around two years to get it back to normal for me)…the beginning stages are rough though!
I worked for a governmental agency during the ’80’s where my primary job was programmatic and financial audits of private non-profit contractors. Consequently, I did a lot of driving in government vehicles. Almost all were Dodges (low-bid strippers –and not in a good way) from Aspens through Spirits. I’ve probably driven a dozen or so Omnis. I hated them. From the weird controls to the slush-o-matic Torqueflites to the heavy feel of the steering. It didn’t help that they were very poorly maintained and usually smelled like tobacco and moldy gym socks. At least once, I forgot to do a walk-around the car before taking off and later noticed steel belts shining through the tires. Last one i drove ran out of oil, with no warning lights on and seized, on I-30, somewhere between The Town That Dreaded Sundown (Texarkana) and A Place Called Hope (Hope, AR).
I get that Rabbits of the era were unreliable rust buckets, but they were way more fun.
Amazing. I thought that was Brooklyn. I guess Portland is a big inspiration for NYC. I always thought of this as a high school math or music teacher’s car. I like the steering wheel.
Actually, this is in downtown Eugene.
Thanks, Paul.
My brother bought a new Omni when they first hit the market in 1978. It was the most horrible Metallic Pea Green color I have ever seen on a vehicle. It was pretty basic, with a manual box and steering, but had a reasonably well trimmed interior. Aside from the fact that it ate ballast resistors as fast as you could buy them, his was pretty decent. Oh, and the aluminum distributor that Chrysler decided didn’t need a bushing for the shaft (the VW distributor had one).
OmniRizon trivia; They were built in the former AMC Kenosha Assembly Plant in 1988 and I believe part of 1989.
The last Kenosha-built car was an Omni that rolled off the line in December 1988.
L-bodies also closed out another storied old factory, as the final ones were built at the original Jefferson Avenue plant in Detroit. It dated back to 1907 as a Chalmers factory.
The 4 speed Omni/Horizen, at least the earlier ones also used a Rabbit transmission, the internal gears, syncros and seals, shafts and bearings were VW. I had customers order parts through the VW dealership I worked at, they were not sold by Chrysler. I took a chance and ordered early 4 speed internal parts with the agreement if incorrect they would pay return charge. They had the old parts in hand and they were a perfect match up.
The Omnirizon was yet another, last-ditch, Chrysler Hail-Mary pass that scored and exemplifies the schizophrenic company at the time. Here you had the most modern, FWD car to come out of Detroit, from the same company that was still producing archaic, dinosaur, full-size sedans with underpinnings dating back to 1962 that no one seemed to be buying except fleets.
What is interesting about it is that it was all done prior to the arrival of Iacocca. So, the question becomes, “Would Chrysler have survived without Iacocca?”. The answer is, “Probably not” since Chrysler had a long history of shooting itself in the foot each and every time it had a winner.
That was probably the biggest thing Iacocca brought to the table at Chrysler. He not only had great instincts on the car market, but he knew how to run with a hit when he had one (at least in his prime).
Not to mention he wasn’t shy about cutting resources. It’s unlikely Riccardo or Cafiaro would have went so far as to sell off one of Chrysler’s biggest money makers, their defense contracts (like the tank division). But Iacocca had no qualms about doing it to keep the auto division operating.
One of my favorite examples is the Lebaron convertible. The story goes that the finance guys said it would be prohibitively expensive to produce (being out-sourced to ASC for the conversion). Iacocca was unwavering and had it done, anyway. The result was yet another hit.
I think the Chrysler Defense sale was one of the conditions of the loan guarantees.
I just noticed the Chevy Spork in the background. That’s a great juxtaposition between old and new.
During the ’80s, I occasionally gave thought to something different from my typical large older car, and the maintenance and gas consumption that went with it.
The Horizon was occasionally on my Horizon, mainly as cost effective, and not known as a horrible car.
The car was actually sort of interesting when it was introduced. You could buy several trims and options and at one point a choice of engines. Experiencing its best year, the combined Horizon and Omni sales were about 140k in 1979.
After a slight sales drop in 1980, sales quickly fell in half. Chrysler’s own K car was undoubtedly part of that – suddenly the market had a number of domestic 4 cyl cars that were reasonably thrifty, reliable for the times, and generally more spacious.
Chrysler proceeded to make this sort of a poverty special. The basic all black trim you see on the subject car, and just a handful of options – mainly automatic and AC. A lot of them were sold as Horizon America, or Omni America – perhaps eventually all were. I don’t believe that the cars ever wore an “America” tag, it was just a way of presenting a value package sold on price. Yes, there was the GLH, but it was a blip in sales, and lasted just three years.
