Where Do You Want To Be? In A 1986 Mitsubishi, Of Course!

Remember the Mitsubishi Cordia? The Tredia? Where are all those Cordia Turbos today? Of all the nameplates shown in this ad, only the Galant is still around 22 years later… but that spirit of the 80s will live on forever in the Mitsubishi theme song!

PCH, 80s Japanese Muscle Edition: AE86 or Starion?

I know it's been a while since our last Choose Your Eternity matchup (in which, incidentally, the Hayubasa-powered Honda 600 just barely edged out the Duramax-powered '47 Ford, for which I apologize; the cruel overlords at the salt mine my tech-writing job shipped me out to New York for a 4-day weekend of PowerPoint presentations. Aaah, PowerPoint, the magical tool that makes time slow to a crawl! To unwind, we were treated to free booze each night at corporate-sponsored parties, including one with an "Eighties Prom" theme. And, as I fought my way to the bar to get another French 75 (F. Scott Fitzgerald's drink of choice while in Paris), contemplating the spectacle of a bunch of 24-year-old software geeks shakin' it to the usual Billy Idol tunes (how come 80s parties never have good 80s dance music, like George Clinton or Grandmaster Flash? And, yes, I know the answer: MTV), I tried to recall how the rear-wheel-drive Japanese factory hot rods of the era appeared to those of us who cared about cars at the time. And, of course, that was the inspiration for today's pair of PCH choices... More »

ENGINE SUPERNOVA POTENTIAL!

Every now and again we have to revisit the reasons sinking endless hours and buckets of coinstar trappings into our rides somehow worth the effort. Last week we motored down to Torrance from Montrose in the mighty Starion for some wrenching, a late cobb salad down at the Hof's Hut, and to pick up a turbo heat shield bracket that had snapped after twenty years of heat cycling. Kelly was prepping Mario's car for the trip to sin city, and Mark came over to suggest propane turbo engine swaps for the Starlet. After some more wrenching on our own Starion we're off to SEMA today. If you see a mushroom cloud on your way out to Las Vegas don't worry. The nuclear test ban treaty is still in effect. The Star of Astron has merely gone supernova, and I'll need a ride.

Workhorse Engine of the Day: Mitsubishi Astron

From a distant galaxy of single overhead cam engines comes the Mitsubishi Astron series. The mighty Astron began life in 1972, and is still ticking away under the hoods of everything from Mitsubishi Starions to the panoply of Chrysler K-Car variants. In the beginning, the Flying Sikh himself pummeled an Astron equipped original Lancer to numerous rally victories. Patented silent shaft technology canceled out harmonics as the engine grew in displacement from 1.8 to 2.6 liters of four pot fury. The last production car to pack the Astron was either the the 1991 Pajero or the 1990 Starion, but only if not counting the diesel version of the Astron - which motored on with turbo until 1993 amid Galants. 21 years of Astron! In sourcing a new cylinder head sans jet valves for one of the two 2.6L G54B turbo variants of the Astron in our garage we learned that the 'ol G54B aspirated on propane with propane accessories serves in many forklifts to this day. The odd marriage of Mopar, Mitsubishi, and K-Car station wagons also led to some innovative badging - as seen in the bonus pic after the jump. [Mitsubishi Astron] More »

Dodge D-50 Smokes the Baloneys

The torquey 2.6L Mitsubishi G54B four-banger was installed under the hood of a great number of vehicles, including but not limited to this rusty Dodge D-50 pickup - aka Mitsubishi Mighty Max. There are enough of these engines still running in Monteros, forklifts, K-cars, Starions, and other more industrial applications that parts are still readily available. Good news in case one spins a bearing or kicks a rod while doing a burnout.

1000 Dollars Cash Back on Chrysler Conquest TSI

Rolling in an import was easier than ever in the during the eighties thanks to your local Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge dealer. A Dodge Colt would have been the more economical choice, with the D-50 pickup winning in utility. We're not quite sure if the Colt Vista mini space wagon would have swept the durability contest, but we do still see them on the road. A new Chrysler Conquest TSI listed for 18,683 in 1988. The 1000 bucks cash back would have left plenty of scratch for Slayer World Sacrifice tour tickets and t-shirts, or a few shares of Mitsubishi stock.

