In the early 1980s, half-cars were a popular way for manufacturers to offer the flexibility of a pickup truck with the fuel economy of a compact car. For competition, there were the VW Rabbit Sportruck and the Subaru Brat, as well as the slightly larger Chevrolet El Camino and Ford Durango. Like the Sportruck, the Rampage/Scamp twins were based on their hatchback sibling, the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon. Although the half-car concept was a certain success in the gas crisis years of the 1970s and early 1980s, Chrysler was only able to sell about 30,000 Rampages from 1982-84. The Scamp was only sold in 1983, and of all Scamps, the GT is the rarest – of about 3600 built, only 1300 were the GT version. To see one example of this future Barrett Jackson success story, check out this 1983 Plymouth Scamp GT, with bidding currently at $2550 and 8 hours left to go in Louisville, KY. Buy it now and you’ll have Hawaiian-shirted, trophy-wife-toting Gen-Xers lined up around the block to buy yours in 2040!
Posts Tagged ‘plymouth’
Half-Car Fever – 1983 Plymouth Scamp
September 26, 2013Fast & Furious – Plymouth Fury sedan & coupe
March 10, 2010I never really liked 1970s American cars back when they were contemporary – they seemed big, wasteful, ponderous, boring, and they gave me motion sickness, especially sitting in the back seat with the hood ornament floating up and down on the swells all the way up front. Blech, thinking about it now still makes me feel a little queasy. Call it nostalgia, or the influence of Streets of San Francisco and the French Connection, but at this point I’ve grown to appreciate the design statement they were making back then. And after a lifetime of owning 4-cylinder cars, I have to admit I’m curious as to what life on the other side of the fence is like.
Ever since my fiancee moved up to Noe Valley, and I started walking past this pea-green metallic Plymouth Fury II pillarless coupe in her neighborhood (since sold/moved), I’ve had a particularly strong appreciation for the Furies. Compared to contemporary cars like the Ford LTD and Chevrolet Impala, these cars look really menacing, with fold-away headlights, wide & low grilles, slab sides, and obscene length. Nowadays, they look ridiculously big, even parked by full-size modern sedans and SUVs. Makes you wonder how people managed to park back when this was a more ubiquitous form of transportation. Let’s take a look at the first of two cars currently listed at our price point.