Sales fell hard after 1986, but, the 2.2 engine and value packaging were the only real developments on the car after its introduction.
The car helped keep the doors open in the terrible car year that was 1980, but Chrysler, under Iacocca’s direction, quickly ignored its entry level car after it had better margin products that actually sold, setting the course for the future where it was once again dependent on large thirsty vehicles when yet another gas price spike occurred.
Combined, the 5-door sold over 188,000 in 1978, and over 183,000 in 1979. As late as 1988, production was still over 120,000 units. The later 2.2 “America” models were a fantastic value. All the kinks long worked out, better trimmed than anything comparable out of Japan, and infinitely better than the Chevette that was incredibly still being marketed as late as 1987.
I was trying to look up the America package when I came across the wiki for the Omni that appears to combine the sales figures for the Omni and Horizin five doors. There is no separate wiki for the Horizon. The wiki could be wrong, but that was my source.
I used the Consumer Guide “Encyclopedia of American Cars From 1930”. Some of the Wikipedia production numbers match up, but others appear to be combined Omni/O24-Charger production. “According to Wikipedia” – the three most trusted words in information.
The Wiki numbers are probably “calender year” vs. “model year” for the Encyclopedia. I’ve got the Standard Catalog which says the Horizon/Omni were only introduced in January ’78 and gives model year production as follows:
I got kinda carried away with this, sorry if it’s information overload… I was trying to be as thorough as possible! Plus I started getting interested in the weird sub-models I’d never heard of (“Euro-Sedan” ??) and figured I’d share them. Figures in bold represent all 2/4 door production for that model year (minus the L-body Rampage & Scamp – see note at bottom).
’78 Omni: 70,971
’78 Horizon: 95,817
’78 TOTAL: 166,788
’79 Omni: 71,556
’79 Omni 024: 46,781 (includes 15,369 ‘Sport’ & 4,156 ‘Rallye’)
’79 Horizon: 86,214
’79 Horizon TC3: 54,249 (includes 14,709 ‘Sport’ & 4,154 ‘Rallye’)
’79 TOTAL: 258,800
’80 Omni: 67,279
’80 Omni 024: 51,731 (includes 1,333 ‘De Tomaso’)
’80 Horizon: 85,751
’80 Horizon TC3: 59,527 (includes 1,701 ‘Turismo’)
’80 TOTAL: 264,288
’81 Omni: 41,056 (includes 557 ‘Euro-Sedan’)
’81 Omni 024: 35,983 (incl. 7,306 ‘Charger 2.2’ & 619 ‘De Tomaso’)
’81 Omni/Omni 024 Miser: 37,819 (2- and 4-door total)
’81 Horizon: 58,547*
’81 TC3: 36,312*
’81 Horizon/TC3 Miser: 44,922 (2- and 4-door total)
’81 Horizon Euro-Sedan/TC3 Turismo: 2,483 (*=incl. in base totals)
’81 TOTAL: 254,639
’82 Omni Custom: 14,466
’82 Omni 024 Custom: 11,287
’82 Omni Miser: 16,105
’82 Omni 024 Miser: 14,947
’82 Omni Euro-Sedan: 639
’82 Charger 2.2: 14,420
’82 Horizon Custom: 17,315
’82 Horizon Miser: 19,102
’82 Horizon Euro-Sedan: 779
’82 TC3 Custom: 12,889
’82 TC3 Miser: 18,359
’82 TC3 Turismo: 6,608 (includes 3,208 ‘Turismo 2.2’)
’82 TOTAL: 146,916
’83 Omni: 33,264
’83 Omni Custom: 9,290
’83 Charger: 22,535
’83 Charger 2.2: 10,448
’83 Shelby Charger: 8,251
’83 Horizon: 35,796
’83 Horizon Custom: 10,675
’83 Turismo: 22,527
’83 Turismo 2.2: 9,538
’83 TOTAL: 162,324
’84 Omni: 54,584 (includes 3,285 ‘GLH’)
’84 Omni SE: 13,486
’84 Charger: 34,763
’84 Charger 2.2: 11,949
’84 Shelby Charger: 7,552
’84 Horizon: 62,903
’84 Horizon SE: 15,661
’84 Turismo: 38,835 (includes 8,060 ‘Duster’)
’84 Turismo 2.2: 10,881
’84 TOTAL: 250,614
’85 Omni: 54,229
’85 Omni SE: 13,385
’85 Omni GLH/GLH Turbo: 6,513
’85 Charger: 38,203
’85 Charger 2.2: 10,645
’85 Shelby Charger: 7,709
’85 Horizon: 71,846
’85 Horizon SE: 16,165
’85 Turismo: 44,377 (includes 27,444 ‘Duster’)
’85 Turismo 2.2: 7,785
’85 TOTAL: 270,857
’86 Omni: 61,812
’86 Omni SE: 8,139
’86 Omni GLH/GLH Turbo: 3,629 (includes 500 ‘Shelby GLHS’)
