1978 Dodge Omni vs Ford Pinto & Fiesta & Chevy Chevette Film Commercial - Dodge Demo Screen
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.ย. 2021
- Thank you Mopar Jeff in Virginia. The production was 1.9 million vehicles between Omni and Horizon from 1978 till 1990 in the USA, much more when Europe is added into the total. Lean Burn Comments will be deleted.....this car had no issues or problems with Lean Burn, was in production 13 model years.. My family owned 7 of them in that time period
Watch this Dodge Omni Comparison to the VW Rabbit and Datsun B210 • 1978 Dodge Omni vs VW ...
Wink Martindale is the narrator with Hubert Green demonstrating a Golf Technique - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
2:15...."Driving" with the hand brake fully on! I love it! Commercial/movie magic... :)
Wow, good eye!
I was about to point that out. You beat me to it!
I didn't catch that! Thank you! 🤣
These were fun cars to drive. The biggest competitor was the VW Rabbit. They even looked alike.
The European cousin to the Omni the Talbot-Chrysler Horizon won the 1979 European Car of the Year award
Hate to say this, but Ford's Fiesta and Vauxhall's Chevette / Opel Kadette were also European designs adapted for the US market.
I was 18 years old in 1978 these commercials brings back memories.
I was 15, my sister had an Omni
I did the road portion of driver education and took the licensing test in a Dodge Onmi in 1991.
Love your videos. Such a vintage feel. Brings it all back for us nostalgia buffs.
Like comfort food for a car nerd. Love this stuff. Thanks for posting.
My first car was an '81. Yes, it did vapor lock on me, once, but restarted after half an hour or so. That was after my mom's '86 Horizon had been the first car I ever drove. The summer I was 17 when my Aunt Betty moved across town my older cousin with a pickup took her couch and bed, I moved everything else with the Omni. Multiple trips, of course, but enough to make me a hatchback fan (and whenever possible, owner) ever since.
I worked at a quad Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge/Dodge truck store from 1975-84. We sold quite a few of these Horizon/Omni’s. They were generally pretty reliable. Especially with the 2.2 liter engine.
I worked for Suburban Dodge/Sam Dell Dodge in 1977 thru 1980. We sold so many of these and we'd have a waiting list to get them in the first year. The smaller VW block was way better of an engine. My 2.2 in my LeBaron ate itself at only 80 thousand miles, they were pretty crappy.
@@OsbornTramain I had an '84 Turismo with 2.2, it was noisy and vibrated and finally ate itself too at 65,000 miles.
They need to make these today. I'd buy one in a instant. They were the best cars for the money at the time.
I cant believe they really wrote "omni" into the side paint job- that just screams late 1970s! I love it!
The Omni/Horizon was king of the little cars in my opinion and they were one of the cars that saved Chrysler from going bankrupt. They were a great car
Always liked those GLHS omnis. I had a "charger" 2.2 for a spell in the mid/late 80s. Give thanks to Ruxton and Cord for the Front Wheel Drive from 1929. . . .
I had a buddy that had one of the first of these - with a funky Peugeot (?) engine. Pretty good on gas, comfortable, and a bear in snow (I still preferred my Chevettes with studded snows & not enough power to spin!). Thankfully for my buddy, it also took a hard frontal hit & still let him walk away pretty much intact.
Those dodge omni’s were pretty comfortable to drive.
The new Dodge Omni. It does everything. It totes the tots, hits the night spots etc. I remember the Omni commercials from back then. My aunt and uncle ordered a brand new 1978 Dodge Omni with all the options minus automatic transmission. It was a pretty nice little car that served them into the early nineties. My parents bought one of the first Honda Accord 4 doors in February 1979. Between the two cars, the Honda seemed light years ahead of the Omni in just about every automotive way. Even though the price of the Honda was about $1500.00 more then what my aunt and uncle paid for the Omni, the Honda felt like a Mercedes compared to the Omni. The funny part was my parents most have bought a Honda built on a Monday. Our mechanic used to call it that crazy Honda because there was always something breaking down on it. Enough to cure my parents to never buy a Honda again. I've had several Hondas since then and loved all of them. Least favorite was the 94 EX I bought new. My 1993 LX was way better. Honda really cheaped out with all the hard plastics in the 94 vs the 93. The fabric used for the seats were of much higher quality in the 93 as well.
The Omni was probably light years ahead of the Chevette and Pinto though Lol.
I can tell that several in the comment section didn’t read your description OT. I never knew these had the Lean Burn system. I love the Omni and it’s chassis mates, especially the little Chargers! Love your content!
Lean Burn is totally reliable and a myth have been created by folks that never even owned one.
@@OsbornTramain my father was actually a Chrysler Master Tech (‘72-‘99), and he mentioned how great it made the V8s in terms of efficiency. I love all of his stories.
Earlier Omnis had a VW engine .
VW short block, everything but the block and crank were all Mopar. Things like pistons will NOT interchange.
My grandparents had a blue 88 with a 2.2 and a five speed it was such a great little car they bought it to pull behind the motorhome and because grandma wanted a buzz around car. I would gladly trade up my 83 Chrysler for one of these if I can find one in nice condition
@ 2:14 *I like how they're driving with the parking brake on.*
R.I.P. Hubert Green
Wow, I didn't know he died in 2018, That's surprising
@@OsbornTramain Neither did I. His flourish at the top of the golf game in the late 70s was a vague memory so I double checked .
