Yes, we used to be able to go camping with our kids back in the seventies without needing a giant SUV or double cab pickup (we did it in a Peugeot 404 wagon), but this is pretty ambitious: three kids, all the camping gear in the back, and a canoe on top? In an Omni with Di-Noc wood side trim? Ok!
Or maybe Mom was just sending them off: “Have fun…!”
Who’s the kid sitting with the pope hat at the back of the car? Maybe I should look at the picture on a larger screen than my phone has.
I believe that is a Native American headdress, not the papal “hat”. 🙂
After grooming North American buyers for decades to equate, chrome and faux wood grain with luxury, Chrysler did a tasteful job of ‘Americanizing’ these. Though, I thought the application of the chrome molding on the ‘B’ pillar was too much. A look that was popular in the late 1960s. Dated and overdone, by the late 70s.
If they were going to have a woodie version, using pinstriping as a simpler decorative surround was a wise direction to go. Rather, than the dated light wood surround, as seen on the Aspen. And Ford continued to use on the 1981 Escort/Lynx wagons, for example. Ford obviously wanted a traditional ‘Country Squire’ and/or ‘Villager’ look for the wagons. But it appeared old-fashioned in ’81, for a modern subcompact car. No contrasting wood surround would have looked more modern, and cleaner IMO. With less association with the Pinto ‘Squire’ wagon. The Horizon ‘Woodie’ looks more modern, and less clumsy/dumpy, than the Escort version.
At the time, I liked how Chrysler used a very similar steel wheel design for these, as their popular Rallye wheels.
The cheap-looking dash and steering wheel designs, were my early sore points on the L-Bodies. Never suitably corrected.
The light wood surround on the Escort/Lynx was like a homage to the ’72 Torino wagon (for example). A dated early 70s look. Not a look for an ’80s small car. Didn’t like it as a teen then.
I don’t have a problem with the framing – Chrysler ended up doing the same thing on the prefacelift Aries/Reliant wagons.
The issue I have with the Escort treatment is how less would be more, if the lower extent of the woodgrain within the wheelbase was kept to the level of where it lands on the overhangs – again, think of how Mopar did it, both on the Horizon seen here and on the Aries/Reliant (leaving aside the K- car T&C) and early T115 minivans.
I agree. I found it looked out of place on a subcompact economy car. Especially, when Ford was trying to put the Pinto behind them. Ford’s treatment was heavy-handed. In many ways the ’78 Dodge Colt wagon, as an example on a small car, looked cleaner and more modern than Ford’s Escort treatment.
On both the K-Cars and Chrysler minivans, the wood treatment was a straight line top and bottom, from front to back. A cleaner look.
IMO, Escort would have looked better following Chrysler’s treatment. No surround, even better.
Quick Photoshop. Ford going right down to the rocker panels with the faux wood, was a design mistake IMO. Gave them a early 1970s look. Wrong look, for their brand new world car for the ’80s.
Big improvement!
It’s interesting that the Lynx, too, had the light framing while the Fox and Panther Merc wagons had chrome filled with black paint. Previously the light woodtone framing was the “Ford Division” look within Fomoco but I expect the woodgrain take rate was steadily falling and the Taurus/Sable wouldn’t have the option at all.
I suspect cost-cutting, for the subcompacts sharing their woodgrain surround treatments.
I liked the later L-body dash, especially with full gauges. Not a fan of the kinda-cheap 4-spoke “sport” wheel. (Which, from experience, was not very durable.)
I always got a chuckle out of those. Proof that when Chrysler was trying to think in the present/future, they just couldn’t let go of the past.
Cone shaped hat, off in the edge of the picture away from everyone else, I believe that kid is wearing a dunce cap. Albiet a multicolor disco era dunce cap, probably ostracized from the family for making fun of Dad’s denim/turtleneck outfits and pointing out the boat has never actually touched water and Dad just wants to project an active lifestyle driving to work with it constantly attached.
Some things never change!
Lol I could be wrong, but I think it looks like a kid’s toy ‘war bonnet’. With feathers directed straight-up. Bizarre imagery seemed routine in late ’70s car ads.
So very (late) 70s. I particularly like Dad’s jacket that is trying hard to emulate the leisure suits that I’ll just bet he wears on non-camping days. Plus, the harvest gold color of the car (as Chrysler product of the day, how could it possibly be any other color???) and the green of the canoe….you just know what color their kitchen appliances are. (you get 2 guesses)
I do recall seeing these di-noc Omnirisons sometimes on the road. They were pretty ridiculous back then. Maybe a little less so now just for the nostalgia factor.
I thought the ‘Woodie’ versions looked tame, compared to the version sold with the large ‘Omni’ lower body decals. Particularly, the version with orange paint. Though blue decals on white, wasn’t much better.
I recall seeing some early Horizons/Omnis, with this full wheel cover design. Like the Rabbits with similar full wheel covers, an unfortunate look. Too Detroit.
Yeah I have to agree, I think the visceral memories of their parents woodgrained station wagons makes the appliqué cheesier than it is, the 70s and early 80s had much gaudier decals applied on the regular, woodgrain is practically neutral in comparison to this.
Another active lifestyle owner in this press picture as well!
In 1978 only, there was also a vinyl top option which was so vanishingly rare it was shown only as an illustration in the brochures and a picture of mostly Aspen-Volare wagons at a dealer with just a glimpse of the C pillar of one on the side at a Canadian dealership on Flickr (which I stupidly didn’t favorite and haven’t been able to find since) is the only evidence I’ve ever found that the option ever reached full production.
Time for another unicorn hunt? In any case, here’s what to look for.