’86 Charger: 38,172
’86 Charger 2.2: 4,814
’86 Shelby Charger: 7,669
’86 Horizon: 76,458
’86 Horizon SE: 8,050
’86 Turismo: 41,899 (includes 16,987 ‘Duster’)
’86 Turismo 2.2: 4,488
’86 TOTAL: 255,130
’87 Omni America: 66,907
’87 Charger: 24,275
’87 Shelby Charger: 2,011 (includes 1,000 ‘Charger GLHS’)
’87 Horizon: 79,449
’87 Turismo: 24,104
’87 TOTAL: 196,746
’88 Omni America: 59,887
’88 Horizon America: 61,715
’88 TOTAL: 121,602
’89 Omni America: 37,720
’89 Horizon America: 37,794
’89 TOTAL: 75,514
’90 Omni America: 16,531
’90 Horizon America: 16,034
’90 TOTAL: 32,565
I couldn’t find production figures for the Rampage and Scamp pickups… but according to Allpar.com the calender year sales break down like this:
’82 Rampage: 17,636
’83 Rampage: 8,033
’83 Scamp: 2,184
’83 Scamp GT: 1,380
’84 Rampage: 11,732
’82-’84 TOTAL (sales): 40,965
Which brings total Chrysler L-body production to roughly 2,497,783 over 12 model years and one single generation!
That is a lot of information Sean, and quite interesting. It appears that the introduction of the two door models probably had some impact on 5 door sales. The sales cliff in ’82 is interesting, I bought my first car in ’82 and the interest rate was unbelievably high. I would blame that, but than again Chrysler was recovering fast by ’82, so they had to be selling something. Overall, a pretty successful platform, but as you said, they did it with one generation, and the platform was definitely coasting during the final years.
I always thought the Duster two-door was a smart return to an old name, Horizon TC3 was pretty awful, Turismo was a bit better, but leaving the Turismo name out there along with Duster was a bit of a mix master.
I was still a fetus in 1982, but it was apparently a down year for new car sales all around… or all around Detroit, anyway. The book says that Dodge & Plymouth actually did pick up a small chunk of market share that year despite sales being down close to 10% from the previous season.
They were still selling these in 1990, at which point they seemed like dinosaurs from a long-past era.
I remember that year my dad cross-shopping a Horizon for $6200 against a stripped Tercel for $5800.
Around the same time the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon was sold (1978-90), Dodge and Chrysler/Plymouth dealers were also selling Mitsubishi built captive imports. They included the Dodge Colt, Challenger (1978-83) and D50 compact pickup. Plymouth dealers had the Champ (Colt from 1983-94), Sapporo and Arrow pickup. Both dealers sold the Conquest from 1984-89. Around 1987 when the Shadow/Sundance hit dealers, The Omni/Horizon became “America” models with a price cut to $5499. At that time, the Mitsubishi built Colt was a more modern design than the Omni/Horizon.
My mother bought an 80 Horizon. It was among the first small cars that could be trimmed out inside like a nice American car instead of the all-plastic look of most interiors of that class.
It was a pretty good car, but at 5 years old it started smelling of fuel all the time. It scared Mom and she traded it on a new Crown Vic. It was the only new Mopar purchased by either of my parents.
The early Horizon could be trimmed quite nice nicely. One of the first I saw was a two-tone dark red car with a lot of chrome – everywhere you see black on the subject car, and probably wheel lip mouldings and more. I’m pretty sure it even had the Mopar turn signal indicators on the front fenders. When I heard the cars were coming to the market, I thought oh-boy, another econo car. But, it was actually pretty striking decked out like a larger American car – the anti-Chevette for sure.
The later ones all looked like the subject car of this post, and that blue color seemed to be on most of them.
I knew a few people who had these. In fact, I was part owner of one myself.
