5k: Shakotan Galant: 1975 Dodge Colt

The first generation Dodge Colt was a rebadged version of the Japanese Mitsubishi Galant and also sold under the sweet Plymouth Cricket moniker in Canada.  Colt or Cricket, the basic front-engine rear-drive Japanese economy car lends itself well to Shakotan (シャコタン) style, which is typified by extreme lowering, wide deep dish wheels and flared fenders.  Find this 1975 Dodge Colt for $2500, offered in Spokane, WA via craigslist.

Tip from Oldsmobuick.

The seller is quick to point out that this bumblebee yellow/black classic is “lowered, probely not a good first car for your daughter.”  We strongly disagree, and would much rather see daughters around the world learn to drive in a proper manual transmission’d classic such as this instead of some Toyota Prius filled with electronic nannies meant to isolate you from road feel and nav-o-tainment systems meant to distract you from the chore of the commute.

This Colt sports a classic mid-70s thin rimmed steering wheel wrapped in a vinyl cover that has probably been in place since 1985.  For all  you kids out there – that funny looking joystick that looks like an extended version of BMW’s iDrive interface is used for selecting transmission gear reduction ratios, and perhaps you’d pay attention to your speed (low or high) if you had to select your own gears instead of relying on the vague awareness of other drivers around you that leads to the horrible ‘speed herd’ mentality of 99% of today’s drivers.  If we had a nickel for every time someone next to us sped up/down to needlessly match our speed, our rides would also be as low as this Shakotan.

The asking price on this Colt seems low, especially considering that he has only recently purchased the Rota rims and they probably cost near his asking price when wrapped with new Falken rubber.  Buy a nice set of new rims/tires and get a free car?  We like that idea…

See a better Shakotan? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com