Like others said, I love how in 1982 this was a "heavy 2,800 lb 2-door" now the Subaru BRZ is 2,800 lbs and everyone is amazed at it's lightness (me included). Funny how times change.
That's because the BRZ has safety equipment that keeps you alive and possibly unhurt when you lose control and hit a tree. This car would kill you in the same situation.
Damn you, MW! For making me want obscure, discontinued, cheaply made vehicles that are embarrassing by today's standards. Damn you to hell for this! --When's the next video coming?
I had a car just like this in the 80's, same black color and everything. It was the best car I ever owned. I drove it hard for 255,000 miles and did very little to it for repairs. It was fun to drive, and it had very good performance for it's horsepower. It was exceptionally good on gas. I got a lot of complements on the look of the car-- It looked really sporty, especially in black. If I babied it, I could get 40 miles a gallon, and could still average 15 miles a gallon driving 95 to 100 mph, which I did a lot. It felt really stable and comfortable at high speeds. Unfortunately, I totaled it when I T-boned a Nissan 240 doing 55 miles an hour. It still drove after that, but cost too much to repair, so I had to give it up. I would consider buying another one some day, just for the fun of it.
I've seen many, many cars over my lifetime. And I have NEVER seen one of these; not for sale, not in a junkyard... never. So cool to know there are still some out there I haven't experienced!
I saw a couple in Japan recently (2012 recently) but I've never seen one here. I do source some parts from them so I do know they exist - Mitsubishi was kind of a slut engine in the 80s - Hyundai, Dodge, Mazda and a few others (as well as thousands of fork lifts) used their engines/drivelines.
aaron71 hope that every single one of them that made it anywhere near a scrap yard was crushed into oblivion so that this eyesore was never viewed to the public eye ever again.
I yearn to take a third gen to a Mopar show, just to be a thorn in any American Challenger owner's side. Great car, but bold of Dodge to brand it as a Challenger
Sepecat Did you see the sh!t Chrysler was putting out in the late 1970s and early 1980s? Or most of Detroit for that matter? This car was, arguably, better than a lot of them, certainly at the price.
@@RoadCone411 My mom's former boss had a Plymouth Sapporo, the twin model of this. He bought it new in the late '70s and kept it for about 20 years. He drove it until 1998 with HIGH mileage as his daily driver.
Love all of the dad comments below. I am a dad and owned a used 1980 Sapporo when I went to high school in the late 80's. It was ahead of its time and underrated. Mine was Gold with Black pin stripes. Putting 60 series tires on it helped with the sway/body roll during cornering. Rear wheel drive in the winter was challenging but fun. Putting a big speaker box with two 12" Rockford Fosgate subs improved the sound and helped put more weight on the rear tires. If you have to add weight, might as well make it useful. Finding these cars now even in bad shape will cost more than what I paid for mine when it was only 8 years old. Would be fun to get another one but they are hard to find. My kids think they are ugly and my wife doesn't like the 80's styling, so I guess I would be riding solo if I could find one.
@ 3:50 I'm cracking up at all that grabbing in the engine compartment. I think that's what I love most about these old reviews. Oh, I also love all of the body roll in every car.
My father had this exact car when I was a kid and I loved it! His had rear window louvers, a small rear wing, metal curb feelers, squared off exhaust outlet, and metal grates over the front and rear lights. I can still remember the the door chime and the unique sound of the large I4 engine. Say what you want about this car but it was reliable and decently peppy for the day. Oddly enough, this 82' Challenger is what initially sparked my love of cars.
One of the better coupes built of the early 80's, I always feel this car competed well against the Toyota Celica, Datsun/Nissan 200SX and Ford Mustang.
Damn, I don't recall seeing even one of these on the roads, and here I thought I knew all the oddball coupes of the 80s... Nissan Pulsar, Subaru XT... stuff like that.
You probably saw one and thought it was a Galant. The only one I noticed was when a guy pulled up next to me at a redlight and I noticed he had 70's era Mopar and Challenger badges and emblems all over. I said "why did this idiot plaster his Galant with old R/T decals?" My brother told me that was the new Challenger and it was a rebadged Mitsubishi, and my soul died a little.
It was one of the faster cars available in the early early 80s. It would beat the ass of 4 and 6 cylinder Mustangs and Camaros purple. Same with most of the other 4 cylinder Japanese sports coupes. It could outhandle most v8s on a road run but obviously not on a drag race.
I'm sure some got one dropped in. It was a neat looking GT coupe with rear wheel drive. Much easier than than k member swap for rwd conversion of k-car based vehicles that Mopar offered at one time. I'm surprised that Mopar didn't elect to use the Challenger name on the Conquest for a second generation of this car. That would have made sense.
The 318 was making about 130 hp that year and the understeer would have been horrendous. Remember too that Chrysler was still staring death in the face after Congress bailed them out after accusing them of making nothing but V8 RWD gas guzzlers. Within a couple years they’d have a 2.2 litre turbo engine that would blow anything with a contemporary 318 in it until the late 80s.
we all try to forget...I wish I had that thing that erased memories from Men in Black...not only would I have the courtesy to use it on all of you, but, like a crazed gunmen, would then turn it on myself and use it!
lol you know what really sucked? speed limit of 55 mph on the highways..then again many of the cars were so gutless you could not really expect to no much faster than that
My favorite car ever, I had a 1983 Plymouth Sapporo version that never gave me any issue. Miss that one every day. If I remember correctly it was 4-wheel disc brakes in 1983. Smoothest shifting 5-speed manual ever. And 1983 fuel economy highway was truly mid 30mpg.
