A Dodge Spirit does not belong in a Concours. It belongs in a Cars and Coffee if and only if Grandma Mildred or Grandpa Irving need to make a morning run to the local Pathmark to get fresh bread before the grandchildren show up. However, what you’re staring at today is not a normal Dodge Spirit. Carroll Shelby (may he rest in peace) got ahold of this one, and managed to turn a pereniall snore-mobile into one of Chrysler’s more eclectic fast sedans.

During an era when turbocharged sedans was somewhat of a novelty, and the best cheap American performance sedan was the Ford Taurus SHO, Dodge set out to match it with two less cylinders, more-primitive suspension, and a turbocharger the size of Refrigerator Perry. The dowdy little 2.2L engine gained a 16-valve head and tuning from Lotus, bringing maximum power up to over 220HP, quite a lot for the era. This was, in fact, a performance bargain, at $17K starting price, with air conditioning and power steering standard. Dodge made a few thousand of them, but they are few and far between today. Enjoy the photos of this unusual hot-rod Dodge.

-Albert S. Davis