Cars on The Corner: Cameron's 1991 Dodge Spirit R/T

*This article originally was published in the McPherson College newspaper "The Spectator" *

One of the best parts about the restoration students is the diversity in cars that they are into. Whether it be classic trucks, muscle cars, or turn of the century automobiles. This diversity in taste can really be seen in student, Cameron Boyce’s, 1991 Dodge Spirit R/T, which is unlike any other car on campus.

He was originally searching for a car that he could drive throughout college that was fuel efficient, but maintained a vintage look. This led him into the history of the turbo Dodge cars. In the mid eighties, racer and performance legend, Carroll Shelby, was hired by the Chrysler Corporation to add new performance models to their lineup. The result was some of the best performing cars of the decade, and staple in Mopar history.

While Boyce’s Spirit was not built directly under Shelby it is a product from that partnership. Powered by a turbo 2.2 liter engine coupled to a five speed transmission, the car originally made 225hp. At the time this was a monumental car, being the quickest sedan sold in the U.S. and the fastest mass produced four-door sedan in the world.

Since 1991 this car has been entirely reworked to exceed its original performance. The car still retains a 2.2 liter but has been built from top to bottom to handle more horsepower that comes from a bigger turbo, methanol injection, and general tuning. Even though the engine has been completely built, the car sports its generic factory looks, with only a couple decals giving hints to the performance its packing under the hood. The factory looks, paired with a high performance power-train make this car quite the sleeper, or as Boyce says, “a wolf in sheep's clothing.”

Boyce is a junior in the automotive program who wants to utilize his creativity to build unique cars after graduation.

*This article was originally published in February 2021 in "The Spectator"