My dad bought one of these a few years ago and stored it in a shipping container on the farm. He thinks it will be a collector's item someday. If the car was a bit wider, the front would look a lot like a DeLorean!
DaniTheNachoPirate my 73 javelin/amx is as long as an extended cab short bed f 150 and only weighs about 80 lbs more then this car. amazing how much a car weighs without all the extra options, computers and safety stuff every car today has.
Ryan Hopkins in 1982 2800lb was heavy....especially for an import. Most compact cars weighed around 2000 or so lb so..... to really blow your mind a fullsize Caprice Classic sedan of 1982 only weighed about 3600. So, yeah, that little coupe was effin heavy for what it was.
Ryan, are you still in high school? cars got very heavy at the turn of the century, even in the 90s light cars were becoming rarer and rarer at dealerships
The Charger suffered from the same deal. I know where there's an actual 1968 Dodge Charger R/T with it's factory 225 slant 6 and automatic. Very rare (I think only 167 R/T's made with the 6), but for the reason that absolutely nobody wanted to drive them back in the day.
my neighbor has 2 Cordoba based charger. I had the Plymouth version of the 80s fwd charger (for fun look up Plymouth duster turismo commercial. mine looked just like the one in the commercial but dark grey).
Wow, talk about a flashback to my youth. I had the sister (Plymouth Sapporo) version of this Mitsubishi platform during my undergrad days in college. I think I got the car sometime in 1988 and it lasted me until the engine started having some serious issues in 1993. Rather than sink money into repairs (I believe it had a little over 100,000 miles on it) I traded it in on a Honda Civic wagon. My major complaint was that the A/C didn't work and I couldn't afford the new compressor the repair shop told me it needed. It did have a strong (for the era) engine mated to a decent 5-speed stick that made for spirited driving. It looked sharp in red but the black interior got pretty hot in the summer. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Michael Lightner the 84 supra is my favourite supra generation, i also have an 86 celica that once belonged to my grandfather, my uncle got it in japan back in 1994. today it only has 80k miles on the dash, 4AGE blue top, early model.
1982 Mustang GT’s were running 16’s. Low 18’s really wasn’t that bad for that era on a car that wasn’t supposed to really be performance oriented. The 1982 Camaro z28 took 9.4 seconds to get to 60mph and ran 17.1’s in the 1/4 mile...
I'm not positive, but that test area looks like the very end (beginning?) of Route 70 in Woodlawn, Maryland! It looks a little different today, but the layout looks very similar.
I'm not from the area, but a quick check of Google Maps shows the uncompleted section past the current end of I-70 is used as a commuter lot now. So no more road tests, but back in 1982, it looks like it was a great place to drive cars at freeway speeds without going on public roads. I'm fairly certain that is exactly where this video was shot, even the change in road surface over the bridge at 01:57 is still clearly evident today. It's also only about 10-11 miles from the Owings Mills offices of Motor Week. Nice find!
I had an '83 Black Beauty Sapporo. Great car and very easy to work on. Mine lasted for 13 years. It rotted out pretty bad and became too unsafe to drive. The day the tow trunk came from the junkyard to take it away, the engine still ran and the air conditioning still work.
I love watching these old videos. The only tech I need in a car is a radio, heat/AC, power windows. Not even power locks are that big of a need. I don't need a GPS, or some complicated infotainment system, that require you to read it, and still don't understand everything.
I owned one of these in 2001!! Was my 1st car. Old school and fun to drive. Same engine as the Ram 50 from the 80s mine was a 5 speed and the A/C still worked, comfortable too. Drove it from Florida to New York!
I love these retro reviews. How about the Isuzu i-mark, Isuzu Impulse, Renault Fuego & 1985 Mitsubishi Galant. I had a Galant, and it had some incredible classy interior features that nobody else offered, even today. You all have to remember you are judging these cars by today's standards. Thirty years from now today's cars won't look that great either.
@@ShmuelWeintraub 80s mustang, Daytona and Camaro were a few of the only decent looking cars from that era.... Why were all cars square.... My mom had a Reliant.... eew.
The first car I ever purchased was a 1981 Plymouth Sapporo (basically this exact car only Silver). It was an absolutely wonderful car, IMO it felt a decade ahead of most other domestic vehicles. It inspired me to go on to buy a 1984 Mitsubishi Starion, which was basically a Challenger/Sapporo hatchback with a turbo. Motoweek, thank you for posting these wonderful retro-videos. I've been a fan almost from the beginning.
I loved these cars back in the day. My mom had an '81 Dodge Colt Wagon, which was essentially a wagon version of this car and not the smaller Colt hatchback. RWD, 5 -speed, the 2.6 balance shaft 4. I learned to drive stick on it when I turned 16 that year.
If you can find one I've been searching for a while and I've only seen a few that were too far away from where i live Ironically these are R A R E And for good reason They weren't that loved or great so there was no reason to save any
My parents bought a brand new one in 1982 lol! Same as the one in the video, black with gold, but automatic. Right about the same time I got my drivers license. It was a decent car in its day, decent power and smooth. If I remember right, the sticker was about $13k. Brings back memories for sure.
Hey, found my old car! I owned a black & gold 82 Challenger in the late 80s. Fantastic car! Comfortable, quiet, economical. The 2.6L was an awesome engine, I'm sure mine did 0-60 in under 10 seconds. It had all the performance I needed, I even ran it in autoslalom competitions.
