"Walter Spector" <w6ws_xthisoutx (AT) earthlink (DOT) net> wrote

Heh. This "debate" made me recall an incident unrelated to Porsche, but
involving Audi.
Back in the early 80's I had a work associate who bought an Audi 4000. He
was a bit of a snob and was always reminding us of how refined his car and
engine was compared to the cheap American junk the rest of us drove.

One day he popped the hood and was showing off his engine. I looked at it
and realized it looked very familiar.
So, I went over and popped the hood on my '79 Dodge Omni and sure enough, it
was basically the same engine except the Omni had a carburetor and the Audi
was fuel injected. Everything below the manifold was pretty much the same.

I called him over and said, "Hey, look! I've got the same engine in my
Omni!"

He was BS and traded the Audi for a 124 Fiat Spyder.

Turns out that as Chrysler was reorganizing they didn't have an available
engine for the Omni/Horizon so they outsourced them to VW or Audi or whoever
was building the engine.

Eisboch

Walt, thanks for the help! This was a debate that certainly needed to
end. Also, can you give me the name of Brian Longs book? I'm always
interested in picking up new Porsche related literature.

I always thought the Omni was just a Chrysler badged version of the
Golf I. Anyone know much about it?

Also, if memory serves me, there was a Shelby version of the Omni with
a turbocharged engine that was unique to the model and a retuned
suspension. My understanding is that it was a hell of a car, at least
in terms of performance. I'm partial to the MKII 16 valve GTi though.

"Filmophile" <Filmophilia (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

According to Wikipedia the Omni/Horizon was developed by Simca, the French
division of Chrysler Europe. Simca was bought by Peugeot which released
the car as the Talbot Horizon. Chrysler retained the US production rights.

From Wilipedia:

"The ultimate Dodge Omni was the Carroll Shelby-modified Omni GLH. 1984 was
the first year of the GLH, which carried over most of the modifications that
had been made the previous year to the Shelby Charger. 1985 was the debut of
the real Goes Like Hell model with the turbocharged Turbo I engine option.
The car carried over into 1986 unchanged and production was stopped. The
final 500 GLH cars were sold to Shelby, who used them as the basis for the
1986 Shelby GLHS."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Omni

Eisboch

"The Dead Senator" <deadsenator (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

Well, if you didn't like the Omni or Horizon, you could always get an AMC
Pacer. :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Pacer

Eisboch

<I realize this is subjective, but were any American cars attractive
betweeen, say...77 and the late 80s? I can't remember any off the top of my
head.>

That is a tough one. The Corvette folks will say the C3 and C4, but the C3
was the last of the "classic" Vettes and was severly underpowered and the C4
was just bland. The Monte Carlo SS done right was not bad and I believe the
was the Grand National that looked pretty good. The 1980's were pretty
forgetable as far as the U.S. was concerned...I remember the big cars to
have were, the 944 of course, the 911SC, the 930, the Jaguar XJ12, the
Ferrari 308 (Magnum rules!)

Filmophile wrote:
Sure. It is simply called "Porsche 944". I bought my copy at the
Petersons Auto Museum in LA a few years ago, but now see that it is
available through Amazon (and no doubt, many others.)

Appended is a review I posted on rennlist back in 2002 on it.

Walt - 86 944 NA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to be at the Petersen next week, so I'll check there first,
but I often find that their store is a bit highly priced.

Several years ago they had a Porsche exhibit there with several
vehicles (including some incredible one-off vehicles) from the museum
in Sttutgart. I wish they'd bring it back.
Thanks again.