A buddy of mine and I, after a couple of good seasons dirt track racing, decided we wanted to try asphalt racing. We had a good sponsor in the local Dodge dealer in the next township, and he made us a sweetheart deal on a 2.2 Omni with 5 speed transaxle. We bought a bunch of racing parts from Mopar Direct Connection and got to work. We were going to take a crack at SCCA Pro-Solo (parking lot racing). IIRC, we were all-in for about $9K, and got a season of racing (mostly learning and losing) in before I found out I was going to be a father.
At that point, the favorite wife said we should probably concentrate on other matters (i.e., nursery, etc.), so I sold my half of the enterprise to my buddy and thus ended my SCCA racing experience.
But, add a header, fat tires, roll bars and competition camber plates to an old L-body and those little buggers will stop, turn and go! There was some sort of short throw shifter we bought for the car which really took all of the slack out of the stick. While I’ve always been too tall and heavy (even when I was under 190lbs!) to be a racer, but I drove our race cars for ‘evaluation’, sometimes even on the road. Short of the heavily boosted Shelby-Dodges that I drove, little was quicker and better handling than that Omni. But, it never would survive potholed roads, with the same stance as a slammed Civic…
The Omni-rizons in their earlier iterations could be equipped nicely. A former co-worker had one that was rather decked out, with a really nice cloth interior with fake wood trim inserts. It was like a little Cordoba! But with the VW engine under the hood, it was not going to catch a ‘Doba, even the strangled mid-80’s one, anytime soon. But as a commuter pod, it was great.
The Omni/Horizon might not seem all that great until you consider just how awful most small, American cars have been. All things considered, I think it’s a toss-up between these and the Neon for our all-around best homegrown effort. I also thought the Saturn S-series was a very good car, but I know lots of people had problems with them… plus the entire Saturn “experiment” was a total fiasco.
Everything beyond that has either suffered some type of fatal flaw (Vega, Pinto), or just couldn’t really compete with the imports (early Escort, GM J-body). Detroit has rarely ever taken this segment seriously, and as such most of our “good” small cars have actually been Americanized re-makes like the Focus, the Mazda-based Escort, or the Chevy Cruze. It’s true that the Horizon also had a ton of Euro DNA, but I feel like there’s enough of a difference to call it distinctly American – especially after it gained Chrysler’s 2.2l four.
And these days, there’s no such thing as a truly American small car. That’s likely for the best, and perhaps what we should’ve done all along, but I do think it’s at least a little sad. In the “Favorite Turkey” QOTD, lots of CCers spoke of the virtues of the Vega and Pinto, and these cars certainly did have their virtues. Not unlike the Corvair before them, they were probably at their best when optioned-out as bargain basement “sports cars” and cared for by loving enthusiasts. There’s no denying that the early years for both were really good looking cars, too. But beyond that, and even beyond their many flaws and indifferent build quality, they just never made their mark on the world in the same way their European and Japanese counterparts did. They also weren’t overly practical, being limited to 2-door body styles.
I’ll always wish that we had “our” version of a Honda Accord or Volkswagen Golf to celebrate, too… but if the Horizon/Omni is the closest we got, then I think it’s still worth celebrating.
I actually saw one ( an Omni or Horizon) in that same color that looked equally as good as this one in the past 6 weeks in Columbus, Ohio. Oh, and it wasn’t parked somewhere, it was being driven.
In retrospect, Chrysler did a far better job on the Omnirizon than what (little) credit was given at the time. How many early Escort/Lynx do you still see running around? Sure-you had the usual L-body quirks (busted-exterior-door-handle-itis, Snap-O-Matic 2000 window cranks, and banana-shaped warped cylinder head after some genius decided it was a great idea to use mud puddle water for coolant). The seats were comfy, the 2.2 had some oomph (even hooked up to the automatic), and they were reasonably easy to work on. I had a 1990 Horizon as a beater years ago. Decent car-had a stick. The tbi 2.2 had enough power & torque to make it fun. I liked how they finally upgraded the dashboard & console for the final year in order to accommodate the airbag and extra padding on the lower part of the dashboard. I always liked the room in them-I never felt cramped. Now if I could find myself an Omni GLH turbo…
If you go back to 1978-80, the competition was the Pinto and the Chevette. They have a crude charm to them now, but the L body was light years ahead in terms of development. Small cars 35 years later have not changed the basic configuration.
i bought a used 1983 in 1985 w/35K+ on it and i drove it for an additional 5.5 years before i bought a 1990 honda civic wagon. the transmission sounded like it was making an odd noise so i sold it to my cousin at 126K and he drove it for another 2 years or so. loved that horizon. plenty of room for a 6’3″ guy, went well enough, got 38mpg highway w/the 5 speed mated to a 2.2l engine. unbelievable mileage for the time. would love to drive one again just to see how it stacks up to the memories. and room to spare. that’s why i wanted a wagon and still do. a hatch or a wagon.
