Quick, what was the first front-wheel-drive subcompact to go into mass production in the United States? No, it wasn't the Pennsylvania-built Volkswagen Rabbit, although the car in question did have a Volkswagen engine. The early U.S.-market Ford Fiesta was built in West Germany, the Simca 1204 (sold at American Chrysler dealerships) came from France, the Ford Escort and Chevy Cavalier didn't go into American production until 1980 and 1981, respectively, and Honda didn't start building Civics in Ohio until 1986. Chrysler Corporation claims the honor with the Dodge Omni and its Plymouth Horizon twin, which first rolled off the Belvidere Assembly line in 1977 as 1978 models. Though comprehensively obsolete by the time U.S. sales ceased in 1990, the "Omnirizon" served as perfectly functional transportation and nearly 2 million were sold here. Today's Junkyard Gem is one of those later cars, found in a Denver self-service boneyard over the summer.
Just a few rows away from those two heaps, I found this Omni. Minutes later, I ran across an ultra-rare 1981 Plymouth Horizon Miser. Yes, four Omnirizons in the same car graveyard, and that's not counting the ones packed with spare parts at a yard across town that I saw a couple years earlier. I suspect that a Denver-area Omnirizon fancier has been culling a lot full of parts cars as a handful of nice ones get fixed up, and that I'll continue to find these cars in bunches (yes, the Omni GLH does show up in such yards now and then, thanks for asking).
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Just a few rows away from those two heaps, I found this Omni. Minutes later, I ran across an ultra-rare 1981 Plymouth Horizon Miser. Yes, four Omnirizons in the same car graveyard, and that's not counting the ones packed with spare parts at a yard across town that I saw a couple years earlier. I suspect that a Denver-area Omnirizon fancier has been culling a lot full of parts cars as a handful of nice ones get fixed up, and that I'll continue to find these cars in bunches (yes, the Omni GLH does show up in such yards now and then, thanks for asking).
Junkyard Gem: 1988 Dodge Omni America
A 1988 Dodge Omni America, twin to the Plymouth Horizon, found in a Denver, Colorado self-service wrecking yard.
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