While Ford and General Motors both continued to build V8 pony cars in the 1980s as attainable sports cars, Chrysler instead tried to turn their econoboxes into their performance offerings. They did this by slapping turbochargers on their 2.2-liter engine and while a number of Turbo Chryslers enjoy some repute, the most famous is likely the Dodge Omni GLH. The “GLH” of course stands for “Go Like Hell” and with the little economy car’s light 2,200-pound weight, the boosted 146-horsepower engine put it close to the pony car ballpark in terms of acceleration while capable of outhandling the big boys. And this one for sale just north of Detroit is in absolutely incredible condition.
Most of the time, you see a GLH in black so this red-over-red one is relatively rare. Even more rare is one with the interior in such good shape. The ‘80s fabric seats hardly look like they’ve been sat on and even the door cards look like they’re factory-fresh.
The chin spoiler and the side skirts are even in great condition and unlike the usual red lettering on black paint, the red lettering and stripe on the black skirts look great, as do the 15-inch “pizza” style wheels.
Under the hood, the engine looks about as clean as a 30-year-old four-cylinder engine does. The seller claims to have replaced or upgraded tons of parts on the car. With everything in working order—which the seller claims is the case—it should get to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds while running the quarter-mile in the high 15s. That doesn’t sound particularly impressive compared with modern running gear, but coming out of the modern Automotive Dark Ages (aka the Malaise Era), those were some huge numbers from an econobox.
No, it’s not one of the quicker and more rare Shelby GLH-S (Goes Like Hell Some more), but this looks like a particularly well-preserved example. The $7,500 asking price seems about ballpark for one of the cleanest GLH’s you’ll see. I had the opportunity to buy a running GLH—albeit much more of a running parts bin than this one—for $1,200 a few years ago and rue the day I passed on it. I don’t have the money sitting around for this one, but a GLH is on my short list and it should be on yours, too.
I’ll never forget the Car & Driver article about the Turbo Buick Grand National, and it may have been a comparrison story versus the Firebird and Camaro or some such nonsense. But in one part of the story, while extolling the virtues of how fast the GN was, it slipped in, “who cares if the guy in the GLH turbo is right along side your door”? I laughed my ass off!
Owned a GLH non turbo…was a hoot to drive. A 911 at the old Lauralton Circle(NJ) won’t forget me. 🙂 🙂
In the UK we had a Lotus engined version of the similar Chrysler Sunbeam. In fact I think we even had Omnis called Talbot Horizons which were ugly and slow and they fortunately rusted away after a few miles thus sparing their owners from dying of boredom…..
bought this identical car new in 1985. Totally badass back in the day.
this one is so tempting considering its close by.
Pretty awful car, but I can’t resist a relic in such good condition either!
I knew a guy that had one in the early 90s. Was already beginning to rot but it was really quick for those days. Cheap and fast fun commuter,great idea someone should go with it.
I owned a near identical red on red one that I bought brand new in 1984 (first year) after reading a glowing review in Autoweek, IIRC they referred to it as a poor man’s GTI. No turbo, front air dam or rocker skirts, 5 speed only that first year. I added them a year later but had the air dam & skirts painted the same color red. Wheels were ‘swiss cheese (vs the pizza style) and were stolen within the first year of ownership. It was a really fun car, great commuter junk.. Wish I could have kept her.
Thanks for the kind words. The GLH really is beautiful and regretfully it is for sale… just too many irons in the fire
Early Horizons used the VW motor, big trick was to use the better (turbo crank & rods in your VW motor
My question is did or has the author ever driven one of these??
My guess is no… as the comment of “capable of outhandling the big boys”.
If you ever driven a mopar 2.2. turbo you know of the wrist breaking torque steer, the sloppy as all get out shifter. Yes they did Go like HELL, we had many of these on the sales floor when new.. but you needed arms of a body builder to keep the wheel from ripping from your hand..
Many would be buyers changed their mind after a test drive and planting the go pedal, not because it Went like hell, but because they had sprang wrist.
Bought one of these new black on black (1985) in December of 1984 as a company car for $8800. No AC, crank windows, tape player. Drove it non stop for 7 years, over 160,000 miles and multiple speeding tickets.. Never did the turbo, but replaced the head gasket twice and replaced/rebuilt the transmission twice. And the rod type shifter linkage was junk (later turbo cars got cable shifters and bigger head bolts). Never used any oil what so ever. Was easily the quickest (0 to 50+) day to day car I have ever driven for an extended period. Really fun to mess with Firebirds and Camaros of the same vintage. Fox body 5.0 Mustangs were a problem. Only had an 85 mph speedo and it would bounce the needle @ 6 o’clock easily. Late one night the guy I worked with who had an 1987 Shadow w/ a turbo were racing home up the highway. The outside air temp was single digits so the turbo’s were really happy (no intercooler) plus mine had the ‘off-road’ engine ECM and would boost @ 10 psi full time. Passed him at an indicated 110+ mph (his car) and was pulling away easy, could have really put a good distance between us, but ran out of road. Not bad for a throw away shoe box with the air resistance of a brick.