I really can't believe the comments. I bought my first one in Nov of 1981, I drove from the NW to San Fransisco at an average speed of 69 mph, in 1981 where the speed limit was 55. NO Tickets, the car was a stealth beast. It handled better then my 1973 Challenger and had better brakes. Like my current on it has all wheel disc brakes. Read the reports that were also done at the time. The engine is also a HEMI. 4 Cyl, but still a nice car, very reliable. They are rare. try and find one. Google 1982 Dodge Challenger.
I had a 1982 Plymouth Sapporo. I liked the 1983 Dodge challenger better but never owned a 1983 but it had a fluorescent dash and the paint was a very appealing, at the time two tone which was black/silver. My 1982 had 4 wheel disk not drums in back which was stated in the video. The 2.6 liter was quite large at the time for a 4 cylinder although Porches came out with a 2.7 liter 4 cylinder. I thought that the 2.6 was the largest 4 cylinder in the 80s before I knew of the Porches. Being carburetor it only produced 105HP which was fine at elevation but a real dog at higher elevations. The 105hp was typical for this era until the Japanese/Americans started adding turbos in 1984. In 1984 Turbos were very common across most manufactures since emissions constraints were in full effect. The challenger/Sapporo had a very complicated carburetor system which included air injection for emissions. The engine was very bullet proof, although I blew a head gasket at some point but it was a simple, by today's standards fix. The engine was cast iron and the head was aluminum so with dissimilar metals head gaskets were an issue and still can be today. Other then that the only other weak part of the cars was a cable actuated clutch instead of hydraulic. The cable system result in frequent mis-adjustments. I had added and after market cruise control and other electronic goodies to my Sapporo which brings back fond memories. 105HP was what you got back then which was in line with the 1982 Celica, Nissan 200SX rear wheel drives from the 80s, etc. Yes maybe they should not have used the challenger name but Mitsubishi did a lot to aid the Chrysler corporation and now today it is Mitsubishi struggling in the automobile world in the US instead of Chrysler(IMO). What a turn of events.
Sapporo was the name Mitsu used in its' own US dealers for this 2.6L I4 106hp coupé when it debuted. The only early Mitsu products that hadn't had a MoPar number were the Tredia sedán and Cordia sporty hatch (the previous gen of the latter was sold by Chrysler as the Plymouth Arrow and the Dodge Celeste).
Just about all cars in the 80s were ugly as sin. The 80s wasn't exactly the best time for cars. Not only were the appearances fugly, it was the gray area in the transition from monster big blocks to tiny fuel-efficient engines. Too downsized and bogged down by emissions add-ons to put out any good performance numbers, yet still too big and unrefined to realize the efficiency we have today
Precisely cars today look better,perform.better the reliability is so much better it's laughable,they're safer the list goes on and on so when people say older cars were so much cheaper I follow it up with why do you think that is lol.
A coworker of mine had one of these and it was the automatic. Slow car but it was still a neat little pony car and it was a good car. All it needs is a faster engine and I'd definitely add rack and pinion steering. It came detuned from the factory with the soft springs and I had no doubt this well balanced car is probably the best kept secret in history with the drifter crowd.
I don't blame Dodge. I blame the federal government for all the atrocities of the late 1970s and 1980s. FCA is doing the Dodge brand justice now days though...with everything from 470 HP SUVs that'll seat 7 people, to Challengers that will soon run 0-60 in 3.0 seconds and 0-100 in 6.08 seconds. So, all is forgiven.
It's hard to imagine how they could call this thing a Challenger. I'm sure it's not a bad car but they shouldn't have tarnished the name by putting it on this.
Chrysler was still struggling financially when this car was made. Lee Iacocca would have sold his own mother for a buck during this period in Chrysler's history. What makes you think anything was sacred, let alone Chrysler's musclecar era?
Buddy had a few years newer than this. It was as advertised. Reliable and surprising pep and handling. At 6.4 i wasnt to bothered by the back seat. Could still roll and mix road pops for everyone while hidden by the tinted windows
No, I've been living in Chicago where I see a little bit of just about everything from the 80's till now still being used as daily drivers, and I've always locked my eyes on cars and identify them instantly, low or high end, I have not seen one of these to my memory at all! And I grew up in the 90's when there should have been plenty on the road.
+Chris Kiss I wouldn't totally knock Mitsubishi products if I were you. My mom has a 2003 Outlander and not only does her car still run like new with minimal repairs, but the reviews online and customer satisfaction ratings as well as the fact I can NEVER find one at the junk yard says a lot about the reliability of that thing. Not all Mitsubishis are shit.
Like others said, I love how in 1982 this was a "heavy 2,800 lb 2-door" now the Subaru BRZ is 2,800 lbs and everyone is amazed at it's lightness (me included). Funny how times change.
That's because the BRZ has safety equipment that keeps you alive and possibly unhurt when you lose control and hit a tree. This car would kill you in the same situation.
+TheTmaaan55 Wrong . These are bricks compared to the tin BRZ
Reminds me of the crash test the IIHS did with a 1958 Chevy Bel Air vs a 2008 Chevy Malibu. The driver of the Malibu would have walked away.
TheTmaaan55 Wrong the BRZ driver would have been killed while the Challenger would have been fine in his tank. #LEARN
Not sure if trolling
Damn you, MW! For making me want obscure, discontinued, cheaply made vehicles that are embarrassing by today's standards. Damn you to hell for this! --When's the next video coming?
That most are gone due to rust and poor build quality and possibly that shit cash for clunkers thing
I concur!!!! DAMN...YOU....
I got one for you the Oldsmobile Quad 442
I learned to drive a 5 speed on this car. A lot of good memories.
I've gone down that rabbit hole and it cost me a fortune. Avoid.
