.

the car junkie daily magazine.

.

This 1985 Dodge Shelby Charger Turbo Might Be Wrong Wheel Drive, But Still A Bad Ass.


This 1985 Dodge Shelby Charger Turbo Might Be Wrong Wheel Drive, But Still A Bad Ass.

It’s weird that we have now featured two of these front drive Chargers in the past week but, while the first one was changed from front wheel drive to rear wheel drive, 17 year old Nathan Christian has left his 1985 Dodge Shelby Charger Turbo alone. It’s stupid clean, and the photos are great. Plus, anyone that knows these 2.2L Turbocharged bastards can haul ass. In fact, the Dodge Omni GLH had the same engine combo and the GLH stands for Goes Like Hell. Seriously, that’s why the GLH monicker. When the Dodge engineers started working on these things, they realized they were onto something. In fact, during the mid and late ’80s the front drive Dodge Turbo combos were embroiled in a fierce battle for dragstrip supremacy against Buick’s Grand National and Regal T-Types. Yeah, these suckers may be wrong wheel drive, but they can be stupid quick and we dig them.

(Words and Photos by Kaleb Kelley and Nathan Christian)

The 1980’s were a very, very weird time in the automotive world. The cars were less than impressive and rear-wheel drive cars were slowly easing out, along with true performance cars in general. In 1983, Carroll Shelby joined with Dodge to make something impressive out of the new Charger. When discussing the Shelby Charger, Carroll said, “The main parameters were to have as good a handling FWD car as there is anywhere, that it be unique in appearance, and that it perform adequately.” The L-body platform is already a good lightweight platform. Shelby capitalized on this and made the 1985 Dodge Shelby Charger Turbo a standout in the market in the 80’s.

Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 013Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 006Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 007Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 011
This specific car is owned by my friend and fellow photographer Nathan Christian of Kansas City. As a car enthusiast, you always dream of having a cool car to drive through high school. Nathan is only 17 and drives this unbelievably clean 1985 Shelby Charger. The funniest part about this car is how many people call it a Mustang. Nathan said that he is known at his high school as the kid with the red Mustang. I can’t imagine how many times people have talked about the clean fox body they saw in the parking lot. I’ve posted it on my Instagram page multiple times and so many people commented about the Mustang or were confused as to what a Shelby Charger was.

Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 002
The Dodge Shelby Charger Turbo isn’t just a pretty little body kit and some stripes. Shelby really took his time to make this stand out. It was released in mid-1983 with the slightly hopped-up version of the 2.2L 4-cylinder in the base charger. It has slightly higher compression, 9.6:1, a hotter camshaft, slightly retarded timing for top end performance, and a few more tweaks. It also stayed had some suspension tweaks like quick-ratio power steering, lightweight aluminum wheels, vented front discs, and more. It was pretty unique and a cool package, but in 1985 Shelby really turned it up.

Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 009Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 001
As seen in this advertisement, Shelby turned up the Shelby’s power by 32%. In ’83 and ’84, the Shelby only had 107 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque, but in 1985 everything changed. Shelby added Bosch multi-point fuel injection and a Garreti AiResearch T3 turbocharger pushing 8 PSI. This upped the little 2.2 4-banger up to 147 horsepower and 168 pound-feet of torque. This allowed the car to manage a 0-60 time of 7.8 seconds and a top speed of 124 mph! In the mid-80’s this was a respectable time for any car. It’s far from anything that we would consider a performance car nowadays, but nearly 30 years later, technology has come a long way, and this was one of the first successful cars really using turbochargers in the Big 3.

Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 015
The Charger wasn’t just left with some boost for the straight line. In the front, it has MacPherson struts in the front with coil springs that are shorter and 30% stiffer than the base Charger. For the rear, the Shelby version still uses the same “semi-independent suspension” as the base Charger, but it has shorter coil springs that are 15% stiffer. Unfortunately all of the anti-roll bars and the rest of the suspension are the same, but they are plenty to help the Charger around the corners.
The aesthetic differences were one thing that really helped the look of the car. It has a big front air dam, side skirts, rear spoiler, and more to give it the aggressive look to back up the performance. I’m a big fan of the look that Nathan has going on his Charger. Nathan’s car had the Shelby body kit and striping all from the dealership in St. Joseph, Missouri. The car is still in Missouri, still has original paint and interior, and has no rust. It only has 56,036 miles on it and is a pristine example of a well-preserved car.

Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 014 Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 012 Shelby Charger Feature BangShift.com 003

 

I know it’s completely original and you don’t want to ruin that, but I think it would look sweet just a little lower with a bigger turbo and a killer waste gate noise just to keep people guessing. Maybe I just like everything unique and fast. After talking to Nathan, I think building a Dodge Rampage or Plymouth Scamp pickup would be super cool with a built 2.2 turbo.
A lot of people don’t really appreciate what his car is. Some people think this was one of Shelby’s flops and that he should’ve stuck to Mustangs, but I don’t think so. I think that the Charger is one cool, fun-to-drive car. Sure it isn’t incredibly fast, but it is really, really cool in my opinion. What else do high-schoolers want to drive? It’s turbocharged, fun-to-drive, economical, and straight-up unique. I have to give big props to Nathan and his awesome Shelby Charger.

