Spotted: a Plymouth Horizon
It is familiar to anyone who regularly attends a car event: the visitor parking lot often contains cars that are at least as interesting as those at the event itself. This has also been demonstrated in this column before. Last Easter weekend, the Noordhollands Oldtimer Festival traditionally took place again in Hem/Venhuizen. One of the visitors took, as far as we are concerned, the highlight of the day.
The spotted specimen
Yours truly is pretty well versed in obscure car models, but still had to think carefully about what this is again. The answer: a 1981 Plymouth Horizon. Perhaps that type name still sparks a small light: as a hatchback, along with the Dodge Omni, it still has a reasonable reputation as the North American version of what was the Chrysler/Simca/Talbot Horizon with us. Less well known is that there were more variants than just the five-door hatchback.
Plymouth Horizon: more than a hatchback
So since the hatchback still has some familiarity, we’ll focus on those other variants for now. As you can see, the hatchback alone, delivered from 1978 to 1990, was available under various brand and type names, but we are doing our best to keep it organized.
Plymouth Horizon as a coupe
For the 1979 model year, a coupe version was added to the lineup. On the Dodge Omni it was given the suffix 024 and on the Plymouth Horizon it was TC3. Compared to the hatchback, the coupe had a longer wheelbase and a completely separate body. So basically only the under-skin technology corresponded. In terms of drive, they were also similar to the hatchback, which meant that the coupe had to rely more on its looks than its performance.
For model year 1981, the coupes were positioned more as stand-alone models and were simply called Dodge 024 and Plymouth TC3. For model year 1982, the coupes changed names again. The Plymouth version was now called Turismo and the Dodge continued as the Charger. Thus the Horizon suddenly formed another remarkable chapter in the history of that famous muscle car line. A sport version with a more powerful engine also appeared: the Dodge Shelby Charger and the Plymouth Turismo Duster.
For model year 1984, both versions underwent a facelift, with flat dual headlights. Another slightly more powerful engine came the following year. For model year 1987, the coupe models were succeeded by the all-new Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance. As the Chrysler ES (three-door) and GTS (five-door), these were also officially delivered in the Netherlands in slightly modified form.
Plymouth Horizon as a pickup truck
Then there is the most unexpected, but also most uncluttered variant. A pickup version also appeared for the 1982 model year, under the name Dodge Rampage and based on the coupe. The pickup had to compete with the larger Chevrolet El Camino. Therefore, Chrysler even took the trouble to modify the rear suspension compared to the other Horizon variants. That way, the Rampage could still offer a reasonable payload.
For model year 1983 only, the Dodge Rampage was also available as a Plymouth Scamp, with the badges being the only difference. For model year 1984, the Rampage underwent a facelift, matching the aforementioned Charger. After 1984, it was all over and out for the pickup.
The Plymouth Horizon in the Netherlands
As if a Plymouth Horizon TC3 outside America is not special enough, the one we spotted is also originally Dutch. As far as we know, the American Horizon variants were never delivered in Europe, so someone must have found this coupe interesting enough to import it brand new themselves.
With all these name variations, it is difficult to determine how many models from this series drive around in the Netherlands, but if we search on “Plymouth Horizon” we come up with only three. Remarkably enough, two of them are ‘original Dutch’, including the one spotted. It is also the only one of the three with valid MOT and insurance. Unfortunately, the RDW has not registered the body variant of any of them, but it could just be that this is the only Horizon coupe in the Netherlands.
For completeness: there are three Dodge Omni’s on Dutch registration plates, and as far as we can tell, that means we have had all Dutch examples from the (American) Horizon family.
Weekend Tip
Speaking of events, this Plymouth Horizon would be an ideal participant for the EMWalhalla (here our report from 2022 and 2023), which takes place on May 10 (tomorrow, that is) on the grounds of Louwman’s Toyota World in Raamsdonksveer. There you are sure to come across many more such completely unknown or forgotten cars.