I didn't even know that they made a challenger in the 80s
They haven't! ;)
They didn't. It was a re-badged Mitsubishi
quacksackerthegreat Starfire Mitsubishi Knight.
Ronnie Alan
They didn’t 😀
Chrysler bailed out of the pony car wars just when sales picked back up in that segment. They got back in with a halfhearted Mitsubishi.
I had a car just like this in the 80's, same black color and everything. It was the best car I ever owned. I drove it hard for 255,000 miles and did very little to it for repairs. It was fun to drive, and it had very good performance for it's horsepower. It was exceptionally good on gas. I got a lot of complements on the look of the car-- It looked really sporty, especially in black.
If I babied it, I could get 40 miles a gallon, and could still average 15 miles a gallon driving 95 to 100 mph, which I did a lot. It felt really stable and comfortable at high speeds. Unfortunately, I totaled it when I T-boned a Nissan 240 doing 55 miles an hour. It still drove after that, but cost too much to repair, so I had to give it up. I would consider buying another one some day, just for the fun of it.
Those Mitsubishi engines were really good back then
Wait it was possible to get this vehicle to 100 mph?
@@blackice7408 Very nice and beautiful the Dodge Challenger 83
"heavy 2800 lb two door" My how times have changed lol
**When you see a sequel to a movie you liked and the main character has been re-cast.**
These retro videos are funny as hell! Lmao. Notice the trunk didn't even close on the first attempt, and they didn't even edit that shit out. LOL
I've seen many, many cars over my lifetime. And I have NEVER seen one of these; not for sale, not in a junkyard... never. So cool to know there are still some out there I haven't experienced!
love mine!
I saw a couple in Japan recently (2012 recently) but I've never seen one here. I do source some parts from them so I do know they exist - Mitsubishi was kind of a slut engine in the 80s - Hyundai, Dodge, Mazda and a few others (as well as thousands of fork lifts) used their engines/drivelines.
I'm about to buy a like new one with 36k original miles, it's a 1980. Garage kept nearly perfect condition.
aaron71 hope that every single one of them that made it anywhere near a scrap yard was crushed into oblivion so that this eyesore was never viewed to the public eye ever again.
Some kid had one in high school back in the early 90s, but everyone was like, wtf is that?
Turning radius test is hilarious.
I yearn to take a third gen to a Mopar show, just to be a thorn in any American Challenger owner's side.
Great car, but bold of Dodge to brand it as a Challenger
Sepecat Did you see the sh!t Chrysler was putting out in the late 1970s and early 1980s? Or most of Detroit for that matter? This car was, arguably, better than a lot of them, certainly at the price.
Yeah, I'm sure that would show them
@@RoadCone411 My mom's former boss had a Plymouth Sapporo, the twin model of this. He bought it new in the late '70s and kept it for about 20 years. He drove it until 1998 with HIGH mileage as his daily driver.
Someone at Chrysler needed to be slapped upside the head and then force to drive this foreign piece of shit into a thick brick wall!
They could get away with it a lot easier back then than they could now.
Just learned about a car I had no clue existed. Love these retro reviews
Love all of the dad comments below. I am a dad and owned a used 1980 Sapporo when I went to high school in the late 80's. It was ahead of its time and underrated. Mine was Gold with Black pin stripes. Putting 60 series tires on it helped with the sway/body roll during cornering. Rear wheel drive in the winter was challenging but fun. Putting a big speaker box with two 12" Rockford Fosgate subs improved the sound and helped put more weight on the rear tires. If you have to add weight, might as well make it useful. Finding these cars now even in bad shape will cost more than what I paid for mine when it was only 8 years old. Would be fun to get another one but they are hard to find. My kids think they are ugly and my wife doesn't like the 80's styling, so I guess I would be riding solo if I could find one.
@ 3:50 I'm cracking up at all that grabbing in the engine compartment. I think that's what I love most about these old reviews. Oh, I also love all of the body roll in every car.
how the heck is this thing even a Challenger
says so on the registration form
Ford Flex Early 1980s American cars. That's how.
Ford made a similar lapse in judgement with the Mustang.
It can go around corners and stop... which makes it more of a sports car than the original challenger.
Bartonovich52 R/T Road/Track. They weren't that bad:p
this car obviously doesn't grab life by the horns
David H. was a joke u idiot.
Jonathan Moosey lmao
You go get in there deep otherwise with all the juices you won't be able to hold on.But I agree grab life by the clit and never let go
Puff the Magic Dragon the phucc? , whose said anything about a juicer?
TheBikemaster94 Lol
its actually a pretty cool car, i like the way it looks
Not quite a hellcat...
More like a heck-kitten!
If one owned that Challenger back in the 80s, someone would be saying, "What the hell's wrong with this cat?"
The Hellcat will gnaw your arm off, this thing will playfully nibble at your fingers kicking at the back of your hand while you go "awwwwwww"
Adam Haught Or A KOWALSKI!!
Just a different time that's all, coming off the 70's gas up's and downs, everything was out of whack for a good number of years.
My father had this exact car when I was a kid and I loved it! His had rear window louvers, a small rear wing, metal curb feelers, squared off exhaust outlet, and metal grates over the front and rear lights. I can still remember the the door chime and the unique sound of the large I4 engine. Say what you want about this car but it was reliable and decently peppy for the day. Oddly enough, this 82' Challenger is what initially sparked my love of cars.
One of the better coupes built of the early 80's, I always feel this car competed well against the Toyota Celica, Datsun/Nissan 200SX and Ford Mustang.
It did. I saw a lot of them on the road back then.
Damn, I don't recall seeing even one of these on the roads, and here I thought I knew all the oddball coupes of the 80s... Nissan Pulsar, Subaru XT... stuff like that.
