The Morning Call and Mcall.com's view

The Shelby Lancer, the third in the series of Dodge performance cars produced by race car driver and car designer Carroll Shelby, once again proves that high performance and impressive road manners need not cost a fortune.

Shelby, who has been a performance consultant to Chrysler Corp. since 1982, is perhaps best known for his Shelby Cobra and Shelby Mustang of the 1960s, two extremely fast cars that are now very desirable collector cars. During this period Shelby worked for Ford Motor Co. and in 1966 and 1967 Shelby-managed teams won at LeMans. When Lee Iacocca took over Chrysler, he hired Shelby to ”bring excitement back to the auto industry.”

I’m not sure that accomplished that but he did help the Dodge Division with several high performance packages. In February 1986, Shelby took his role a step further when Chrysler announced that Shelby Automobiles Inc., was being formed to make high-performance vehicles based on Dodge products.

In mid-year, the first limited edition car, the Shelby GLH-S 4-door, rolled off the Whittier, Calif., assembly line. Only 500 GLH-S models were made, and almost all of them were sold before they reached the dealers’ showrooms. The second car, the Charger GLH-S 2-door, had a 1,000 unit run and there are still some of these available.

The third car, the Shelby Lancer (test car supplied by Rothrock Motor Sales, 15th Street and Route 22, South Whitehall, only one of 89 Shelby dealers in the country), is quite a departure from the first two cars. They are, in essence, high-powered economy cars. Quick, mean, no nonsense and no frills. The Shelby Lancer is a luxury, high performance car, aimed squarely at the Mercedes-Benz 190 16-valve and BMW 535i. This is quite a lofty ambition since we are not only talking about cars that are well established and respected but also much more expensive than the Shelby Lancer.

”This is not a hot rodding type of sports car designed for the race track,” Shelby said. ”What we have here is a sophisticated touring sedan . . . our first shot at the Euro sedan market.”

Everybody but everybody is building a European touring sedan. Some are good, some are indifferent, but none are bad. Perhaps Shelby would have been better off to call his car an American performance sedan, since it is certainly that – and more. But regardless of what anyone wants to call it, the Shelby Lancer is impressive.

As with the other Shelbys, the Lancer is a limited production car with only a run of 800 units. It is based on the Dodge Lancer Turbo, itself an impressive performer. The Shelby is a mid-size car with a wheelbase of 103.1 inches, length, 180.4 inches; width, 68.3 inches; height, 52.5 inches, and curb weight, 2,895 pounds. If you are looking for raw performance, you would be better off with the first two models since all share the same powertrain, However the Lancer is quite a bit heavier. The extra weight and size, though, does make it much more civilized and a much more comfortable car. In fact, it is a very nice family-type car: that is, if your family likes to move about at high speeds.

An interesting styling feature of the Lancer is that while it looks like a four-door sedan with a short-coupled trunk, it is actually a cleverly disguised hatchback. It has extra cargo space if needed and the split seatbacks can be locked to prevent anyone from entering the storage area from the interior of the car.

The interior is luxurious-looking in a sporty manner. It has all the gauges, all the controls, front sport seats with high bolsters and plenty of ambiance. The first clue, indicating that this is indeed a luxury car, is the Compact Disc (CD) player/tuner, which comes as standard equipment. Also standard are air conditioning, power windows, door locks and outsider mirrors, overhead console with lamps, compass and thermometer. All-in-all, it looks quite expe sive.

The five-speed manual transmission version (the test car) has only one price, $16,995, which includes everything that was mentioned and will be mentioned. Add a destination charge of $665 and the total comes to $17,660, not exactly a heart stopper in an age of ”economy cars” selling for as much as $15,000. (Half the Shelby Lancers produced will have the optional 3-speed automatic transmission/leather interior package at a cost of $1,000 extra.).

Performance for the Shelby is derived from Chrysler’s 2.2-liter/135-cubic- inch turbocharged four-cylinder engine, rated at 146 horsepower at 5,200 rpm and 170 foot pounds torque at 3,700 rpm. Of course, no one should expect Carroll Shelby to keep his hands off this engine. The first thing to go is the Turbo I system that comes with the Lancer Turbo. It is replaced with an air- to-air intercooled system that allows an increase in turbo boost from 9 psi to 12 psi, which in turn increases horsepower to 175 at 5,300 rpm and torque to 175 foot pounds over a broad range.

In addition, equal-length, tuned intake runners with larger fuel injectors at each port are coupled to a pressurized plenum chamber to equalize air/fuel mixture flow to each cylinder. A larger throttle body is installed to permit more air flow. Shelby’s specially designed computer controls the turbo boost and air/fuel mix to create a wide power band of torque (from 2,200 to 4,800 rpm). A lot of new sophistication but also a lot of old hot rod tricks.

The end result is, understandably, a fast car. Zero to 60 can be done consistently in under 8 seconds. And the somewhat tall gearing allows for – as Chrysler claims – a top speed of 135 mph.

Running the Shelby is no great problem but like all high-output turbocharged four-cylinder engines, the driver must keep on top of everything. With the exception of cruising along a limited access highway, it is either shifting up or down. There really isn’t much turbo lag but the engine is much happier at higher rpm. To achieve the higher rpm, the Shelby must be kept in a lower gear longer, you just don’t leave it in the higher gears and expect to get any performance.

As mentioned, the gearing is somewhat on the high side. In fact, it is almost like gearing on a German car designed for the unlimited speeds of the autobahn. Since the Shelby only turns over 2,000 rpm at 55 mph, fuel mileage is quite good, especially when you consider it is a mid-size performance car. The test car averaged 15 miles per gallon for city driving and 26 mpg over the highway. Unleaded premium must be used.

Controlling the horsepower and giving the Shelby its touring sedan handling is, of course, its suspension system. And like the engine, this is an upgrading of the Dodge Lancer’s system, which itself is quite impressive. One of the unique features of the Shelby’s suspension is that it is the first car to come equipped with Monro e Auto Equipment’s new Formula GP high-performance shocks and struts.

In addition, the stock Lancer’s springs are replaced with shorter coils to lower the car (by 1/2 inch) and to increase the spring rate slightly for better cornering. The rear anti-sway bar is replaced with a larger one. Helping to keep most of the rubber on the road are 205/60VR15 Gatorbacks mounted on high-speed-rated 15X6.5-inch Carroll Shelby cast alloy wheels. And to control the Shelby’s potential high speed, the braking system has four- wheel discs. All-in-all, a well balanced handling package that is tight but not real tricky. Just lay it into those curves and wheel away.

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