Plymouth’s Lightweight Champ

When compact car sales began to take off in America, Chrysler Corp. management rushed a new model into production to fight for a fair share of that market. It was the early 1960s, and the Big Three automakers realized they needed to respond to suddenly increasing sales of compact cars, spurred by Rambler and Studebaker, along with an unexpected boom in foreign car sales. Chrysler Corp. hit the market in late 1959 with its 1960 Valiant compact. Valiant was well-made and uniquely styled, and quickly earned a reputation for economy and durability. Initially a standalone nameplate, it became a Plymouth for the 1961 model year. Like other American compacts, Valiant grew in size over the years until it became essentially a small intermediate car, abandoning the smaller-car market to the imports.

In 1970, U.S. automakers commenced their response to the growing subcompact market by introducing home-grown competitors. This time, however, Chrysler management decided to sit on their hands, believing the company couldn’t afford to enter the highly competitive, low-profit segment. It probably embarrassed them when sickly little American Motors designed, engineered and introduced its subcompact Gremlin as a 1970-1/2 offering, beating to market not just Chrysler, but also General Motors and Ford Motor Co. Those two competitors fielded their subcompact entries, Ford Pinto and Chevy Vega, as 1971 models. Years would pass before Chrysler entered the market with homegrown subcompacts — its U.S.-built Omni and Horizon. 

Meanwhile, Chrysler arranged for Plymouth dealers to offer the British-built Hillman Avenger subcompact re-badged as the Plymouth Cricket. Coincidentally, Dodge dealers got a neat little car called the Dodge Colt, built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors. The Colt sold extremely well and buyers were pleased with the perky and reliable little vehicle. Many Cricket owners, on the other hand, were unhappy with their cars’ bland styling, sluggish acceleration and disappointing quality. As a result, Cricket was dropped after 1973. Industry watchers expected Plymouth dealers to be given a version of the Colt to replace the unloved Cricket. That did happen, but only in Canada, where a re-badged Mitsubishi Colt became the “all new” Cricket. Plymouth dealers in America were left without a small car for a couple of years until the Mitsubishi-supplied Plymouth Arrow coupe arrived for 1976, followed by the more family-centric Horizon for 1978. However, Horizon was noticeably larger than the foreign mini-cars; it was nearly a compact. So, for 1979, Plymouth supplemented it with a new Mitsubishi-built subcompact dubbed the Plymouth Champ. That’s the car we’ll discuss today. Because the Champ was shared with Dodge, most of my comments can apply to the Dodge version, which retained the Colt name. 

Training a Champ

The first point I want to make concerns the Champ’s styling. Japanese car designers were fascinated with American Motors’ compact Pacer hatchback, as were several European automakers, and it’s easy to see Pacer’s influence in the Champ’s styling. Really, Champ looks like a smaller, lighter, less radical Pacer. Champ offered large window areas for excellent visibility and a feeling of greater interior room, like Pacer. However, Champ had virtues Pacer lacked, namely excellent fuel economy, plus easier parking and maneuvering. Pacer, of course, was much roomier, quieter and vastly safer in a collision. 

Plymouth Champ, debuting as a 1979 model, was a two-door hatchback offered in two versions: base ($4,425) and Custom ($4,743). Champ’s great styling made other subcompacts look old and stale. The big window areas did what they were meant to do and made the interior brighter and airier. Body lines were clean and smooth, without needless trim, creases or bulges. Large wheel openings and short overhangs gave Champ a trim, fleet appearance. It’s much like what Pacer designer Bob Nixon had penned before AMC’s lawyers forced him to bulk it up in case upcoming crash standards proved onerous.

Inside Champ were comfy seats, and sparse but attractive trim. The rear seat folded down for extra cargo space, and the large lift-up hatch made loading easy. The standard equipment list bears noting, because it included styled steel wheels, whitewall tires, pulse wipers, reclining bucket seats, carpeting, etc. — even on base cars. Custom models added bodyside tape stripes, cargo area carpeting, tinted glass, sporty steering wheel, bright window trim and more. Some online sites mention a Premium model as well, but we were unable to find specific information about it, and the model itself isn’t listed in the “Standard Catalog of Imported Cars.” Perhaps it was a short-time offering. 

