In the mid-80's, Dodge collaborated with Carroll Shelby on some performance versions of the popular but pedestrian 2-door and 4-door Omni.  In 1990, I purchased a 1985 Dodge Omni GLH Turbo from a friend.    ​

Like most kids my age, I was enamored with performance hatchbacks, and the GLH, at least in my mind, was the king of the hill.  The GTi was arguably a better car, but the exclusivity of the GLH along with the fact that not many people had any idea what lurked under the hood, made it a really fun car to own.  The turbocharged 2.2 engine produced a whopping 146 bhp, which at the time, was quite impressive.  Especially considering the whole package weighed a tick above 2000 pounds.  It was mated to a 5-speed, which gave it incredible pep.  In addition to these performance upgrades, the GLH-T was fitted with 15" alloys and sported a nifty ground effects package including Bosch driving lamps and blacked out trim and bumpers.  These touches were subtle, which helped the GLH-T remain a "sleeper".  

In time, things deteriorated.  In addition to the body rust that I tried hard to combat, the gearbox and clutch went on me.  I had it to a few different shops, but no one was able to really fix it.  Once these problems hit, I reluctantly listed it in the Auto Trader.  I ended up selling it to a kid who wrecked it the first weekend he took it out.  There is a small part of me that thinks it would be cool to track one down and relive my youth.  If that were to happen, I would probably opt for the even-more-rare GLH-S, which is pictured above.  That one had an intercooler and 175 bhp.  At the time, Dodge claimed the GLH-S out accelerated the Porsche 944 and Ferrari 308 to 60 mph.  Anyway, here's some shots of what was arguably the most fun car I ever had the pleasure of owning.  

Curious to learn more about the GLH?  Here's a link to the wiki page.   And, if this has got you in the mood for 80's-era Chrysler turbos, you could check out this guy's Green Bay, WI garage on the Garage Journal website.  

Here's a set of photos that illustrate the process I have developed to quickly clean my disgustingly dirty floor mats.  The process begins with a mist of water followed by a coat of Griot's Garage Rubber Cleaner.  I have some WeatherTech cleaner, but I opted for the GG today.  With a 1.25" RaceGlaze brush, I cleaned out all the grooves in the mat and let them sit under the infrared to dry.  With my wide blue bucket underneath, it's a clean and painless process that takes about 5 minutes.  

I may be forced to live with a filthy exterior most winter days, but I'll be darned if I'm going to subject myself to a dirty interior. 

We've been experiencing a mild winter this year, which equates to a messy winter.  The temperature was a balmy plus-6 degrees Celsius today, so I was able to tackle my floor after months of watching the dirt and debris compile.  The process has been captured in a video, but here is a little slideshow to show you today's process.  This is the dirtiest the floor has ever been, but all is fine now.  

A bit of a chore, but I tackled the salt stains that were plaguing my SQ5's black carpet.  I used my Griot's Carpet Cleaner, Salt Eraser, Mytee Firebird steamer, and wet-vac to bring the carpets back to pristine condition.  The process took a couple of hours, but they came out great.  The WeatherTech floor mats I have don't do the greatest job of protecting the floor from the run off of melted snow.  The mounts and low profile edges let water leak through and it pools around the edges of the footwell.  It drives me crazy.  I'm looking at replacing them with Husky liners, but the poor CAD/USD exchange is killing me.  

This winter has been particularly tough on me.  It seems the weather is conspiring to keep my garage and car filthy.  I need to do a thorough wash of the floor, but the temps won't seem to climb above the freezing mark.  I've been performing quick cleans, but I'm overdue for a major cleanse.  Here's a few shots that illustrate what I'm dealing with.  I've been a bit lazy, but I finally got to the coin-operated wash a few nights ago.  Sadly, it snowed that night so my car is back to looking this bad.  Ugh.  

I had the SQ5 in for its 40K service, and I received a Q3 as a service loaner.  While I appreciate the pep and overall appearance, I found it quite small and utilitarian.  It seems the market is being flooded with compact SUV's, and I don't really follow them closely, but, for what a loaded out Q3 would cost, I would bet there are better options out there.  My advice for anyone considering a Q3 would be, shell out the extra dough for a Q5.  

I was invited to attend the Calgary launch of the new Audi Q7 at Glenmore Audi.  I had a really good time.  Had a good chat with some of the staff and got a great look at the newest incarnation of the Q7.  They had two examples on hand for attendees to check out.  I was impressed.  Overall, I'm not feeling a powerful attraction to the Q7, but I can certainly appreciate the level of quality and innovation this new SUV offers.  A loaded out model will most likely hit the $100K-mark, though.  Ouch.