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more about #1981 more comments → Turboner: The turbo models are actually pretty quick. I know a guy who has a turbo Horizon, Shelby CSX, AND an Omni GLHS. The CSX is going to represent at th... more » Comrade Teargaskov: Ah my first car. Bought it from my Grandma for $300 and thrashed the hell out of it before totaling it. Sad. I once cracked the oil pan while off-ro... more » WalterSobchak: It's funny. I saw two Reliants yesterday in Danbury, CT, and I nearly shit myself. How did they not rust away? more » SmaartAasSaabr: 920$ rebate, 7% off They were asking over 13 000$ for this POS?! In 1981 malaise dollars? Why not buy a Corvette?! more » Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet: Amazing that the Omni and Horizon saved Chrysler and made the foundation for their offerings for close to twenty years. Those first O/Hs were the def... more » Novaload: Marketing Omni: Omni. It's better than a Chevette. more » dmoon: The page with the Omnis credits a guy named Rustin for the photos. Really? Perfect. more » CJinSD: My first car was a '79 Horizon, at least until my parents took it back after about 2 weeks. It really didn't seem much worse than even the best of per... more » Paul Y. don't drive too fast.: My dad had an 85 Horizon, bought new, until 1997 (when it had just rolled over to 100K). Despite it's assortment of wacky problems (more than one rear... more » brandegee: Does this mean the Escort will soon get a Peace Prize? more » Alfisted: If this was the horizon you saw in 1981, you needed to raise your sights. more » that ain't the way to have fun, son: A good friend of my mother had an Omni of about this vintage...what a heap-O-shit. My mom had an '82 LeBaron, FWIW, and it wasn't much better, though... more » HammSammich: "Guess that makes Horizon the world beater." Well, they were half right . more » 87CapriceEstate: Mom's 76 gasser Rabbit rusted to death in about 10 years. Bright yellow and was quite good looking. more » IN THE FACE!: I had a friend a few years ago that had one of these with an SVO conversion on it. Whole 9-yards too, dual tank, heater coil in the oil tank, combo fi... more » -
#classicadwatch
All-American 1981 Plymouth Horizon Stomps On "World Car" Ford Escort
Yes, what could be more American than a Volkswagen-engined Plymouth based on a Simca design? Actually, big spenders could get the '81 Horizon with Chrysler's new 2.2 engine, which upped the American-ness to some extent. More » -
#downonthestreet
1981 Volkswagen Rabbit LS Diesel
Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. How much power does a car really need? More » -
#downonthestreet
1981 Toyota Corolla Tercel Coupe
Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Our last DOTS Toyota was all the way back in January. More » -
#projectcarhell
PCH, Southern Grab Bag Edition: Fiat-Lancia-Fiat Combo or L'Automobile Ventura Plus VW Fastback?
Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! One hell project just isn't enough! More » -
#projectcarhellposterchild
Evil Clint Gets A Few Loose Bolts, Buys DeLorean And Honda Z600 For Personal Hell Garage
When you're 21 years old and you've already owned a Yugo, a Fiat Spider, and numerous air-cooled Volkswagens, what's the next logical step? Hey, those cars were PCH gateway drugs!
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#classicadwatch
The Jalopnik Top 10 Vintage Ford Mustang TV Commercials
More than any car we've seen, the Mustang has always been marketed as a product that can transform its owner's entire life. A Mustang buyer becomes somebody different, according to Ford.
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#classicadwatch
Smooth And Fast As A Bullet Train: The 1981 Renault Le Car
Was the Renault Le Car (aka Renault 5) really the best-selling front-wheel-drive car in the world in 1981? From the country that brought us the bullet train, here comes the Le Car! -
#24hoursoflemons
Why All That Expensive Safety Equipment Is Required At The 24 Hours Of LeMons: Audi Versus Wall
Though the cars themselves must cost less than $500, the cost of the required safety equipment pushes the build cost of a typical LeMons car well above two grand. That stuff is worth every penny!
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#downonthestreet
1981 Datsun 810, aka 1981 Nissan Maxima
Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Today we've got Exhibit A in the Datsun/Nissan Rebranding Story.
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#projectcarhell
PCH, Get Rich In The Limo Business Edition: Nun-Stretched Dart Wagon or Monster Cadillac?
Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! You want an insane project limo, right? Sure you do! -
#projectcarhell
PCH, Index Of Effluency Edition: MGB-GT or Fiat X1/9?
Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Last time we simultaneously crushed and seared our fingers in the red-hot vise of the Hell Garage, the Shelby-ized Dodge Omni beat hell out of the Shelby-ized Dodge Shadow in the poll. Today, with the New England 24 Hours of LeMons race coming up in just a few days, we're thinking about the kind of car it takes to win the most prestigious trophy of the event. No, that's not the one that goes to the so-called "overall winner" (although a team does get some heavy-duty bragging rights by taking that honor). We're talking about the coveted Index Of Effluency trophy, the one given to the team that achieves beyond all reasonable expectation in a seemingly hopeless "race car." You contend for the IOE by showing up in a looks-fast-on-paper car that everyone knows is going to blow up for sure (e.g., Maserati Biturbo, Merkur XR4Ti, Pontiac Fiero, etc.), or by clattering onto the track in something ungodly slow yet totally lovable (see Tunachuckers) and then keeping that crappy heap on the track for hour after punishing hour. We're going with a mix of both approaches in today's Choose Your Eternity matchup!
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#chooseyoureternity
PCH, Dante Alighieri Thinks You Deserve It Edition: Lamborghini Jarama Or Maserati Quattroporte?
We love to pit one high-end Italian car against another in this series; we've had Ferrari 250 versus Lamborghini Diablo, Espada versus Espada, Ferrari Mondial versus Maserati Coupe, among others. Up until now, however, a Lamborghini has never vied with a Maserati for a place in your Garage Of Eternal Suffering. We've managed to find a couple of quite affordable classics from those two manufacturers, so it's time to triple the size of your tool collection and buy some asbestos coveralls! More » -
#chooseyoureternity
Project Car Hell, Ten Buck Gas Edition: Electric Hornet Or Electric Fairmont?
Looks like the Ferrari-versus-Lamborghini Hell Project score is now Enzo 1, Ferrucio 1, according to the results of Monday's Choose Your Eternity Poll. We'll see about reprising the epic battle of the kings of finicky and costly Italian machinery soon enough, but today we're going to tell the oil companies we've had enough of their crazy prices and look at Electric Car Hell. And we don't mean glorified golf carts or even plug-in hybrids- we mean rear-wheel-drive American cars with great big electric motors and racks of lead-acid batteries, from the era of the Second Energy Crisis! Thanks, and a PCH Tipster T-shirt to ShastaMcNasty for the tips! More »