You probably saw one and thought it was a Galant. The only one I noticed was when a guy pulled up next to me at a redlight and I noticed he had 70's era Mopar and Challenger badges and emblems all over. I said "why did this idiot plaster his Galant with old R/T decals?" My brother told me that was the new Challenger and it was a rebadged Mitsubishi, and my soul died a little.
It's sad Chrysler didn't drop a 318 in it. It would've gave the Mustang and Camaro a run for it's money.
It was one of the faster cars available in the early early 80s. It would
beat the ass of 4 and 6 cylinder Mustangs and Camaros purple. Same with
most of the other 4 cylinder Japanese sports coupes. It could outhandle
most v8s on a road run but obviously not on a drag race.
I'm sure some got one dropped in. It was a neat looking GT coupe with rear wheel drive. Much easier than than k member swap for rwd conversion of k-car based vehicles that Mopar offered at one time. I'm surprised that Mopar didn't elect to use the Challenger name on the Conquest for a second generation of this car. That would have made sense.
Aaron H No, This One Has A 156 Four Cylinder. A Real Iron Duke Eater!
They should have put the 2.2 and 2.5 turbos in it
The 318 was making about 130 hp that year and the understeer would have been horrendous. Remember too that Chrysler was still staring death in the face after Congress bailed them out after accusing them of making nothing but V8 RWD gas guzzlers. Within a couple years they’d have a 2.2 litre turbo engine that would blow anything with a contemporary 318 in it until the late 80s.
I always Loved the looks of this car and the sapporo
Is this is new Challenger Demon?
Nah they said 2800 lbs, not 28000
@@DolleHengst no
Owned an '83. I loved that car.
Digital dash, power everything, also had the voice prompts.
Find the odd word out:
( ) Dodge
( ) Challenger
( ) Mitsubishi
the
The odd word out is Challenger, considering the other two words are manufacturers and not models.
Had no idea one existed in the 80s.
we all try to forget...I wish I had that thing that erased memories from Men in Black...not only would I have the courtesy to use it on all of you, but, like a crazed gunmen, would then turn it on myself and use it!
thebrassmonkey100 I wanna rinse my eyes out with Clorox bleach after watching this. I'm still in denial.
Bro everyone was high on the finest columbian coke we all make mistakes
lol you know what really sucked? speed limit of 55 mph on the highways..then again many of the cars were so gutless you could not really expect to no much faster than that
That's because they sucked. Low power with very low gearing to allow some wheel spin and fast acceleration up to about 40mph. Major rust buckets.
My favorite car ever, I had a 1983 Plymouth Sapporo version that never gave me any issue. Miss that one every day. If I remember correctly it was 4-wheel disc brakes in 1983. Smoothest shifting 5-speed manual ever. And 1983 fuel economy highway was truly mid 30mpg.
There's one of these in a salvage yard here in Lawton MI. Never knew these existed until I found it.
3:58, of course it's slow, you got a plug wire off.
*surprised pikachu face*
the guy checking the engine, pulls off an ignition wire, looks at it, then "replaces" it.
you can see it hanging there.
I still have mine .☺️ Still running!
My dad bought one of these a few years ago and stored it in a shipping container on the farm. He thinks it will be a collector's item someday. If the car was a bit wider, the front would look a lot like a DeLorean!
No it will not, this car is a disgrace to the original Challenger 👎
Words escape me.
Silent Shaft.
..which usually tuners disabled at the cost of a little more vibration (I know I took them off my 4G63, didn't really notice anything amiss).
Thankfully Dodge gave it "the shaft" for good after the 1983 model year.
Hey, this car had a remote fob to pop open the hood, see 03:37
Nice car, definitely a forgotten era of the Challenger's.
This was one of those 'talking cars" that started that 80's joke, "a door is a jar".
What gets me they call 2800 lbs heavy!
Ryan Hopkins That's what I said!
DaniTheNachoPirate my 73 javelin/amx is as long as an extended cab short bed f 150 and only weighs about 80 lbs more then this car. amazing how much a car weighs without all the extra options, computers and safety stuff every car today has.
For a compact car in the 80's... 2800 lbs is pretty damn heavy.
Ryan Hopkins in 1982 2800lb was heavy....especially for an import.
Most compact cars weighed around 2000 or so lb so.....
to really blow your mind a fullsize Caprice Classic sedan of 1982 only weighed about 3600. So, yeah, that little coupe was effin heavy for what it was.
Ryan, are you still in high school?
cars got very heavy at the turn of the century, even in the 90s light cars were becoming rarer and rarer at dealerships
I bet this is a car that Dodge wishes everyone just forgets about! LOL Tarnishes the Challenger name.
You must be forgetting the Slant 6 powered 70-74 models then. All the racy looks and none of the performance
At least those looked good
The Charger suffered from the same deal. I know where there's an actual 1968 Dodge Charger R/T with it's factory 225 slant 6 and automatic. Very rare (I think only 167 R/T's made with the 6), but for the reason that absolutely nobody wanted to drive them back in the day.
my neighbor has 2 Cordoba based charger. I had the Plymouth version of the 80s fwd charger (for fun look up Plymouth duster turismo commercial. mine looked just like the one in the commercial but dark grey).
