Like last week’s selection of the Monte Carlo Aerocoupe and Grand Prix 2+2 for the Class of 1986, this week’s selection might be a little obvious: The Dodge Omni GLH and Omni GLHS. Thanks to Carroll Shelby’s connection with Chrysler at the time, these cars are fairly well known among automotive enthusiasts, but so far they’ve been treated more as cult cars than legends of their time. Granted, gathering a cult following is one step on the way to historical prominence, but some cult cars remain just that over time.
It’s perhaps not even worth talking about the Omnirizon twins. Though they remain historically significant as the first subcompact front-wheel drive cars in the United States, they won accolades for Chrysler on both sides of the Atlantic, and they spawned a number of interesting L-body variants, the base five-door hatchback versions of the Omni and Horizon were pretty unremarkable. For high-performance freaks, however, that changed in 1984 when Dodge introduced the GLH with its 100hp 2.2-liter engine. The 146hp Turbo came a year later, then the turbocharged and intercooled GLHS arrived in 1986. Aside from the hopped-up engine, the GLH/GLHS benefited from the Shelby Charger’s bigger brakes, stiffer suspension and lighter wheels and a modest (for the 1980s, at least) spoiler/ground effects/graphics package.
We’ve already featured a 1986 Omni GLH Turbo in the pages of Hemmings Muscle Machines (the above Graphic Red car in HMM #46), so perhaps we’ve already answered the question of collectibility for these vehicles before the question was posed. Still, we’d like to hear your opinion: In your dream garage devoted to 1986 vehicles, would you make room for a GLH/GLHS? Or would you pass for something else?
Also, keep those suggestions for the Class of 1986 coming!