Critics tend to snicker at numerous cars attributed to Lee Iacocca; the Ford Mustang II, the Aries K-Car, and Lincoln Mark III are not seen as high automotive art by many. The objects of journalist’s praise were instead often creations of Lee’s industry executive arch rival, Bob Lutz. Cars such as the revived Pontiac GTO and G8, the Dodge Viper, the Saturn Sky, and V-Series Cadillacs that Lutz was reportedly responsible for were certainly more than worthy of this acclaim. “Often wrong, but never in doubt” was apparently Bob’s motto, and sadly with most of these enthusiast-oriented cars he spearheaded he was indeed wrong, at least from a marketing standpoint: sales smashes they were not.
Iacocca, on the other hand, was rarely wrong. He knew what the people would buy, and buy they did. It’s hard to think of anyone of a certain age that wasn’t connected in some way with one of Lido’s cars. I’m not even a fan of most of his products, yet I came home from the hospital delivery room in an 1965 Mustang, I took driver’s ed in Aries K-Cars, and Caravan cabs carried me home to the airport from college. Whenever Iacocca said something about where he thought the automotive market was headed, you were wise to listen.
Small Cars For The People?
In an earlier post, I mentioned a snippet from a Charlie Rose interview of Iacocca late in life where they asked if he could save the then-dying-for-the-third-time Chrysler Corporation. His response was that he could, by making the company build small cars people wanted to buy. I don’t think Lee is incorrect, but we must also consider that Stellantis currently has a reported 500+ day supply of compact Dodge Hornet hybids on lots today, and was in a similar situation with Jeep Renegades.
This either means Lee’s advice was wrong, or the vehicles Stellantis is providing for the segment now aren’t right. I’m going with the latter – there are too many better competitors than the Hornet in the niche. Stellantis needs a unique small car, maybe a little EV that can offer an enticing degree of personality and performance that pods like the Nissan Leaf never did.
This does sound like a key to success for what was once the Chrysler Corporation; in fact, back in Chrysler’s darkest days of the late seventies, the brand’s one bright spot was a unique subcompact: the first transverse-engined front-drive American made car. Developed jointly with Chrysler Europe (the remains of Simca), this Golf-style hatchback was sold as the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon. I love the old-school Mopar fender-mounted blinker repeaters, by the way.
The first challenge to building the Omni was that Chrysler USA had absolutely no engines small enough to power the thing, and the 1.1 and 1.3 liter Simca engines used in the European version were deemed too small for the automatic-and-air-conditioning American buyers. The solution was to purchase engines from Volkswagen of America, a surprising move for a company that was now providing powertrains for what would amount to a direct competitor to the Rabbit/Golf. Admittedly, the VW version had fuel injection, and the company could move every Rabbit it could bring in, so this was just an extra business opportunity.
When VW introduced the Golf GTi, they likely never thought this also-ran from a dying Chrysler would ever try to compete with them. Boy, were they wrong.
No More Mister Nice Guy
By 1984, the Omni still looked virtually identical to when it was introduced six years earlier, but there was something stirring underneath this mild-mannered exterior.
In 1981, Chrysler began offering the American-built 2.2 liter four out of the K-Car in the Omni/Horizon, and if you’ve been paying attention to this so far you’ll realize that’s a motor twice the size of what the overseas markets offered. This thing was getting quick, and the only option was to make it even quicker. Lee Iacocca had by now taken over at the ailing Chrysler, and who did Lee reach out to while at Ford when he wanted to make run-of-the-mill cars into performance machines? Y’all gotta call ‘Ol Shel: Carroll Shelby.
Shelby’s creation was the 1984 Dodge Omni GLH, a moniker that literally was an acronym for “Goes Like Hell.” The high-output 2.2 liter four pumped 110 horsepower into the front wheels, far more than rival hot hatches like the aforementioned Rabbit GTi. Wider rubber, ground effects, and red accents created an eye-catching but still rather stealth machine that could pull 0-60 in 8.7 seconds.
