1981 Plymouth Champ

[dodgechargerfan]

I saw this posted for sale on FB Today.
Cool pics. Thought I’d share..

I‘ve never seen that dual stick setup before.

 

[74DartSport]

Friend had a Colt Turbo with that setup. Scary little thing.

 

[thrashingcows]

TIL that there was a Plymouth Champ!!

Wonder what the power/economy stick engages or disengages? Maybe an over/under drive set-up?

 

[Dr.Jass]

Friend had a Colt Turbo with that setup. Scary little thing.

Shortly after I moved to Georgia, there was a '77 Hornet AMX 232/4-speed for sale, so my friend (whose first car was a Me So Hornet) and I went to look at it. The same seller also had a '84 Colt GTS (Gitchasum Twin Stick) Every Joy Happy Turbo for sale. I was well aware of Turbo Colts, my pal wasn't. The AMX was the pooch we expected; my chum didn't care about the Tin Can of Impending Doom. I did, so I drove it with him shotgun.

The seller told me to be careful.

That thing was like a Group B rally car: Sub-ton curb weight, lag you could measure with a calendar, and when the boost hits you'd best be pointed somewhere clear. With no weight to pull around, those cars feel ridiculously fast. You also feel like you're seconds from death anytime the intake manifold's above atmospheric pressure. It was faster than any Turbo I 2.2/2.5 I ever rode in or drove. Not surprising, since a Colt is nearly 500lb lighter than a freakin' Omni. Forget the Jaws of Life, just bring a Swiss Army knife with a can opener.

Wonder what the power/economy stick engages or disengages? Maybe an over/under drive set-up?

The Twin Stick was a 2-speed transfer case that worked like an overdrive on all of the transmission's gears, so you (potentially) have eight forward speeds and two reverses. It was similar to the later Corvette's 4+3 manual, except it wasn't internal to the transmission so it didn't consume itself at an alarming rate (there are still working Twin Sticks). The high (overdrive) ratio was a fairly healthy one, so leaving it in "Economy" (later shortened to "E") mode meant acceleration was, uh, leisurely with the standard 70-ish horse engine. In "Power" (later "*") mode, it was a close-ratio 4-speed, which woke the car up measurably. The best way to drive one, really, was leave it in Power 90% of the time, then engage Economy at cruise. With the turbo engine, simply changing modes was enough to effect easy highway passing.

Despite the transfer case, it was not all-wheel-drive. The transfer case was needed because Mitsubishi didn't have a FWD transmission (or engine block, for that matter) at the time, so they adapted a RWD one to fit sideways. The driveline progression was engine > clutch > transfer case > transmission.

 

[74DartSport]

Reverse upshifts were a fun trick.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Damn... I never thought to try one!

 

[69.5CUDA]

i adore all the early turbo cars and ive never seen a twin stick

i wonder what one would get for MPG in one in this day n age....light small cubes....

as soon as you mentioned group b..you had me sold..if i could find one here.....

and i bet with that layout...AWD would actualy be easy to acomplish..hell move the transaxle to the back.... for a RWD toy

 

[Dr.Jass]

The engine is mounted transversely, as is the transfer case and transmission, so AWD would not be a cakewalk. There's precious little room to work. I don't even know if the engine would fit north/south.

I'm not sure how long the Twin Stick hung around. In '84, Mitsubishi did not think their 5-speed would withstand the turbo engine so it got the Twin Stick (there was no automatic). I don't know about the later years, to be honest, although turbo Colts existed in one form or another through 1990.

 

[69.5CUDA]

and those colts were rare as hens teeth from what ive seen ..atleast out this way...you were more likely to see an omni than a colt
its a cute lil time capsule for sure