Quix hell ill take my 98 dodge dakota over that. I got my 1/4mi to 15.8 and im a 4100lbs 4x4
Fuck all the haters, I want this car.
try and find one. Mine is almost mint with 231K on it. I have videos posted
Exactly what I was thinking. Looks like an '81-'86 Mustang.
sammyd19801 people always ask me if i drive a mustang, i prefer the rear of my sapporo though
well since the Challenger was made in 1978, that would make the mustang a copy of the Challenger
lol good one
Wow, talk about a flashback to my youth. I had the sister (Plymouth Sapporo) version of this Mitsubishi platform during my undergrad days in college. I think I got the car sometime in 1988 and it lasted me until the engine started having some serious issues in 1993. Rather than sink money into repairs (I believe it had a little over 100,000 miles on it) I traded it in on a Honda Civic wagon. My major complaint was that the A/C didn't work and I couldn't afford the new compressor the repair shop told me it needed. It did have a strong (for the era) engine mated to a decent 5-speed stick that made for spirited driving. It looked sharp in red but the black interior got pretty hot in the summer. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
1978-1983 Dodge Challenger.... The Challenger that no one cares about.
Hence why to have it lol, no way in hell where there be someone else driving it
Michael Lightner i actually daily one believe it or not. it's an euro spec mitsubishi sapporo though.
AWESOME,I used to have a 84 supra that breaks my heart everytime I think of it.....needles to say buying another is on the bucket
Michael Lightner the 84 supra is my favourite supra generation, i also have an 86 celica that once belonged to my grandfather, my uncle got it in japan back in 1994. today it only has 80k miles on the dash, 4AGE blue top, early model.
Oh shit the 4age had that in my Corolla gts loved that to.....just not as much obviously
18+ second 1/4 mile! That's pretty sad even in 82.
Still faster than the Chevette of the same era.
@@vector6977 HAHAHAHA. Yeah, and? LOLZ
Spencer Taylor ... I cried and cried and cried.
@@mercoid I understand!
1982 Mustang GT’s were running 16’s. Low 18’s really wasn’t that bad for that era on a car that wasn’t supposed to really be performance oriented.
The 1982 Camaro z28 took 9.4 seconds to get to 60mph and ran 17.1’s in the 1/4 mile...
I'm not positive, but that test area looks like the very end (beginning?) of Route 70 in Woodlawn, Maryland! It looks a little different today, but the layout looks very similar.
BaltimoreAndOhioRR I was thinking the very same thing. Drive on I-70 the other way, all the way, and you'll end up somewhere in Utah.
I'm not from the area, but a quick check of Google Maps shows the uncompleted section past the current end of I-70 is used as a commuter lot now. So no more road tests, but back in 1982, it looks like it was a great place to drive cars at freeway speeds without going on public roads. I'm fairly certain that is exactly where this video was shot, even the change in road surface over the bridge at 01:57 is still clearly evident today. It's also only about 10-11 miles from the Owings Mills offices of Motor Week.
Nice find!
I had an '83 Black Beauty Sapporo. Great car and very easy to work on. Mine lasted for 13 years. It rotted out pretty bad and became too unsafe to drive. The day the tow trunk came from the junkyard to take it away, the engine still ran and the air conditioning still work.
People may dis this car but because of its now rarity I would love to find a mint one just because it's different these days
1982 Dodge Challenger, AKA the Plymouth Sapparo, but born with the name of Mitsubishi Galant Lambda.
Its a bad mother
Lambda Lambda Lambda
watashi no ramuda
Its basically another coupe based on a starion....not detroit muscly enough like its namesake
Ardhana Hariwidagdo the starion was based on this lol
at 3:59 it looks like the spark plug wire is loose
troyhonda71 the whole theme of this car is loose from Bumper to Bumper and roof to chassis
Those numbers are actually pretty good for the time period.
I love watching these old videos.
The only tech I need in a car is a radio, heat/AC, power windows. Not even power locks are that big of a need.
I don't need a GPS, or some complicated infotainment system, that require you to read it, and still don't understand everything.
This is a serious John!
This is the best generation Dodge Challenger :)
Ah, when Mitsubishi was still relevant :p
I owned one of these in 2001!! Was my 1st car. Old school and fun to drive. Same engine as the Ram 50 from the 80s mine was a 5 speed and the A/C still worked, comfortable too. Drove it from Florida to New York!
I always liked these good looking coupes, and would really like to find one now!
The rear looks like a Toyota Cressida
Supra in disguise
blinkfan305 I thought it kinda looked like the mustang notchs
blinkfan305 not really...
@@s197cyclone7 Yes, the rear window.
I love these retro reviews. How about the Isuzu i-mark, Isuzu Impulse, Renault Fuego & 1985 Mitsubishi Galant. I had a Galant, and it had some incredible classy interior features that nobody else offered, even today. You all have to remember you are judging these cars by today's standards. Thirty years from now today's cars won't look that great either.
Vincent Maturo mw does have retro reviews on the i-mark and the impulse. Just search for them on the mw channel.
Vincent Maturo Today's Cars All SUCK MORBIDLY! (Just Like All WOMEN And All COPS!) Naw, I'll Stick With My Geo Metro!! Thank You.
Remember the Geo Storm? saw those everywhere. They made some with that crazy different color top.
A perfect example of a car from a very dark time in automotive history.....a time that most with to forget about
4:34 ... hey man there's a crank for the window ...
Dark times, people!
Yeah. Remember the Mustang II? Oy.
ShmuelWeintraub Oh God, that was a miserable little thing!! Even the 3rd Mustang was much better!!
I always laugh at the comments from people too young to remember the 80s.
Yep. It's like they don't even remember the Mustang II....
@@ShmuelWeintraub 80s mustang, Daytona and Camaro were a few of the only decent looking cars from that era.... Why were all cars square.... My mom had a Reliant.... eew.
I hear you!👋😂👉🤯 this is their reaction!
