Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe GLHS is number 341 out of a total of only 500 made. Let’s see if its price presently makes it a number 1 value
With 58% of you going Nice Price for yesterday’s 1988 Chrysler Conquest, I’d say that wide body’s still got it going on. Hopefully its eventual new owner will add to its originality by reinstating the cool factory sound system and triangle-centered, multi-button steering wheel.
Imports weren’t the only way Chrysler attacked tires and the competition in the ‘80s. They also leveraged their own domestic wares for some FWD mayhem and madness, and perhaps the maddest of all of those was the mating of the Dodge Omni compact hatch with the 2.2-litre turbo mill from the larger K-car. This of course was handled by that maestro of motivation, Carroll Shelby.
Shelby was a long-time bestie with Lee Iacocca and when the latter got booted from Ford and ended up chomping his cigar over at Chrysler, he brought Shelby along for the ride. Yay, nepotism!
Of course, back then Chrysler didn’t have much in the way of RWD sporty cars that had long been Shelby’s forte, so he focused on putting the most horsepower he could into the smallest, lightest-weight cars he could find on the Chrysler lot.
One of the earliest of those was the GLH, which stood for Goes Like Hell. These lifted all the suspension and engine mods that Shelby put on the Omni-based Charger and put them on the Omni itself, creating a domestic challenger to VW’s then king of the hot hatch, the GTI.
The GLHS is a modded GLH. The appended “S” stands for ’S-more, and indicates that it’s got a few additional tricks up its sleeve. The most notable of those was the turbocharged and intercooled 2.2-litre four, which melded external bits from Chrysler’s Turbo II engine with the internal parts from the Turbo I. Despite the lack of the Turbo II’s forged crank, fatter connecting rods and other mods, the Shelby-built engines have proven over the years to be reasonably stout.
This 1986 GLHS is claimed to have a low-milage rebuilt mill, so it might just put out the 175-bhp and 175 lb-ft of torque Shelby’s factory claimed when new. Those ponies make their way to the front wheels through an A525 five-speed manual, just like God and Carroll liked it.
The black over grey five door is claimed to be all original and comes with a clean title and all the splashy decals you would expect. The ad shows the Shelby Centurion wheels in both black and silver, the former apparently being a plasti-cote covering that can be removed at will. I’d do that ASAP—like, around the corner from the seller—seeing as the heat from the brakes could easily weld the material to the alloys. I also think the bright wheels look a lot better. YMMV.
Dodge Omni interiors were never high-end places to stay, but this one is about the cleanest I’ll bet you’ll find. You get roll-up windows, heater controls on the left-side of the steering wheel, and that wheel itself is dishier than an Olive Garden pasta bowl.
Shelby only built 500 GLHSs. And, as they say, he’s not going to be making any more, both the Omni and Shelby being dead an all. This looks to be a solid example of the breed, and we’ll now have to decide what that’s all worth. The asking price is $11,500, which is pretty hefty change for a 30-year old Omni, but perhaps not that much for something that carries the seed of the legendary Carroll Shelby.
What do you think about this GLHS and its $11,500 price? Does that seem like a deal? Or,for that much would you tell this GLHS to GTFO?
You decide!
Long Island Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Sean Lizon for the hookup!
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