There are at least two things that make this 1981 Dodge Mirada “Rare” as the ad claims, but we’ll go into those in a few. Until then, lets talk about how amazingly straight this sucker is! And the fact that both of the little tiny door dings can probably be fixed with one of those hot glue gun Paintless Dent Removal at home kits that they sell at 2am on tv. And lets not forget it is V8 powered! A throbbing 318 no less. I’m sure the horsepower rating on this one started with a 1. (So I had to look it up after writing that sentence. Thank you Google and Wikipedia. It turns out you could get these with a 360 in 1980, but not 1981 or later, which McTaggart undoubtedly knows, and that 360 made a whopping 185 hp and 275 lb-ft of torque. That 318 under the hood made 130 hp and 230 lb-ft.) The 3380 lb curb weight is less that I would have thought, but still too heavy to make anything with just 100 and something horsepower fun. If the 318 and 904 trans could get the right rear tire spinning though, we’re fairly certain it would smoke for days thanks to some 2 something gears out back.
This car was Dodge’s attempt at competing with the GM G-Body cars and we use the word attempt because they sold less than 55,000 of them over 4 years which means they actually are pretty rare. Which leads me back to my claim that at least two things make it rare.
First, the fact that they made hardly any and there is no way many of them are still running, let alone in this kind of condition.
And second, since this one is located in Pahrump Nevada, which is a desert community known for old people, hookers, one cool race track, a couple wineries, and a shooting range. I figure there is a better chance of an old hooker actually sitting in this Mirada than perhaps any other Mirada on earth. And that alone makes this one pretty rare.
Here is all the info from the ad. CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE ORIGINAL AD
This is a very straight bodied, good running and driving car with bucket seats, console with a slap stick style shifter, sports steering wheel. The paint is still presentable except for faded pinstripes. Just 2 door dings that are pictured. The A/C is cold and the cruise control works too. A survivor.
318 (5.2) V8 with 123K miles.
NO TEXTS … I don’t text.
Email or call 702-248-8807
I had one of these in black back when they were new. This one would look nice with the factory aluminium wheels. A modern Hemi under the hood would be nice too!
LEAVE IT! Suction out the dents, rub it out, and… yeah, the wheels. A modern intake and a four barrel and ROCK IT!
Hookers, you say…?