Here’s a rather fun, memorable commercial for the car back in ’84. Wish I had that scale model …
The GLH was relatively quick for the time, but you can always make a car faster. For the second year of the hotted-up Omni, the 146 horsepower Turbo I engine from larger Chrysler products was offered in the GLH Turbo, a power boost that knocked over a second off of the original car’s time to 60. This was starting to get serious, and very quickly.
For the ultimate Omni hatch, Shelby put a “Turbo II” engine under the hood that was massaged up to 175 horsepower. As Carroll might say, the car did not “have any hitch in it’s git-a-long.” Dubbed the GLH-S (for Goes Like Hell S’More, said Shelby), this was a rather blunt instrument next to the more surgical Volkswagen rival, but the concurrent GTi was never going to see the acceleration times of this thing. Hoo-wee!
The Omni lived on until 1990, but the last GLH was sold in 1986, a short run for a car very long on fun. Later, Chrysler offered sporting little cars like the SRT Neon, but the original GLH has a certain basic charm that many new-school Mopar fans miss.
Raising Cain
A revived Dodge Omni sounds like an exciting little hatch, and I can see an EV revival of this thing in cute colors being the kind of hit that Stellantis would want. Of course, as Autopians, we don’t really give a shit about cute: we want fast. We want a new GLH. Don’t worry, the Bishop has you covered.
One of the most talked-about EVs of recent years has been the Hyundai Ioniq 5. This angular five door has a rather pleasing overall shape that many believe is covered in a bit too many “stylish” will-quickly-be-dated details such as a sharp, angular cuts on its flanks, lots of “ribbed” detailing and odd, camera-iris scalloped trims on the wheel arches.
If we clean all that techno-gingerbread off, we end up with a rather plain but balanced form quite similar to 1970s subcompact hatchbacks. In fact, it ends up looking a lot like an old Golf or Omni. Let’s lean into the look and add the graphic touches that would evoke the GLH:
Simple black trim, a fake grille, and a Hoffmeister kink on the rear door evoke the Omni’s design; the rocker panel moldings and pepperpot wheels are a nostalgic nod to the past. White or a lighter color would really help show off the detailing better, but come on, it’s a GLH, right? Can it really not be black?
In back, the taillights mimic the shape of the original car but with LED grids below. Most hatchbacks today wrap the rear glass around the upper sides of the car, but not on our Omni.
The interior of the original Omni was not particularly unique, but it did have a super deep-dished steering wheel and sharply angled back gauge binnacle, as will our revival.
The center console has a vertical “wall” along the passenger’s side just like on a 1970 Challenger. Sure, a shifter is unnecessary, but regardless we’ll offer an “L” shaped gear selector to fill the void on the console and deliver a true retro touch. Note also the flip-up, face-level vents and Pentastar-logo shaped door speakers grilles.
Bolt Outta Hell
Let’s not waste any more time: how fast could it be? I see this high-voltage hatch as being somewhat smaller than the Ioniq5, and while there could certainly be a front-drive, single-motor Omni offered, I know the GLH will need motors front and back. How much power? I’m hoping that each motor could produce least 250 horsepower, so if we could get the total in the vicinity of 600 horses we’d be nearing the idiotic level I’m looking for. With a weight in the 4000 pound range, zero to sixty would be in the mid-to-low three seconds. “Oh,” says the boxy subcompact, “do I have your attention now?”
If Ol’ Shel were alive today, it’s hard to imagine him thinking about range or volts or battery packs, but I somehow believe that he’d be smiling down on this silly little car. You don’t need gasoline to raise Hell.