Champ boasted a unitized body and chassis for greater safety than a separate frame design, while also reducing weight for better performance and fuel economy. The wheelbase was a very trim 90.6 in. and curb weight reportedly was a mere 1,730 lbs. With rack-and-pinion steering, four-wheel independent suspension with MacPherson struts, coil springs and an anti-roll bar up front, plus trailing arms and coils out back, Champ rode well for a short-wheelbase car, and with sporty handling.

As a small car designed in a fuel-short era, Champ’s layout utilized front-wheel drive to maximize interior roominess. Initially, the base engine for all was a transversely mounted 1.4-liter (86-cid) overhead-cam inline four-cylinder which developed a surprising 70 hp. Fed by a two-barrel carburetor, this little mill boasted five main bearings for smoothness and durability, plus a cast-iron block and aluminum cylinder head that permitted an 8.8:1 compression ratio without requiring high-test gasoline. However, this was only for cars shipped to dealers during the first 60 days; thereafter, Custom models were fitted with a peppier 1.6-liter, 77-hp four with Mitsubishi’s clever “Silent Shaft” technology in which two counter-rotating camshafts were fitted to cancel out engine imbalances, providing a surprisingly smooth-running engine. Base models continued with the 1.4-liter engine.

Transmission choices were interesting. Champ offered two manual gearboxes: a regular four-speed with floor shift or the novel Twin Stick, which featured two floor shifters controlling four forward speeds and two separate driving modes: “Economy” or “Performance.” This provided a total of eight forward speeds. Rambler enthusiasts should recall American Motors offered its Twin-Stick optional transmission in the early 1960s with three speeds forward plus overdrive, which essentially yielded five forward speeds. Both cars boasted twin, side-by-side floor shifters. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

In a confusingly worded paragraph added to Champ’s introductory sales brochure, Chrysler stated that base models shipped during the first 60 days would include the Twin Stick transmission, tinted glass and a rear window defogger, then went on to say they wouldn’t. I believe what they meant to convey was that those items would be included as extra-cost features on most, if not all, of the initial batch of base cars. The company also stated that Custom Champs shipped during that same period would be equipped with the 1.4-liter engine rather than the 1.6 mill, with a credit applied to the sticker price reflecting the difference. After that, all Customs would get the 1.6/Twin Stick powertrain as standard equipment. 

Gas mileage measured in the base Twin Stick economy mode was EPA-rated at an excellent 34 mpg city and 46 mpg highway, for a combined 39 mpg overall. The late-arriving four-speed automatic transmission version was rated 32 city/44 highway, and 37 mpg overall. Surprisingly, the larger engine/manual transmission team was rated 1 mpg higher in city driving compared to the smaller-engined car, but 1 mpg less on the highway, achieving a similar 37 mpg overall. 

Not offering an automatic transmission during a new car’s rollout would ordinarily be considered a major problem, but Champ wasn’t the only small car without an auto-box option; the similar-sized Renault LeCar was likewise stick-only, and never offered an automatic option in the United States. One big reason automakers could get away with that: gasoline prices were high, so manual transmissions were enjoying a brief renaissance among buyers anxious to cut fuel costs. 

The Champ’s short reign

Plymouth Champ experienced a relatively short model life, being offered only from 1979-1982. In that short span of time, few appearance changes were made to Champ, and were mainly limited to grille textures, headlamps and exterior trim. A sharp four-door hatchback joined the lineup for 1982, the final year of sales under the Champ name.

For 1983, the Champ’s name was changed to Colt, which had better name recognition, having been used successfully by Dodge for several years. Since 1979, the Dodge and Plymouth Colts had been almost identical anyway, so sharing the same model name probably made sense for what were fairly low-volume cars. It also saved some on marketing cost. After 1983, Plymouth would focus mainly on its U.S.-built models.

I’ve been searching for a Plymouth Champ for some time now and haven’t found many for sale. Those that popped up were either rust-buckets or project cars, neither of which interest me, so at the moment I remain “sans Champ.” If you decide you’d like to find a nice Champ for yourself, take my advice and look for a rust-free or nearly rust-free example, in overall decent shape. Generally speaking, the nicer the car you buy, the less it costs you in the long run. And if you happen to find two Champs for sale, well, for goodness sake, give me a holler. I’ll take whichever one you don’t want.

Good hunting!

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