July COTM Winner!
Billy Lofink's 1985 Plymouth Turismo

My story about the Turismo begins in the summer of 2001. I had turned 16 in February, and had been learning to drive in a 1989 Dodge Dynasty that we had owned for years. As the time for my license (eligible in August 2001) drew closer, my dad, my brother (Pat), and I, began the search for what would be my first vehicle. Throughout our search, I had been hoping to get either a Dodge Neon or a Mitsubishi Eclipse. Thankfully, however, Pat’s influence on me with his fondness of the Dodge models produced during the late ‘80s superceded any of my initial dream cars. After researching pictures of the cars offered during this time period, I instantly fell in love with the 1989 Shelby CSX models. But, just as quick as I acquired a fascination with the vehicle, I realized just how rare the Shelby vehicles were. Through a bit more research along my brother’s side, we found that the L-body models were produced in high numbers and would be far easier to find.

We searched and searched from the beginning of summer to the end of summer, having no luck finding a car that held any promise. The new school year began at the beginning of September, and I still did not have a cool car to ride in with and impress my friends. But, my dad had been assigned to work over in a nearby town, and during one of his shifts, he noticed an ugly, faded blue 2-door L-body from the road. Sitting under a pine tree, he decided to inquire about it. He did not mention this find to me, though, and one night when I came home from work, I was informed that my new car was sitting down in the garage driveway. It turns out that the Turismo almost did not make it home, for it came undone from the tow truck and just about bolted down the steep hill that the house was situated on. It would have, nevertheless, met its untimely demise. Fortunately, it made it to our driveway safe and sound. My initial opinion of the car was a gasp, a cringe, a covering of the eyes, and a “WTF do you call that?!” My dad simply replied, just give it time and you’ll see. Well time is what I did give him, and I am very thankful that I did.

Over the course of the next month and a half, we completely stripped the car to repaint it, fixing a fist size rust hole in the driver’s side floorpan and making the interior smell presentable. We used parts from a junker Shelby Charger that Pat had acquired during this time and scoured nearby junkyards hoping to find something that would catch they eye. One day, we located a front quad-headlight lower airdam on a car (that had all of the other GFX taken off?!) We opted to do a two-tone paint scheme to give the Turismo a unique appearance like that of a Shelby Charger, going with Ice Blue paint for the body, and a Dark Navy Blue for the GFX. I was fascinated with the car as Pat and I drove it to our first Friday night football game together. To my surprise though, we did not get much respect as we pulled into the school parking lot on that sunny evening with a glossy new paint job on a car like none other on the streets at the time. Most of the kids in our school were given brand new cars by their parents, but as for us, we worked hand in hand with our dad redoing a car, and the proudness I had in that overshadowed any slandering that may have been thrown at me.

Seeing that nearly all 2-door L-body parts interchanged, we began our hunt for extra goody items to add to the newest member of our garage. We purchased and installed a number of the parts listed below over the course of the next four years. The most notable being a complete Blue/Grey ’85-’86 style Shelby Charger interior, 2.2 hoodscoop, the Direct Connection “Whale Tail” spoiler, and a full set of 4-lug pizza rims (which, when pulled from the junkyard, they were black as freshly laid down asphalt from years of brakedust buildup. Nowadays, from plenty of long hours of polishing, you can see yourself in them!). After I backed into our mailboxes one afternoon by accident in early 2003, we repainted the Turismo for the second time. The car remained in tip-top shape until the end of January, 2005, when an oncoming vehicle struck Pat and I head on as we were heading to a local service garage to visit friends that work there. The nosecone and driver’s fender were replaced with extra parts we had stored away from another junker. For my sake, this minor damage was all that was sustained. The damaged parts were replaced during my Spring Break at the beginning of March, and three months later, we had the Turismo parked on the showfield at SDAC-15, where it took 4th place in the 2-door L-body class!

In summer of 2003, we began to take the Turismo to local shows. As more and more comments were given about the car, we decided it would be a neat experience to take it to Carlisle and the Mopar Nationals to see what kind of appeal it would obtain there. Surprisingly enough, many individuals remarked about the vehicle, and to this day we have people tell us how seeing it drive by causes them to turn their heads. Some of the neatest honors came from a) Winning 4th place at SDAC-15 b) Rich Bowmer drawing a ‘toon of the Turismo c) spotting my car in images included in Mopar Muscle during their coverage of the Mopar Nationals.

Overall, restoring the Turismo has been my sole interest over the course of the past five years. We continually consider new ideas each and everyday about the direction we would like to take with it. Our initial idea of a turbo-swap, though, is the most likely to take place later on down the road once I graduate from college. I owe everything to my brother and my dad for their time, hard work, patience, and guidance, for if it were not for them, the Turismo would not be, in my opinion, as recognized as it is today. It is remarkable to me that a project that began so meaningless and seemingly not holding any promise became my favorite thing to do in life. Restoring the Turismo to the way we thought best was just like starting out with a blank canvas and adding a little bit onto it here and there as parts became available.

The current status of the Turismo is “Temporarily Retired”. I did not want to risk taking it to State College with me for school, so, in August 2005, I replaced the Turismo on insurance that the road with my newly purchased 1990 Dodge Daytona Shelby. We plan on repainting the Turismo and swapping in a t2 setup come time for the beginning of show season, 2007. At this point, the Turismo has seen the last of its daily driving days. I hope it is evident that I daily drove this car, rain, shine, sleet, and snow, from the time it hit the road in October 2001 until I parked it in August 2005. The Turismo trudged through it all like a champ, and still maintained a look of a winner. This was my only form of transportation, and I took whatever measures necessary to assure it looked pristine, no matter what type of weather. This is a car that we plan on keeping in our family forever and I hope that you have the chance to check it out in person someday.







1985 Plymouth Turismo
Engine - 2.2 N/A
Miles at Purchase - 87,878 miles
Miles at Temp. Retirement - 147,xxx miles (will be updated with exact digits)

Parts List
Exterior
  • Charger 2.2 Hoodscoop
  • Charger 2.2 GFX Package
  • Rear Window Louvers
  • Direct Connection “Whale Tail” Spoiler
  • 4-Lug 15” Aluminum “Pizza Rims”
  • 1985 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z Exhaust Tip
  • 2.5” FWD Performance Mandrel Bent Catback Exhaust w/Dynomax

Muffler
  • NOS “Turismo” Mudflaps
  • Chrome Valve Cover and Air Cleaner Cover

Interior
  • Complete ’85-’86 Style Shelby Charger Interior (Blue/Grey in color)
  • Seats, Door Panels, Headliner (Redone), Armrest, Cargo Cover, Plastic Trimming, Interior Sail Panels, Speaker Covers, Carpeted Wheel Well Covers
  • Alpine CD Player
  • 1987 GLHS Gauge Cluster (125 Speedometer Overlay)

Future Plans
  • Repaint (Same Color Scheme)
  • Full T2 Swap (1989 2.5L CB, Garrett t3 Turbo, a523 5-speed)

Parts Purchased At Some Point
  • Mopar Performance Header
  • Mopar Performance Dual Carb Setup (w/ Two Weber DGAV 32/36 Carbs)
  • NOS Direct Connection B&M Supercharger Kit *** For Sale
  • NOS Direct Connection Dual Inlet Hoodscoop