Go check out his photography page on Facebook or his Instagram account!
Facebook.com/NathanChristianPhotography
Instagram.com/Speedenthusiasts


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

15 thoughts on “This 1985 Dodge Shelby Charger Turbo Might Be Wrong Wheel Drive, But Still A Bad Ass.

  1. john

    My GLH Omni with only 110 advertised hp was a little rocket. A 911 Porsche tried to stay with me around the old Rt 35,18 and 70 traffic circle here in “Jersey”. The last I saw of him he was climbing the curb when he lifted and the car became “pendulum”. The “curse” of badly driven Porsches

    1. ColoradoKid

      Most definitely a very badly driven Porsche which in reality should of had your GLH for lunch . Now had it been a GLHS ? That .. would of been a horse of a different color .. and one that would of blown by the Porsche no matter how well it was driven

      FYI ; Being a former Joisey boy … I know the area well .

  2. Matt Cramer

    This may be the best preserved L-body Charger still on the street. Never seen one that clean since they were new.

  3. ANGRYJOE

    Got an old co-worker that retired here in town that has one, a silver and blue with dark blue interior…has 17K on the clock…would make you weep tears of joy…sadly it sits on jack stands under cover in his garage….

  4. ColoradoKid

    The only thing that saved this and the GLH from being the abject POS that their siblings were was in fact Shelby’s involvement . Which yeah … then took a literal automotive turd and turned it into one serious bad a**ed little beast

    Proof that you can make a silk purse out of a sows ear … if you know what you’re doing … which Shelby did

  5. Gary Smrtic

    I bought the Plymouth version, a TC3 (Total Coefficient, or drag co efficient) in ’82, shortly before the turbos came out. Kinda wish I’d have waited. But my TC3 Turisimo was quick. A buddy had a 5.0 Cobra 2 Mustang, and I’d regularly beat it. So when the turbo Shelby Chargers came out, he got one. I was glad to make a convert!

  6. BeaverMartin

    These cars are much maligned (as all vehicles made in the 80s should be) but I actually enjoyed mine (82 Rampage) it was reliable, got decent millage and I thought it looked cool. This example is amazing and I’m glad it was preserved.

  7. WhatsUP

    At the time I was in college, I was driving a Chevy Citation with the Iron Duke 4-banger AND an automatic. Anyway, I was home for the weekend with some friends at a party and a friend of some good friends of mine was too drunk to drive home. I got the call to be the DD, as neither one of the other two,…… knew how to drive a manual tranny car. The car? A Shelby Daytona just like this one,………….but Blue/Silver color. I just about wet myself when the turbo kicked in just before the up-shift to 3rd.

    Surprisingly, I ended up taking the LONG way home that night. For the period, (and compared to the car I was usually driving), I’d found heaven in a Chrysler.

  8. awyseguy

    Mine is an ’86, Not clean enough to restore, but I hope when time & finances permit to be able to take it up to around 350HP.. I’ve seen then close with well over 400HP. They have serious beast power potential, incredibly tight cornering, and great stopping power. Way ahead of their time!

  9. sbg

    Neat first car – I used to flip cars, and that car had the distinction of being the only one returned because the owner thought it was too slow… but it was an Auto so he had a point.

  10. Kevin I

    My first car IS a 1985 Shelby Charger. I say IS because I still own it. I took it completely apart for a “restoration” back in 2003/2004. I flipped the factory colors and built a mean intercooled 2.2 liter for it. It ran 12.536 @ 112 mph on 16 psi. It is a different animal on 20 + psi, but I never have gotten back to the track. Marriage and kids have gotten in the way of getting serious with the car.
    http://youtu.be/n5dHPGBaehc?list=UUFsZ1ckC3I1v5P3SqS9Dulg

  11. Robert

    I had a black with silver striped 85 with a 5 speed. I loved that car. Probably the most comfortable seating I have had too. Handled great too, but I think I killed the Turbo on my test drive.. Had a heck of a nice boost, then a small bang, then not much boost after that. Still great fun for several years. I always wanted to make a shelby version of a Rampage, with the stripes, body parts, etc.
    I still keep my eyes out for one now to restore.

  12. Jim Anderson

    Great car and article. I also have an 85 Shelby Charger black with silver. I ordered it new in 85 with every available option. It has the ultimate sound stereo, sun-shade-sound discount package, ac, light package, and rear defroster. The total sticker price was $11,096. It is an awesome car and I love it. However, I am one of those people that don’t drive it much. It only has 4800 miles on it.It is all original and in perfect shape. Great to see this article and all of the responses on these fantastic cars.

Comments are closed.