Junkyard Find: 1989 Dodge Colt DL 4WD

by Murilee Martin

Published: November 18th, 2012

Denver junkyards don’t have quite as many W126 Mercedes-Benzes or 1960s Detroit classics as the ones I grew up exploring in California, but they do have examples of just about every four-wheel-drive Japanese car made during the 1980s. Four-wheel-drive Toyotas, Subarus, and Civics are all represented, though I’m still trying to find a 4WD 80s Sentra. But hey, now I can check Mitsubishi off the list of Weird Japanese 4WD 1980s Cars I’ve Seen In The Junkyard, because here’s this Colt!

With “Full Time 4WD,” you didn’t have to work any complicated levers or switches to choose between front- and all-wheel-drive; instead, this car would waste fuel, make extra noise, and wear out driveline components even when driving on dry pavement in June.

Imported For Dodge!

236,581 miles was a lot more than most Mitsubishi products of this era managed. Well done, little Colt 4WD!

#1980s #1989 #1989DodgeColt #AllWheelDrive #Colt #Denver #Dodge #DodgeColt #DownOnTheJunkyard #FourWheelDrive #Mitsubishi #Junkyard #JunkyardFind #MitsubishiColt

Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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3 of 33 comments

Acuraandy on Nov 18, 2012

Friend of mine had one of these in Plymouth flavor. Same color. Find a Mirage Colt ever? 91ish

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- Corey Lewis on Nov 19, 2012
  
  I saw a Mirage Colt about a month ago in a parking lot, still being driven. It was pearl white, which I found unusual.
  
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Dvdlgh on Nov 19, 2012

Had the Vista 4wd/man trans. No ac. Loved it. No problems. Eng never missed a beat. Wish I would have kept it.

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Lou_BC Blows me away that the cars pictured are just 2 door vehicles. How much space do you need to fully open them?
Daniel J Isn't this sort of a bait and switch? I mean, many of these auto plants went to the south due to the lack of unions. I'd also be curious as how, at least in my own state, unions would work since the state is a right to work state, meaning employees can still work without being apart of the union.
EBFlex No they shouldn’t. It would be signing their death warrant. The UAW is steadfast in moving as much production out of this country as possible
Groza George The South is one of the few places in the U.S. where we still build cars. Unionizing Southern factories will speed up the move to Mexico.
FreedMike I'd say that question is up to the southern auto workers. If I were in their shoes, I probably wouldn't if the wages/benefits were at at some kind of parity with unionized shops. But let's be clear here: the only thing keeping those wages/benefits at par IS the threat of unionization.