Our last visit to The Carchive took us to mid-sixties Luton, where the Vauxhall Viva veritably glistened with all the trappings of mid ’60s British austerity, providing a striking contrast from the American iron we’ve looked at over the last couple of weeks. We’re heading back Stateside today… or are we?
This 1980 Dodge Imports brochure is a fascinating thing. Not just because so many of the cars herein were processed into Chinese refrigerators years back, but for the fact that Dodge saw it prudent to highlight the non home-grown nature of cars that, nevertheless, bore the Dodge name.

Click the images to make ’em bigger so you can read ’em.

“Meet the eight-speed wonder of the world. The frisky little Dodge Colt hatchback”
Ah, the ‘super shift’ transmission. Essentially a two-speed final drive that effectively doubled the ratios of a four-speed manual gearbox, it was a key feature of the Mitsubishi Mirage and made it unique among compact hatchbacks – and most other cars aside from SUVs. Aside from that, the Mirage was pretty much Japanese hatchback by the numbers. It was also sold as a Colt in Europe and, of course, the Dodge Colt.
It was quite crisply styled, though, and could be made to look pretty sporty if you availed yourself of the RS package, with its snazzy machine-turned alloy wheels and racy graphics. And, if you wanted even more luxe in your life, as well as a little more spring in your car’s step, there was a 1.6-litre Custom. It had styled steel road wheels, white-sidewall tyres and ‘strobe’ body-side striping “…And more. To make it one dressy little car”.

“Obviously, this is no ordinary wagon. It’s a sport wagon, pure and simple”
If you wanted a little more space for passengers, luggage or livestock, the Colt Wagon was at hand. Now, I reckon this little blighter was a rather more fetching machine in US trim than the rather staid version we got here – and I reckon that comes down entirely to the white-banded tyres and colour-coded wheels.
You guys also got the big, honking 2.6-litre 4G54 four-cylinder engine to cruise around behind – an engine that would soon grace the underhood of a huge number of Mitsubishi, Dodge and Chrysler-badged cars throughout the USA…

“The competitive edge. It starts with Challenger’s 2.6-litre overhead cam MCA-JET engine”
…including this one. I can only hazard a guess as to how devoted MOPAR fans reacted to the Challenger name being attached to a Mitsubishi Galant Lambda coupe – otherwise sold as a Plymouth Sapporo and a Mitsubishi Sapporo in Europe. In truth it really was a pretty handsome looking machine, and a pretty lavishly equipped one.
It had all manner of lovely things such as a semi-concealed head restraints, an AM/FM stereo, electric remote control mirrors, a digital clock, swivelling map light and, it has to be said, some heroically vibrant plaid upholstery.

“There’s nothing sportier than a two-seater. Just you and a companion on the road to adventure”
An earlier visit to The Carchive brought us the 1990 Dodge Ram 50, and this is its direct predecessor.  It must be assumed that the D-50 was aimed at the same recreation-focused crowd as the Subaru Brat, hence it appears in this brochure. A less showy version was available as a commercial vehicle, and it looked kind of butch and workmanlike right up to the point that you parked it next to a full-size pickup of the era – and then it looked like a child’s toy.
Once more, the 2.6-litre was available, as was a five-speed overdrive gearbox, but a 2.0-litre was standard fit, alongside a four-speed floor-shift manual ‘box. You could also opt for a ‘sky lite’ sunroof, air-conditioning and power steering. I’d find it hard to resist the Sport interior, shown here with upholstery that gives me a real hankering for chocolate and honeycomb ice cream.
So, which of this little Japanese takeaway menu would you choose?
(All images are of original manufacturer publicity material, photographed by me, perhaps not quite as well as it should be. Copyright presumably remains property of FCA, but possibly Mitsubishi. Who really knows any more…).