In the mid 80s in my early 20s I was in Security at Universal Studios. They had white Omni's mostly for us Mobile Security Guards. I absolutely LOVED my Omni!! We had the fully loaded ones with Air Conditioning and while not a race car by any means the Omni's we had never had a problem with the steep hills, rainy, muddy or winding roads of the Studio Backlot. I only wish I had owned one personally but I got more into Sports Cars. Would have loved to have one as a Daily Driver!
It's hard to believe a time when there was a market for small, economical, transportation and Americas lived with in their means.
You can drive a nice larger car within your means many times. But I miss the days I barely remember when everything didn't have to be a luxury car
Yep, I agree, I miss that....everyone needs to have luxury now...that's what's amazing to me.....sure it's nice to have nice things. But there was a time when transportation meant just getting somewhere, now it's all image....people over extend themselves just to fit in.
You are so right!! I really miss simple, basic transportation that was affordable.. To this day I don't need everything to be Screens and LED Backlit.. Just give me a car that handles well enough and I'll add any jazz I want myself in due time.. That's the way I grew up!
@@davidmollard9832 Yep that was also a time when larger cars weren't all luxury cars either, you had a choice of models and trim levels, and could be economically priced for someone on a budget who just needed more room.
The air/heat controls were on the left like the earlier Dodge/Plymouth full size sedans and wagons at the time; but not the center on the later Dodge/Plymouth full size sedans and wagons.
Love watching these videos. But I don't believe that was Wink Martindale on this one. I compared the voice on this promo to the Omni/Rabbit with Wink. The voices appear to be different. These are so fun to watch. I can imagine salesmen watching these and regurgitating this to "prospects" 😂
you are correct, it's not Wink Martindale. He did many of the films with the Golfers but not this one for what ever reason.
These cars were great. They sold well all the way through Chrysler's financial crisis.
Technically, Chrysler's financial issues were 1975 thru 1980. Part of the crisis as due to the R&D Spending and development for cars arriving in 1978 and 1978 plus the recall of Rust Issues in the fenders of the Aspen/Volare cars. The R Body was expensive and didn't sell and the Omni Horizon arriving in 1978 help due to the high costs of developing this world car. The spending on K car program was on going too in the late 78 79 time frame. 1980 was the year the financial crisis ended. At that point the loan guarantees kicked in and Chrysler had money and then the K body cars arrived and took off and the mini vans. The Omni and Horizon did sell in big numbers all the way thru to 1989, but they were partly to blame, in terms of the big R&D spend on development which helped cause the crisis. Chrysler paid off all the guaranteed loans supported by the Treasury Department in 1984. With the US Government making a profit on the deal due to exercising stock options which Chrysler Granted trearury as part of the deal in 1980
Oh man I love those MCM homes shown at 2:37. I'll bet this was filmed in Palm Springs.
My great grandparents had an 86 escort. It was a hatch. Interesting how many of the features here made it to Ford's compact later on
I will take it
2:15 The guy is driving the car with the E-Brake on! Kids these days, I just don't know! :-)
When did auto makers start to put a center armrest into small/cheap cars as standard equipment? I remember the first new car I bought, a 1997 Ford Escort base model. That thing didn't come with one. I had to pay $100 for an aftermarket armrest and install it myself :)
“Dodge has put it all together. Omni does it all. The new Dodge Omni does… it …all…“ Chrysler dragged its feet getting a competitive subcompact to market, but as this film points out , when it did, it leaped ahead.
My buddies parents had a 80 Omni, 2.2 had tons of power & handled great, I had a 80 Fiesta, no comparison, it sucked.
2:25 he’s going to have a hard time driving with the parking brake engaged.
The US automakers were so late to the compact car market. Dodge relied on Mitsubishi huge during this time.
I believe the Omni and Horizon came from Chrysler's European affiliate, Talbot.
I don't think I've ever heard the words Omni and great used in the same sentence before.
what was wrong with it? Motor Trend Car of the year....no recalls or issues, 3 million made? Like...do you live under a rock if you've never heard the word "Great" and Omni together?
You know Ive seen way more of these than pintos or chevettes in my lifetime, born in 91
That's very surprising considering that the pinto ended in 1980 and the Vega in 1977, 1.9 million Omni/horizon built and 2 million Vegas. I don't recall ever seeing a Vega in the 1990's, they weren't in the wild that's for sure.
7:50 that's the only time I've ever seen the factory vinyl top for these. Even in the launch '78 brochures it's shown only in an illustration (not even a photo) on the options page. Gone entirely from the '79 one. Did it even actually make production?
Yes, it did make production, I washed a few of them while working for a Dodge Dealer. They were probably no more than 1 or 2 percent of production totals.
I'm sold. Where can I buy one?
Everyone says the k car saved that company but I give the credit to the Omni it' keep the em going and k car was just a Omni with a wider body and a simpler rear suspension and compared to it's competitor's the Omni it was a way better car
What I would like to see is a film comparing the 1979 Chrysler Newport to its rivals which would possibly be the Ford LTD and Chevy Impala.
Wow! Talk about "mashing" the gas pedal down!
Cool
Omni was axiomatically superior to the pinto or chevette.
Almost looks like the VW RABBIT..
Dodge Omni
🥝✔️
These came with a VW engine.
sort of, the block was VW, everything hanging off of it was Chrysler