(edit:seems the upload didn’t take so here’s a web link)
https://s38.wheelsage.org/picture/d/dodge/omni/dodge_omni_65.jpeg
That is obscene! Hard to believe Chrysler would even contemplate this. Seems they were trying everything to ensure the Omni-Horizon were as palatable to as many North Americans as possible, to assure their success.
I’m not sure if they had customers in mind at all, but dealers clamoring for all the options that had been profit centers for years.
At a guess I suppose the cars with vinyl tops built before the public launch proved to be duds so the option was quickly withdrawn.
8 years later, when dunce cap/Papal-hat-equipped kid shows up to take his driver’s license test in dad’s remarkably-still-running Omni (with canoe still attached to the roof)……
In the late 1970s, my parents had split up and I was living with my father in Montreal while my brother and sister stayed with my mother in Vancouver (long story). I came back for most of the summer, joined one year by a high school friend also from Montreal.
My mother (recently single, mental health nurse) decided to take us camping in the BC Interior. So we loaded up her brown 1977 Honda Civic wagon, and headed off – one adult, three teenagers, and my younger sister. We had rented a canoe which went on the roof as shown on the Omni, and this was very helpful for packing – the tent went directly on the roof while the canoe was filled with sleeping bags and other relatively lightweight items before it was flipped upside down and stowed on the rack. The rest of the car was intensively packed, but everything fit eventually.
I’m a member a 4 wheel drive club and when we have a two day event away from Georgia, most participants arrive in a long long long RV with their Jeeps in tow, on a long long trailer. And the guys to say: “when we were young, we did not even bring a tent – we used to sleep under the Jeeps”. It says it all.
Yikes. I hope the drivers remember to look underneath the Jeep before driving away…
The only thing uglier than the Di-Noc Omni is that god-awful chicken feather headdress wearer. Sheesh!
The ‘dad’ seems of smaller stature than most male models in car ads. Perhaps Chrysler was trying to make their subcompacts look less small, to traditional larger car buyers.
Pack up the Omni and watch the tires flatten!
Am I correct in remembering those early Omnirizons had only 2 lap belts in the rear seat, like so many other subcompact cars at the time? Such was the case with my ’75 and ’79 VW Rabbits.
I’m not sure about the earliest ones but my ’81 Omni Miser and my mom’s ’86 Horizon both had 3. Almost everything was lap-belts-only in back until about 1990, and for a few years after that family minivans and SUVs still didn’t have rear shoulder belts (or in some cases front headrests) since they were “light trucks” and it was the waning days of the old “safety doesn’t sell” mindset in the boardrooms of Detroit so if the government didn’t mandate it, you couldn’t have it.
IIRC, I believe 1981 was the first model year when bench seats (front or rear) had to have 3 belts (lap belts only in the rear and center front). If not, then some kind of hard protrusion, like trays or cupholders if not a console, had to be installed in the center position, making it more difficult to sit there.
You are correct about rear outboard shoulder belts being mandated in cars for 1990 and in light trucks for 1992. In the latter case, vans with aisles on the right side were exempt from shoulder belt installation, which is why initially some vans had the shoulder belts only on the left (driver) side of any rear seats.
“Sorry, kiddies. If I’d had the sense to snag a rich guy instead of this cheap Bert Convy knockoff, we could have bought a car that was bigger than our canoe.”
The whole idea was to break the mindset of “small = poverty spec”.
No dog dish hub caps; no cardboard door cards or head liners like a Studebaker Scotsman; no buck board suspension. I’m sure quality was a bit shaky in the first few years, but that worked itself out and 5 yr 50k mile programs brought in the skeptical.
An original woody version in good condition would bring a premium.
Looking at this picture it appears that the little poop in the Pope hat had seconds and thirds when they cooked beans over the open fire at the campsite last night. “Stay over there ya smelly little bugger.”
Hard to tell on my phone, but if that’s a girl in the camo hat, her name could be Gretchen and she will grow up to run the state. By the looks of mom anyway.
If that canoe is not any longer than the car (163″) it’s not going to accomodate a family of 5! In the picture, it looks short enough to be a one-person canoe!
Who will be the one to bust out the hatchback window by opening the hatch with the canoe still on the roof?
My Dad had a new ’78 Chevrolet Caprice Classic wagon which had a hitch to pull a ’20 Viking pop-top camper he’d gotten in ’73. But, it was near to the end of our stint of “regular” camping trips (probably due mostly to me) , though I was still living at home and undergraduate at school, I’d move out in 2 more years and got a job 4 hours away. My younger sisters weren’t much into camping, they’d go but it wasn’t their thing.
What really stopped it was when my Dad moved from Vermont to Texas in ’82…Yes, we’re fair weather (really fair temperature) campers, and much of the year it’s very hot in Texas. I followed them out a year later, they’d sold the Viking camper, and a few years later the Caprice Classic was in an accident and my Dad traded it (for the worst car he was ever to own, an ’84 Pontiac Sunbird). I won’t say that stopped my camping, but greatly diminished the frequency, mostly during cycling events out of town in shoulder season (which is kind of Oct 31 to maybe April) where it is cool enough to sleep at night in a tent. I know my Dad could have added A/C to even a pop-top to keep it cooler, but that seemed a contradiction almost, the Viking Camper was as plush as it got for us for camping.
The Omni reminds me a bit of a trip we made across the state in ’79…I was working a summer job, but one weekend I met my parents and sisters camping on the NH border.
I had a Datsun 710 which had the old raingutters you could add brackets and a couple of 2×4’s and make a roof rack (hardly aerodynamic, but then the 710 wasn’t a barn burner) and put my Browning Aerocraft Canoe on top drove to meet them for the weekend. Probably my last camping trip with my Dad….he really loved that camper, but without me there to help him set it up, it wasn’t the same anymore (for either of us).