The first car I ever purchased was a 1981 Plymouth Sapporo (basically this exact car only Silver). It was an absolutely wonderful car, IMO it felt a decade ahead of most other domestic vehicles. It inspired me to go on to buy a 1984 Mitsubishi Starion, which was basically a Challenger/Sapporo hatchback with a turbo. Motoweek, thank you for posting these wonderful retro-videos. I've been a fan almost from the beginning.
I loved these cars back in the day. My mom had an '81 Dodge Colt Wagon, which was essentially a wagon version of this car and not the smaller Colt hatchback. RWD, 5 -speed, the 2.6 balance shaft 4. I learned to drive stick on it when I turned 16 that year.
Man, the Challenger has had an interesting life...
Nene Valenzuela a lot of cars have had very interesting historys. the skyline is a crossover now in japan
CamaroAmx Mitsubishi recently started using the 'eclipse' name for a compact crossover :(
Same basic engine that's in the US Starion and Conquest. A turbo swap into one of these would be cool.
Better yet go with the 4g63t, those 2.6's always crack the head and fail horribly.
They make a head to fix that :). 4G63 would be real neat though.
If you can find one
I've been searching for a while and I've only seen a few that were too far away from where i live
Ironically these are R A R E
And for good reason
They weren't that loved or great so there was no reason to save any
Jacob Wallingford I vote HEMI swap.
In Japan you could get this with a turbo 4G63(fun fact it was the first car to get the legendary motor too)
I have not seen one of these in 20 yrs... My 89' Omni ran an 18.2 in the 1/4 mile
my buddy had one of these plymouth sapporo great car lots of power fun
These were dark days, indeed.
Well today I learned there was a Dodge Challenger in the early 80s and that it was made by Mitsubishi...
Its only saving grace: rear wheel drive.
My parents bought a brand new one in 1982 lol! Same as the one in the video, black with gold, but automatic. Right about the same time I got my drivers license. It was a decent car in its day, decent power and smooth. If I remember right, the sticker was about $13k. Brings back memories for sure.
Hey, found my old car! I owned a black & gold 82 Challenger in the late 80s. Fantastic car! Comfortable, quiet, economical. The 2.6L was an awesome engine, I'm sure mine did 0-60 in under 10 seconds. It had all the performance I needed, I even ran it in autoslalom competitions.
Getting rid of my 2018 Scat Pack and getting one of these.
Joeysixtysix probably more reliable
At least its not a Fiat
Would save on tow bills
What was the guy doing under the hood, shaking everything?
Les Buckwalter It's the 1980s, always good to check your brand new car is actually bolted together.
You're right and I should have known that, because I owned a 1982 Plymouth Reliant.
Lol a 80's American car with the name reliant irony is a beautiful thing
He's just making sure the blinker fluid lines aren't leaking, and all the lightning cables are plugged in.
Looking for the hidden horsepower
I loved mine , it was red with tan interior.
The seat had a adjustable back and lumbard support.
Great power for hills .
As a current Hellcat owner, no words can describe what I just watched. I was only 2 years old when this video was made.
I never knew these even existed. I want one bad now
Ugh. This thing makes me proud of the old 85 Cavalier I used to drive
RedfishCarolina really? I would have gladly chosen this car over any two-door J-car of the mid-1980s!
All those small GM cars back then were Korean Knock down kit bodies made by Daewoo motors, they were very lacklustre, performance wise, and in looks.
@@fartman2269 That’s true
I didn't know there was a challenger in the 80's. now I know why!
Hmm.._..72 or 82? I cant decide (sarcasm). How did this presenter not get an Oscar for keeping a straight face every time he said "Challenger".
I really can't believe the comments. I bought my first one in Nov of 1981, I drove from the NW to San Fransisco at an average speed of 69 mph, in 1981 where the speed limit was 55. NO Tickets, the car was a stealth beast. It handled better then my 1973 Challenger and had better brakes. Like my current on it has all wheel disc brakes. Read the reports that were also done at the time. The engine is also a HEMI. 4 Cyl, but still a nice car, very reliable. They are rare. try and find one. Google 1982 Dodge Challenger.
I had one of these. Traded it in for an 88 Lebaron. Damn I was happening.
LOL. Yes, the one sure way to make myself feel bad is to list all the automobiles I've owned... How on earth did I allow this to happen!
Wow, actually pretty impressive, for an '80's Chrysler.
I had a 1982 Plymouth Sapporo. I liked the 1983 Dodge challenger better but never owned a 1983 but it had a fluorescent dash and the paint was a very appealing, at the time two tone which was black/silver. My 1982 had 4 wheel disk not drums in back which was stated in the video. The 2.6 liter was quite large at the time for a 4 cylinder although Porches came out with a 2.7 liter 4 cylinder. I thought that the 2.6 was the largest 4 cylinder in the 80s before I knew of the Porches. Being carburetor it only produced 105HP which was fine at elevation but a real dog at higher elevations. The 105hp was typical for this era until the Japanese/Americans started adding turbos in 1984. In 1984 Turbos were very common across most manufactures since emissions constraints were in full effect. The challenger/Sapporo had a very complicated carburetor system which included air injection for emissions. The engine was very bullet proof, although I blew a head gasket at some point but it was a simple, by today's standards fix. The engine was cast iron and the head was aluminum so with dissimilar metals head gaskets were an issue and still can be today. Other then that the only other weak part of the cars was a cable actuated clutch instead of hydraulic. The cable system result in frequent mis-adjustments. I had added and after market cruise control and other electronic goodies to my Sapporo which brings back fond memories. 105HP was what you got back then which was in line with the 1982 Celica, Nissan 200SX rear wheel drives from the 80s, etc. Yes maybe they should not have used the challenger name but Mitsubishi did a lot to aid the Chrysler corporation and now today it is Mitsubishi struggling in the automobile world in the US instead of Chrysler(IMO). What a turn of events.