I had numerous omni and horizons. Then bought dodge caliber. It reminds me of them. Lots of room. Built at the same plant to
I still see an appliance white version near my friends house. I commented on how that car is a true survivor(No rust, decent paint, all trim pieces intact) in the Mid-Atlantic. He stated that it has been owned by an elderly woman and driven regularly. I am sure it has the automatic and I am dying to see how many actual miles are on it.
Great pick, Paul! I always liked these cars – sensible design, roomy, breaking barriers for it’s time. I picked up a base ’81 Horizon at auction many years ago (’91) so I could have a four door car whenever family visited. White, tan vinyl, 4 speed. It was a great little car that well served it’s $800 purpose for 4 years.
I’ve always liked the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon. While its styling is based on a French design, I like the fact that it was built in North America. We need to build more American cars in North America. Why we keep relying on other countries to build our products is beyond me. It’s particularly true of our reliance on China and the Middle East to produce our products. It may cost a little bit more to buy, but our workers need to be supported, if not by the US Govt. certainly by the customers who buy their products.
I was not a real big fan of the Omni/Horizon back in the day but they are starting to look good to me(perhaps I am waxing nostalgic?) One thing I can say about Chrysler is they were not afraid to try new things in cars that were getting killed off in a year or so. Both the 1989 Chrysler Fifth Avenue and the 1990 Omni/Horizon got a driver’s side air bag the last year they were offered. While other small cars ether had no airbag and conventional driver seat belt and others were getting that crap auto belt, the Omni and Horizon were getting a drivers airbag. That shows a bit foresight in Chrysler’s thoughts of the future.
A quick perusal of ebaymotors reveals NO Omni or Horizon models for sale.
#WhoWuddaThunkIt !
I never really liked these, but that’s from the perspective of never having driven or ridden in one, and the majority of the ones I’ve seen being low-trim models (born in ’80 so by the time I started noticing cars like this, most of the nicely trimmed/two-tone/etc models were fading away. It’s not bad in side profile I guess, but from most angles it just looks cheap, and I always thought the grille design was somehow heavy-handed. Plus the big metal 5 MPH bumpers, the black powdercoated round side-view mirror that looks like a parts-store replacement, the fact that it seems none were ever offered with alloys and most didn’t even have hubcaps…not a bad car, just a homely one that was unapologetically sold on price.
Maybe if I’d driven or owned one my opinion would be different…
Also, how remarkable is it that these cars were sold with *no* major styling changes for 13 years?? Other than vans, the only car I can think of to pull that off was the Crown Vic, which managed for 14 (but had a substantial chassis refresh midway through).
Curbside classic effect! Saw this at the golf course parking lot today!
Dad had a brown Omni with the fake wood grain on the side. We called it Da Bomb’ni. Great for bombing around town, good on the highway, great mileage. It was loaded, all the trimmings.
I went to an auction of fleet cars, my pal bid on and won a police blue Omni, had been used as a parking enforcement car. He could park anywhere, never a ticket, I guess it retained it’s windshield number sticker ID’ing it as City fleet owned.
The brown one got me out from under Mt St. Helens’ ash cloud, I was in Yakima when she blew. Had to wait a day and drive along the Columbia River route. I missed an exam, but had a good excuse, how many volcanic eruptions delay your education?
I’m late to this, but I have to comment as this color Horizon was my first daily driver. I always thought it felt better than the Escorts and Cavaliers I encountered. Paul’s comments confirm that wasn’t just my Mopar chauvinism, for once.
Ours was an ’87. I’m pretty sure all Omnirizons from that year on were “America” packages. Trim options were minimal to keep the price down, but at least it had ac and a tape deck.
One last comment on the Horizon. It may have been a great transportation vehicle, but it (the Omni/Horizon, not the Charger/Turismo/Rampage) just had no style, and to me style is a big part of what a car is all about. The Pinto, Vega. Gremlin, and Pacer at least had style
Funny. I remember these cars as mostly junk. Or were they a joke?
[Alas, so were the majority of other cars of this era].
But I seem to be in the minority in this crowd.
In hindsight , may be I shoulda tried one of these as you could always find a year or to old one in top shape for $1,200 , I was still driving 1950’s vintage VW’s when these were new , I think I missed out .
We had quite a few in the city’s fleet , I rode in one or two but can’t recall ever driving one .
-Nate