A badge-engineered Mitsubishi sold by Plynouth dealers in the USA, the Arrow hatchback got much of its cachet from a Harry Nilsson song.
The Plymouth Arrow is probably more remembered today for its commercial jingle than for the car itself. The song, of course, was the sweet and catchy 1970 hit single by Harry Nilsson, “Me and My Arrow.” The hummable tune was everywhere on the radio and its album, The Point, became an animated film narrated by Ringo Starr.
There’s room to speculate that the choice of the car’s name was inspired by the song, at least in part. When Chrysler approached Nilsson for the rights in exchange for a new car, he iagreed, but he insisted on a Mercedes rather than a Plymouth. Chrysler’s marketing executives grumbled but eventually made the deal.
The Arrow was one of the numerous vehicles manufactured by Mitsubishi of Japan and rebadged and sold in the USA by Chrysler from the ’70s through the ’90s. A straightforward four-cylinder, rear-wheel drive hatchback, it was known to the much of the world as the Mitsubishi Celeste and in Australia as the Chrysler Lancer. (There was also a 1979-82 Plymouth Arrow pickup, a Mitsubishi/Dodge D-50 clone, but that’s another story.)
Apart from graphics, the Arrow’s stylish exterior saw little change over its five-year stay in the USA, but a number of engines were offered, including a a 1.6-liter four with Mitsubishi’s MCA-Jet emissions system and the innovative SIlent Shaft 2.0-liter four. The hottest perfomance model, the ’79-’80 Fire Arrow, boasted a 2.6-liter Silent Shaft engine with 105 hp at 5200 rpm. The package wasn’t a world-beater, but drag racers including Bob Glidden and Don Prudhomme used the small, slippery body shape to rack up a number of wins.
Just as we would expect from a subcompact hatchback of the ’70s, Arrow interiors were sporty and colorful, while the ad messaging focused on youth and fun. Nearly 146,000 Arrows were sold in the USA, a respectable number but far eclipsed by the Dodge Colt, also a Mitsubishi product. The Arrow was dropped in 1980, as now Plymouth had its own Illinois-built entry in the hatchback coupe class: the Horizon TC3, later renamed the Turismo.
Helmut Blok rallied one of these, with some success as I recall.
Always thought it was a nice looking car and certainly superior to the Cricket from England. Best of all, I’m a huge Nilsson fan, so there’s that.
really nice looking car for the time and better looking than anything else Plymouth was selling at the time
I was selling Chrysler/Plymouths at the time and we sold these things as fast as the truck could unload them. The hot color was copper with orange stripes. There were not many and all the salesmen were on their phones when they saw that color on the truck to get their customers to the dealership asap! I sold one customer 2 of them in one day.
Customers used to ask for black but Japan did not produce black cars at that time. I forget the reason.
It was a great car.
In Japan black automobiles were associated with organized crime Yakuza.
I had one, typical pieceofshitzki, interior cheap and fell apart, no rust protection the balance shaft engine was a oil burner !
Chrysler owned UK brand Sunbeam at the time, which had offered an Arrow model since 1966. Guessing that was the source of the name
My sister and her husband bought one after they were married. He was in the military, and they took the car to
Germany with them when he was stationed there. I spent a summer visiting them and got to drive it on the Autobahn. It was able to keep up a decent pace (100+ mph) and handled well at speed.
There was one facelift, for 1979. Square headlights and a simplified horizontal-bar grille with the turn signals hidden behind it rather than the pseudo-fog lights (which I believe other than lens color interchange with gen 1 Honda Civics) used from 1975-77, along with a new rear hatch with wider rear window.