When the Dodge Spirit R/T hit the scene, it hit hard. Yeah, it had roots that dated back to the original K-cars, but it also had a gem of an engine, a turbocharged 2.2L Turbo III four that had seen a bit of head work courtesy of Lotus that cranked out 224 horsepower, which put it in the neighborhood of what the Camaro Z28 was putting out that year. Half the cylinders, a fifth of the sex appeal, and only a couple of horsepower’s worth of difference…yeah, the Camaro is sexier by far, but if you really wanted to play head games, the little four-door Dodge could play them, and not just with the straight-line crowd, either. How could you do better for a fast four-door? Pay a boatload of cash for a rare BMW Alpina, or suck it up and live with the slower Taurus SHO.

As you’ll see in this video, the Spirit can be a wicked little devil if you know how to work the sorcery of the turbocharger. The original Garrett unit was replaced with an “ebay 3076” piece, which dynos out over 400 wheel horsepower. With the early 1990s self-stripping pant and a set of aftermarket wheels on the car, who would be the wiser? We’d be out talking all sorts of smack to every flat-brim dork we could find, hoping they would take the bait.

Fun fact: this powertrain combination was also put into the body we know as the LeBaron coupe. In Mexico, they were called the Chrysler Phantom R/T Turbo III and just like the Spirit R/T, they were known by the few colors they came in (black, white and red).