1973 Dodge Colt Hardtop Coupe Is Junkyard Treasure in Denver

Chrysler began importing rebadged Mitsubishis for the 1971 model year, when the first Dodge Colts arrived on our shores. Those rust-prone 1971-1973 first-generation Colts are nearly extinct now, so today's Junkyard Treasure in a Denver-area self-service yard is an especially interesting one.

Chrysler didn't have the deep pockets needed to design its own subcompact car from scratch at the time, and the company tried selling rebadged Hillman Avengers and Simca 1100s from its European subsidiaries during the early 1970s. Those two cars were sales failures, but the Colt was a hit.

The Colt went through seven generations in the United States, beginning life based on the Colt Galant, then becoming a Lancer twin and finally—with the switch to front-wheel-drive for the 1979 model year—a Mirage. All the 1971-1973 Colts sold here came with the 1.6-liter SOHC 4G32 engine, in this case rated at an even 100 (gross) horsepower.

This one sat in the same spot outdoors for long enough for a tree to grow up between the bumper and the body.

The interior is thoroughly nuked by decades of Colorado sunlight, but there's still plenty of good stuff for local first-gen Colt owners to pull. The body has very little rust (by the standards of cheap 1970s Japanese cars).

It happens to be parked next to another early-1970s affordable coupe from the Chrysler Empire: a 1972 Plymouth Duster. One built in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, one built in Hamtramck, Michigan.

An "international driver great" needs a car, not a toy.

The hardtop Colt Galant was a status symbol in its homeland.

The very first Mitsubishi-built cars imported for United States sale was the Colt Galant, sold here as the Dodge Colt.

This first generation of Dodge Colt was sold for the 1971 through 1973 model years. Yes, I bought that COLT badge for my garage wall.

The Colt was rear-wheel-drive until the 1978 model year, after which the name went on the front-wheel-drive Mirage. That year, a Plymouth-badged version called the Champ appeared.

The Mirage-based Colt stuck around through 1994, though the Eagle Summit-badged version was available here through 1996.

It appears that a pair of (nonfunctional) J.C. Whitney hood scoops once lived here.

These first-generation Colts are incredibly rare now. Prior to this car, the last time I documented one in a car graveyard was 2011.

This is a 1.6-liter SOHC four-cylinder engine, rated at 100 hp and 101 lb-ft (keep in mind that those are gross power numbers, not the more realistic net numbers we've been using since late 1971).