It’s time once again to dive head first into the automotive kitchen dustbin of the past, rummage through the vegetable peelings of time and uncover another lost mouldy potato of history. Welcome back to The Carchive
Last time we pondered on the almost unimaginable grandeur and luxury enjoyed by the owner of a Vanden-Plas 1500. Today we head forward in time to only twenty-three years ago to have a look at what Dodge could offer us in 1992.

“At Dodge we listen to you. And we respond. With products that meet your needs… and exceed your expectations”.
Take a seat and peer through misty eyes at what Auburn Hills could offer you, the valued customer, in the early ’90s. As always, click to enmassivate the images.

“Spirit. A serious driver’s car that rivals Japan’s best in terms of safety, reliability, comfort, value and quality engineering”.
This is where The Carchive goes interactive. America: what’s your opinion on the above statement? Did Dodge truly have the measure of the Camry and Accord in the Spirit?
I travelled only once in a Dodge Spirit, with the 2.5 Turbo four, as a guest of a (now sadly departed) HAM radio friend of my Dad, during a holiday in Florida. He took us to visit an Orlando radio specialist, and sadly the car was probably the least interesting part of the experience. Though I remember the fuel computer telling us 16.4 mpg.

“If you want a car with the style and versatility of a smooth, aerodynamic liftback profile, you’ll like the Shadow.”
They then boost this claim with:
“Fact is, Dodge Shadow is the lowest priced American car, with or without a top.”
I always quite liked the Dodge Shadow, though I was looking at it through the rose-tinted specs of a ten year old English schoolboy who was highly unlikely to ever come into physical contact with one. It always seemed quite a nice looking car on the pages of the Observers Book of Cars… though I remember being distressed that a rear screen defroster was optional. In fact, it never occurred to me that the Shadow was really just the pentagonal marque’s Ford Escort chaser.

Dodge Shadow seemed quite a dynamic name, too. Much more so than Plymouth Sundance. When teamed with the available 152hp 2.5 litre turbo four and manual ‘box, I imagine it was reasonably fleet of foot, too, if less so than the no-longer-available 175hp mill.

“Let’s face it. Big spenders are out, Smart buyers are in. And today’s smart buy is the Dodge Dynasty. A sensible car for sensible times.”
Is this the least aspirational way a car has ever been sold? At 192” overall this was Dodge’s upper-midsize offering, yet despite that you could still encumber its slabby, formally-styled form with the normally aspirated 2.5litre four mustering just a hundred horsepower. Of course, a manual gearbox was forbidden (three on the tree or nuttin’) so the sense of misery here is palpable. Of course, things probably livened up a bit with the three-litre Mitsubishi-built six, or Chrysler’s own 3.3 litre, 147hp unit. You got an extra cog in the slushbox with the V6’s, too.

New for 1992 was the option of an exquisite padded landau vinyl roof which offered “classical elegance”. Yes, really. I’d be editing the badge to “nasty”.

“With a drag coefficient of 0.31, it is one of the most aerodynamic cars in America”.
Yes, we all came here for the Dodge Monaco, didn’t we? Ah, the Monaco, Dodge’s rebadging of the Eagle Premier, which itself was a reworking of the European Renault 25. It appeared in the Dodge range at the very top, deposing the former Diplomat.
Power came from an enlarged variant of the classic Delorean-motivating PRV V6, boosted to 3.0 litres and feeding through the front wheels. The Monaco was only on the books for two years, it can be regarded as a bit of a dress rehearsal for the Dodge Intrepid and its Eagle and Chrysler sisters. It was quite a classy looking machine, if possibly a little faceless.

“Colts are handsome little creations…with plenty of distinctive design elements, adding up to a whole that is better looking than many of their rivals”.
I couldn’t agree more. Of course, there was even less indigenous Dodge here than you’d find in the Monaco. Yes, the Colt was straight outta Kurashiki, upholding the proud tradition of rebadged Mitsubishi’s which had been a thing since 1971, when the first Galant crossed the Pacific, receiving Mopar branding on arrival.
I always rated the Colt as a bit of a looker, even more-so with the sporting accessories worn by the Turbo GT model, which, of course, by 1992 were no longer available.
That seems to be the story of Dodge for ’92- “we used to make some pretty sporty cars”. Well… this isn’t the whole story, is it? There was a Dodge “Performance” catalogue to supplement this one, with such wonders as the Spirit R/T, the Daytona IROC Z, and something called the Viper.
Stay tuned to see if this publication ever shows up in The Carchive.
(All images are of original manufacturer publicity material, photographed by me. Copyright remains property of, presumably, Fiat. It’s a strange world we live in.)