The Shelby Series I Was Carroll Shelby’s Most Glorious Failure – The Autopian
The cleaning up of the Ioniq5 makes you wonder just what the hell they were thinking when they put it together. The difference is stark and the result is a really good looking hatch. Pretty much love everything else in it with the possible exception of the L-shaped shifter. I get the retro thing but it looks a little clumsy to me – a ball shape might make that console look a little better. As nits go, though, that’s a tiny one to pick. Great design and great idea. Hard to believe that, offered at a competitive price, they wouldn’t sell as many as they wanted to make.
You say that like the Ioniq5 is regarded as some ugly design. Loads of people love it; myself included.
Not ugly, but just too busy for me. The cleaner look of the redesign lets the overall shape (which is great) stand out more, and I like that. YMMV, as always.
Those 15 inch phone dial wheels always looked so good to me, the perfect size for that little boxy hatchback… I had a beat down turbo GLH with the Daytona Shelby intercooler and manual boost controller in the late 90s. It was pretty quick for the day. I always wished it was RWD, like the same era Corolla
What’s up with the Corvette-style hard divider to the right of the shifter? Seems like that would make the interior less open and less like the inspiration
True, but I wanted to take the console from the 1970 Challenger that I’ve always liked and incorporate it into making the driver’s seat be more like a cockpit. Again, reaching even further back into Mopar history, adding an homage of a seventies car to an homage of an eighties car.
My only gripe with using an Ioniq 5 as a starting point is that it’s 50% bigger than it looks. I would love that retro Gingerbread on something Golf sized.
I was super interested in the Ioniq 5 when it first came out. I didn’t think to check the dimensions online since it looked like a cute lil’ hatch. SHOCKED when I saw it at a dealership.
I drive a Golf. 🙂
The Ioniq5 was the first new car that I did a triple-take at(in a positive way)in over a decade. I’ll never own one, but they still make me smile because it helped revive this jaded & cynical old gearhead back to caring.
I do agree, though: were they closer to the Omni’s dimensions, I might even test drive one
Pure excellence, my man! Love it.
TAKE MY MONEY! I had an 84 GLH turbo. Undefeated in Solo II and a surprise to many other drivers in bigger cars even in the 90s!
This is a good one Bishop!!
Thank you!
Greed this is one of your best. In my opinion, sir. Nice job!
Great job on this one, looks like a winner. Surprised you grouped the Lincoln Mark III with k-car and mustang ll. Yes they are large, overweight land yachts, but they are glorious!
I love the Mark III, but it proves the point I was trying to make. Critics blasted it for being a T-Bird with a fancy grille and tire hump (it was) while praising the front wheel drive Eldorado as being far more innovative and unique (it was). Which one sold significantly better and was almost certainly more profitable for the company? Iacocca was right on the money.
It would actually be possible to make a car of this size closer to 3,300 lbs if you went with a smaller battery and sacrificed a bit of range, but using a more power-dense battery. It appears in dimension to be significantly smaller than a Tesla Model 3.
A 50 kWh pack would get such a thing a 200-ish mile range, assuming its aerodynamics were comparable to those of a 1st gen Nissan Leaf. You’d be able to chop almost an entire second off that 0-60 mph time and make the car cost less to build at the same time.
Stelantis, are you listening?
If you build it, we will drive!
That sounds good. I was using several weight/ zero to 60 calculators and trying to get under 3 seconds for bragging rights.
You should continue to publish a summary of all the specs this vehicle is expected to have as you had done with previous articles. They’re all interesting thought exercises on what is possible.
200 mile range would be plenty for my daily hatch, as my Fiesta has never been more than 150 miles away from my house, and 150 miles would also cover virtually any single day round trips I’d be likely to do.
The design may be based on an Ioniq 5, but that side profile has ended up looking quite like a 2014-21 Škoda Fabia:
https://edge.pxcrush.net/dealerweb/car/cil/v9f2jwlqlsyapfts4dnb5xq76.jpg
Next.. resurrect the Talbot Samba Rallye!
This is it. This is my ideal car. As much as a GLH should be black, if it came in all the classic ’70s Mopar colors, Stellantis would have to post armed guards to keep me from throwing money at them.
