Project Car Hell, Chrysler Captives Edition: Simca 1204, Dodge Colt, or Plymouth Cricket?

Simca, Colt or Cricket? Any of these Mopar beauties would keep you warm all winter in the Hell Garage.

We got all historical in the Hell Garage last week, with a Malcolm Bricklin-versus-John DeLorean gullwing boondoggle challenge. Automotive history is a fine thing, as we often demonstrate here at Autoweek, and the Hell Garage Demons think that the way to understand automotive history is to live it … in this case, by exploring the measures taken, more than four decades back, by one of Detroit's Big Three to compete with fuel-sipping imports without, you know, actually designing new vehicles.

Yes, you'll be able to experience three flavors of Chrysler's captive imports, brought to North America from France, Japan, and Britain and available for purchase at your friendly Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth dealership, circa 1971.

1971 Simca 1204

The Simca 1204 is just French enough to be awesome.

By the late 1960s, Ford was working feverishly on the Pinto, GM was pouring billions into the Vega project … and Chrysler had only the much bigger and more old-fashioned Dodge Dart/Plymouth Valiant to compete with the upcoming new generation of import-killing Detroit subcompacts. But wait -- Chrysler had taken over French carmaker Simca in 1963, and the fuel-sipping, front-wheel-drive Simca 1100 had proven to be a big success in Europe. Just drop a mighty 1204-cc engine in the 1100, slap some Chrysler badges on the fenders, put the resulting cars on a westbound cargo ship, and voila -- instant Chrysler economy car for the North American market!

Two years before the Pinto and Vega debuted, the Simca 1204 went on sale as a 1969 model in the United States. Three years later, Chrysler gave up on the idea, but a few 1204s managed to escape Dodge showrooms before that happened. One example ended up as a fairly successful 24 Hours of LeMons racer, and more survivors languish in yards and driveways across the land, waiting for you to appreciate their historical importance and rescue them.

After much searching for an affordable, quasi-solid 1204, we've managed to locate this 1971 Simca 1204 wagon in Florida (go here if the listing disappears). The seller says it runs, "Body Panels are excellent not much rust," the interior looks good, all the glass seems to be there, and it just "Needs a Fuel Tank and is ready to ride." Totally easy project! Just find a replacement fuel tank in good shape (and by that we mean "hire a metal shop to fabricate a tank at fantastic expense"), get the bodywork done, fix a few hundred other things, and your new Franco-Chrysler subcompact will be ready to roll.

1971 Plymouth Cricket

A green Hillman Avenger? Nay -- this is the venerable Plymouth Cricket.

Simca wasn't the only marque gobbled up by Chrysler during the 1960s. By 1967, the UK-based Rootes Group had become part of the Chrysler Europe empire. Just picture the high-level meeting in Highland Park, circa 1970: "So, gentlemen, that French thing, the Simca 1204, it isn't selling so well, but we've got this other little tin can over there in Yurp -- what the hell do they call that thing? -- oh yeah, the Hillman Avenger!" Glue some Plymouth badges on the British-built Avenger, give it a cute name, and bam! Instant Corolla fighter!

Sadly, even rear-wheel-drive and a 1500cc pushrod four-banger weren't enough to convince fickle American car shoppers to buy Crickets, and the car was available in Plymouth showrooms for just the 1971 through 1973 model years. With Lucas electrical components and sheet metal that proved irresistible to the Rust Monster, just about the entire North American Cricket population disappeared by 1980. We've been looking for a Cricket project since the very beginning of Project Car Hell, and finally stumbled across this 1971 Plymouth Cricket sedan in Tennessee.

The seller wants a very reasonable 500 bucks for this car -- which is much rarer than a Ferrari 250, so you know that's a steal -- and it appears to be fairly complete. Yes, there's rust. Yes, every single part for this thing is going to require shipping from the UK. No, nobody will know what it is, but you will understand the significance of your Cricket project. Such Anglo-Chrysler history!

1973 Dodge Colt

Finally, Chrysler found a winner in the Mitsubishi...er,Dodge Colt.

The 1204 and Cricket were miserable marketplace failures in the United States, so perhaps you'd like your captive-import Chrysler project to represent a more successful ocean-crossing adventure. While all that European flailing was taking place, Chrysler was also wheeling and dealing with Mitsubishi. By 1971, American car shoppers could go into Dodge dealerships and drive away in a brand-new Mitsubishi Colt Galant, rebadged as a Dodge Colt.

Unlike the European captive imports, the Colt turned out to be exactly the Pinto/Vega/Corolla/B210/Civic rival that Chrysler needed so desperately, and large quantities of the little rear-wheel-drive, 100-horse econoboxes were sold to American buyers. Why, Colt .45 Malt Liquor even used the car in their ads, which shows you how mainstream the Colt became.

As a result, plenty of restorable examples of these cars remain, but the bad news is that they've become quite popular with the vintage-Japanese-car restorers in recent years. That means that Colt projects cost plenty; the best deal we could find was this two-for-one Colt deal in Oregon (go here if the listing disappears), with an asking price of $3,000 for a 1973 Colt two-door with 1974 parts car.

Both cars look equally rough in the photos, but the '73, according to its seller, is "Not a rusty bucket. Some minor issues with rust but just a hole in front fender and surface stuff. Runs and drives." You get a "Starion turbo motor" plus Starion wheels with the deal, though this project would be more true to the historical-significance concept with the correct 1,597cc 4G32 engine installed. You'll sort that out while you're fixing the rust in the non-rusty-bucket car. How hard could it be?

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