Mitsubishi Sapporo
Sapporo was the name Mitsu used in its' own US dealers for this 2.6L I4 106hp coupé when it debuted. The only early Mitsu products that hadn't had a MoPar number were the Tredia sedán and Cordia sporty hatch (the previous gen of the latter was sold by Chrysler as the Plymouth Arrow and the Dodge Celeste).
it was a mitsubishi "galant lambda". here in Arg sold as "galant"
Mitsubishi Technica. Owned an '83.
Ugly as sin! I love watching these videos MW. Keep posting these retro videos!
Just about all cars in the 80s were ugly as sin. The 80s wasn't exactly the best time for cars. Not only were the appearances fugly, it was the gray area in the transition from monster big blocks to tiny fuel-efficient engines. Too downsized and bogged down by emissions add-ons to put out any good performance numbers, yet still too big and unrefined to realize the efficiency we have today
Precisely cars today look better,perform.better the reliability is so much better it's laughable,they're safer the list goes on and on so when people say older cars were so much cheaper I follow it up with why do you think that is lol.
+Puff the Magic Dragon today's cars are safer, better in performance areas. Other than that, most of them look atrocious.
I seriously doubt you're overpriced plastic modern car will outlast my 96 Ford F150 with a 5.0L (302) Windsor V8.
k
Ha! Solid rear axle! It was also a crowd finder! Oh wait, it didn't have enough power for that!
A coworker of mine had one of these and it was the automatic. Slow car but it was still a neat little pony car and it was a good car. All it needs is a faster engine and I'd definitely add rack and pinion steering. It came detuned from the factory with the soft springs and I had no doubt this well balanced car is probably the best kept secret in history with the drifter crowd.
I don't blame Dodge. I blame the federal government for all the atrocities of the late 1970s and 1980s.
FCA is doing the Dodge brand justice now days though...with everything from 470 HP SUVs that'll seat 7 people, to Challengers that will soon run 0-60 in 3.0 seconds and 0-100 in 6.08 seconds. So, all is forgiven.
4:37 Billy Mays?
Ahh, the geometric age of cars. So cool. give the designer a ruler and a pencil for the shape. A compass for the wheel wells. Simply beautiful.
It's hard to imagine how they could call this thing a Challenger. I'm sure it's not a bad car but they shouldn't have tarnished the name by putting it on this.
Maybe it’s lee Iacoccas revenge to piss off old dodge fans as the challenger was a very strong competitor to the mustang back in the day
Chrysler was still struggling financially when this car was made. Lee Iacocca would have sold his own mother for a buck during this period in Chrysler's history. What makes you think anything was sacred, let alone Chrysler's musclecar era?
The 80's were a very dark time for the big 3. The only performance they were concerned with was fuel mileage
Look at today's Dodge Dart, it is an ugly Korean Designed body which does not resemble any of the classic Dart models.
@4:19-4:23 Slams the trunk again;
I'm keeping an eye on one of those but it's without engine and needs some love.....i'll throw a V6 into right away some day.
Wish I would have kept mine!
needs a 392 Hemi swap
Nope. That out dated pushrod V8 hemi engine is junk. LOL
What would really be fun is to stuff a modern challenger engine into it. Like if you agree.
SPACE TRUCKER nice profile picture, and name. guessing you are a fan of deep purple?
SPACE TRUCKER that would probably be impossible. Look how the 4 cylinder barely fits in there XD
SPACE TRUCKER No, I'll Go With The 340 Six Pack, Or 440 Six Pack Heck Why Not The 426 HEMI Elephant Motor?
I always liked this car. A guy I knew in high school in ‘82 had a black one. Really sharp.
They liked to put balance shafts in their 4's. The GM Quad4 was a big displacement 4 without one as I recall. They make a difference.
This almost looks like a Toyota Corolla.
Tim Joseph nah
Forgive us for shitty 80s cars. We were all high on coke & didn't really give a fuck.
This car is worthy of a double face palm but that pic is close
These cars are about to become classics now. 😂😂(trolling smile)
But, the big 80s luxury cars those we can keep real talk.
Hey, the '80s had some of the coolest cars to date. I own two of them myself.
Buddy had a few years newer than this. It was as advertised. Reliable and surprising pep and handling. At 6.4 i wasnt to bothered by the back seat. Could still roll and mix road pops for everyone while hidden by the tinted windows
Back in High School, I wanted one of these so BAD!
This car must've been complete shit cause I have NEVER seen this car before
then you've been living in a cave, cause they sold 158,000 of the Challengers and Sapporo's. That's only 3700 less then the original 1970-1974's.
No, I've been living in Chicago where I see a little bit of just about everything from the 80's till now still being used as daily drivers, and I've always locked my eyes on cars and identify them instantly, low or high end, I have not seen one of these to my memory at all! And I grew up in the 90's when there should have been plenty on the road.
only time when you see these are in wrecking yards
+Chris Kiss I wouldn't totally knock Mitsubishi products if I were you. My mom has a 2003 Outlander and not only does her car still run like new with minimal repairs, but the reviews online and customer satisfaction ratings as well as the fact I can NEVER find one at the junk yard says a lot about the reliability of that thing. Not all Mitsubishis are shit.
MAN_ON_WHEELZ i have a 1981 sapporo with 336k KM on the dash and runs like new