I am 146% in support of this. And I still want that Omni model, too.
As a kid, I was a passenger in my Dad’s early 80’s Omni. An experience I did not enjoy in the slightest. I can still smell the fumes today.
Somehow, you evil geniuses have gotten past that and I’d still totally buy this.
(In reality… all I’m waiting for is the best/next smallish hot hatch EV to come along and I’ll buy in. So I think Lee was right… they key is, small car people want to buy.)
Nice, when I first saw the Ionic 5 I totally thought they looked like large Omnis (considering I owned two GLHs in the past) and if I owned one I’d probably put the plate “OMNI XXL” on it.
Listen, I lived the 80s; at one point I had a freakin’ hairdryer with a TURBO sticker on it. Please, for the love of octane, do not put turbo stickers on EVs.
that is all
I had a tshirt, a bicycle helmet, and a 486 DX/2-66 all with turbo stickers. All lies!
I had a turbo button on mine! It … did stuff. I’m sure of it!
Yeah, if you turned it off it dropped from 66mhz to 33mhz which was basically good for cheating in video games by playing them at half speed.
Too late:
https://www.porsche.com/usa/models/taycan/taycan-models/taycan-turbo-s/
Is there no end to this madness?
Thats it; I’m done. I’m going to grow out my facial hair into mustachios, acquire a cape, and go around prying the Turbo script off of Taycans whilst giggling with gleeful evil!
I drove across country with a buddy in a White over Red GLH when we were active-duty USAF back in the mid 80’s.
Whatever you do – Just give it more supportive/comfortable seats.
And cruise control.
I have an Ioniq Hybrid, you might be SOL on the seats
*facepalm*
Same service, similar journey — Keesler to Beale twice. Dodge (mitsu) 750 truck. The seats were good but I-10 with no cruise? Never again. I’d totally rock this concept as long is it supported NACS charging.
I found those seats very comfortable. The passenger seat could recline almost completely flat and there was enough space for both me and my girlfriend.
The wheels are a major improvement IMO.
I think we’re just far enough away from K car production that this would work.
And on the Hornet, I have a feeling they’ll be selling pretty quickly, pretty soon- I just picked up a red R/T Phev lease for 300 down, 300 a month. At that money, they’re going to sell.
True, although the Omni is not a K-Car.
It is not a K-Car, but the motor actually is K-Car.
Kinda, the 2.2 debuted in both the L-Body and K-Cars in 1981.
It actually reminds me the Ioniq 5.. Time to check if Hyundai read your mind when they annouce the Ioniq 2?
?????
https://electrek.co/2023/12/20/hyundai-launching-cheaper-ioniq-2-sit-below-ioniq-5/
Bishop’s design reminds me of the Pony
Wow, this fixes basically every single nitpick I’ve had with the Ioniq5 – it has a great overall form, but the details are just way too fussy. Amazing what cleaning up those creases on the side does for it. This really should be sold as a body kit, you could probably accomplish most of it with bolt-on stuff. In the ’70s, some company might have done just that, but we’re all just not as fun anymore
10/10 would buy
Edit: The Pentastar logo speaker covers are freaking awesome.
Hey automakers, I want more fun details like this. No, I will not accept a 1/2″ tall silhouette of past models of my car molded into the bottom of my center console or whatever nonsense. Come up with actual, visible fun shit in your cars.
It’s sad to think that Carroll Shelby might be hot footin’ it in the pits of Hell these days, but I think he’d appreciate this homage no matter where he ended up.
So the big question is would they make it out of say the D50 small truck? Or actually Maverick the Hornet. Sadly I think if they did away with Alfa drivetrains the hornet might actually garner some desire.
I also want that Omni model. And we need more car commercials narrated by Lando Carlrissian.
Darned if you didn’t beat me to it. And Dodge got Billy Dee at least a couple of years before Colt 45!
“It works every time”