Here we have one of the original pocket rockets – the Omni GLH from the mid 1980s. Who wouldn’t love 80s domestic mediocrity in the form of a shitbox hatch, but stuffed with a turbo four yielding impressive straight line performance in this light car? Carroll Shelby himself was involved, and even bought the last 500 GLH models in order to further modify them to create the GLHS, which bumped output from 146 to 175HP and added several other upgrades.
This one looks great in the photos, so you may be wondering why we infer that it’s a project from hell and why it’s cheap. Scroll down for that… Good news is a lot of cool work has been done already. Bad news is there’s one major catch.
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Champagne, IL
$745 with 13 bids and reserve NOT met
Posted by CG
Update: SOLD for $2,125 with 7 bids. With a lot of work done, that doesn’t seem to bad.
Front has been modified to accept an SRT-4 intercooler- cool idea. Wheels are supposedly only there as mock-ups – we’re not sure why.
The seller did some custom body work on the rear, and with good results.
Here’s a close-up of the intercooler.
The interior looks overall complete and nice. This wouldn’t be a bad place to spend time, despite being a 1980s domestic.
Here’s the major catch – there’s no block. This is either a deal-breaker or a deal-maker, depending on how much one wants to customize and personalize, as well as how many parts one has lying around. The work on this car appears to be so good that we’d love to see it go to just the right person who wants to complete it. We think they’ll end up with something special.
Ad text (we apologize for the yelling):
1986 OMNI GLH TURBO
BIG SLH SHELBY BRAKE CONVERSION – TURBO II CONVERSION – LARGE DAYTONA KNUCKLES/STRUTS
UP FOR AUCTION IS MY 1986 OMNI GLH TURBO
THIS OMNI WAS PURCHASED AS A PROJECT TO BUILD INTO THE ULTIMATE DAILY DRIVER / SCCA WEEKEND RACER, MY PRIORITIES CHANGED AND NOW I NEED THE ROOM INSTEAD OF THE RIDE…MY LO$$ IS YOUR GAIN.
I STARTED WITH AN 86 GLH-T FROM TENNESSEE ORIGINALLY AND WAS BUILDING IT THE WAY I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED ONE SO IT’S NOT RESTORED TO STOCK BUT A GLH BUILT THE WAY I WANTED IT TO BE. THE WHEELS ARE 16″ LACE THAT RESEMBLE BBS TWO PIECE WHEELS OFF OF A LEBARON GTC WITH 205/40/16 TIRES MOUNTED JUST FOR MOCK UP. (USED SET TO FIND SIZE I WANTED TO USE – WILL NEED REPLACED) THE BRAKES AND FRONT STRUTS/KNUCKLES ARE SHELBY DAYTONA OR SLH (STOPS LIKE HELL) 4 WHEEL DISC BRAKES.
THE BODY WAS IN BEAUTIFUL SHAPE EXCEPT FOR SMALL DENTS DINGS AND MISSING THE GROUND EFFECTS WHICH I BOUGHT.
THE CAR WAS PAINTED IN THE CORRECT RED USING PPG PAINT. WHILE I WAS FIXING DINGS I DECIDED TO SMOOTH THE REAR SIDE MARKER LIGHTS AND REMOVE THE REAR BUMPER AND FILL THE HOLES IN THE VALANCE PANEL TURNING IT INTO A CUSTOM ROLLED PAN THAT TURNED OUT AWESOME! (I HAVE THE COMPLETE REAR BUMPER ASSEMBLY AND WILL BE INCLUDED IN SALE)
THE TAILLIGHTS ARE SMOOTHED AND CUSTOM TINTED. THE FRONT MARKER LENSES NEEDED TO BE REPLACED SO I PAINTED THEM BLACK JUST TO SEE HOW THEY WERE GOING TO LOOK WHEN I FOUND AND TINTED A GOOD PAIR. ALL OF THE TRIM ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE VEHICLE HAS BEEN MEDIA BLASTED AND REPAINTED WITH CORRECT TRIM BLACK PAINT. THE DOOR LOCKS AND HANDLES ALL WORK AS THEY SHOULD, IN FACT THE FRONT AND REAR DRIVERS SIDE OUTSIDE DOOR HANDLES WERE BOTH REPLACED.
THE ONLY RUST WAS IN THE FRONT FLOORBOARDS, IT WAS MINOR AND I MADE SHEET METAL PATCHES AND FIXED THEM THEM PAINTED THE FRONT FLOORS WITH RUST PREVENTATIVE PAINT.
THE INTERIOR WAS COMPLETELY REMOVED AND THROUGHLY CLEANED BEFORE RE-INSTALLING, THE CARPET, DOOR PANELS, AND DASH LOOK LIKE NEW! I ADDED A GRANT GT MOPAR TUFF STEERING WHEEL AND A 1970 CHALLENGER TUFF WHEEL ADAPTOR AND WAS GOING TO INSTALL A MOPAR PISTOL GRIP SHIFTER INPLACE OF THE STOCK SHIFT LEVER.
THE SEATS NEED TO BE REUPHOLSTERED, THE CARDBOARD HEADLINER IS MISSING,(MISSING WHEN I PURCHASED THE CAR), NEEDS A NEW GLOVEBOX DOOR AND CENTER ARMREST REPLACED.
AGAIN I WAS IN THE PROCESS OF BUILDING THE CAR AND PRIORITIES CHANGED SO I STOPPED WHERE I WAS AT.
THE SHORT-BLOCK IS MISSING!! THE CAR WAS PURCHASED WITH A LOCKED UP MOTOR THAT WAS CRACKED AND COULD NOT BE SAVED. THE CAR COMES WITH A FRESH HEAD (LOW MILES) WITH A 1 PIECE INTAKE AND SUPER 60 TURBO ATTACHED AS AN ASSEMBLY WITH 40LB INJECTORS, AN ADJUSTABLE CAM TIMING GEAR AND A SUPER 60 CAMSHAFT. THIS SET UP SHOULD BE GOOD FOR AN EASY 250+ HORSEPOWER! BOLT THIS SET UP ON YOUR SHORT-BLOCK BOLT IT ALL TO THE ORIGINAL TRANSMISSION AND HAVE FUN! THE FRONT BUMPER HAS BEEN SPLIT TO ACCOMMODATE THE SRT4 FRONT MOUNTED INTERCOOLER. WALBRO 225 FUEL PUMP AND A MOPAR PERFORMANCE TII COMPUTER. I REPLACED BOTH FRONT WHEEL BEARINGS. THIS CAR NEEDS A GOOD WEEKEND OF WORK WITH A GOOD SHORT-BLOCK AND YOU COULD BE DRIVING IT!
EVERYTHING IS THERE FOR THE CAR EXCEPT FOR THE FOLLOWING
– SHORT-BLOCK
– CARDBOARD HEADLINER
-GLOVE BOX DOOR
– PASSENGER SIDE DOOR SILL PLATE (BLACK)
– EXHAUST (DOWN-PIPE INCLUDED)
– NEW BARKE FLEX HOSES
ALL PARTS ARE THERE TO COMPLETE THIS PROJECT – ALL OF THE HARD WORK IS DONE!
SOMEBODY FINISH WHAT I STARTED, IT WILL BE A KILLER CAR WHEN FINISHED THAT WILL GO AS GOOD AS IT LOOKS!!!
GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY BIDDING!