Donut Potential!

The Starion in this video is essentially a Euro-spec version of Jalopnik's own Star-of-Orion/Stallion steed. Fit Bumbeck's car with a wide plate, and you're ready to rock hoonage all over the continent. But these guys? Well, they're keeping it confined to the parking lot.

Starion Bar-B-Que in Motion

Not so long ago we rolled down to the KDM Starion Bar-B-Que for some Carne Asada and turbo goodness. While we snapped stills, mini DV cameras spun to capture the event. One Mitchell Spacone spent hours and a toasted motherboard getting this together, splicing in some stills courtesy of the Jalopnik in the process. The 523 539 horsepower king of the turbo and motherboard frying StarQuests is featured with motion and realistic hi-fi sound!

MOD Squad Hits Triple Diamonds in Third Year

Having been to the first annual Mitsubishi Owners Day three years ago, the sheer number of Lancer Evolutions tearing up the roads today seems almost impossible. So many EVOS appeared that the cars overflowed onto the nearby streets of MMUSA HQ. While there was some temporary grumbling that Prototype X showed up instead of the production version, there were plenty of 3000GTs, Starions, and Eclipses to keep everyone happily distracted. Stay tuned for some mini-galleries focusing in on some of the historic rides on shipped over from the museum in Japan on display at MOD. The good news is you've got another year to get that Mitsubishi 500 ready to roll.

Mitsubishi Owner's Day

The third annual gathering of Mitsubishis and the people that drive them will take place tomorrow, July 14th at MMUSA HQ in Cypress, California. Rumor has it that a genuine Group A Starion will be among the machines rolled out from the museum to celebrate triple-diamond racing heritage. As much as we would have liked to put our Starion back together for the show, we'll have to settle for bringing the camera instead. [Mitsubishi Owner's Day via Mitsubishi]

Luxurious Starion Burgundy

What the Mitsubishi Starion ever had to do with Gallo-Romans or Pinot Noir grapes we don't really know. What we do know is that the burgundy interior is low on the list of desired Starion features among those lusting after the turbo speciality sports coupe. This guy found good use for a velour burgundy interior nonetheless. More »

Starion Racing Video Music Contest, Part 2

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Starion Racing Video Music Contest, Part 1

Long before editing software made it easy for even Chim-Chim to put together a video of his dancing cousins, it seems Mitsubishi assembled their own quality versions of racing videos. As far as we can determine from the eighties soundtrack, these two rolls were produced during the actual run of the Starion itself. The first person to correctly identify all songs featured in both videos will win a genuine used OEM hydraulic lifter from a 1987 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R. This is video number one - We Are Fast. – Mike Bumbeck More »

523 Horsepower Starion Bar-B-Que

The coolest thing about owning any automobile is almost instant membership in the club of the car. The less ubiquitous the machine, the more esoteric the club. In the case of the Mitsubishi Starion, aka Chrysler Conquest, a membership of peers is required just to keep the twentysomething year old StarQuests rolling. That same community is also there when it comes time to squeeze more horsepower than the factory ever intended out of the 2.6L Mitsubishi mill, or chow down on some tasty BBQ. More »

Unfortunate Metal Potential! Starquest Madness!

Okay, here's another rad vid with an unfortunate soundtrack. There are no good engine sounds, so unless you're a fan of generic nü-metal, pick a rollicking tune of your choice that clocks in around four minutes, cue it up and mash play on this vid and the genuine rock article at the same time. You may just achieve potential nirvana. – Davey G. Johnson More »

Jalopnik Preview: Awesome is Coming

Why did Bumbeck cross the road? I was lucky enough to participate in what will no doubt prove to be a most awesome J-Lop feature. We're keeping it secret for now, but trust me, awesome. Think you know what we're up to? You can win my standard prize - a fresh lock of my chest hair. Aw shucks, we'll even throw in the gas cap off Bumbeck's Starion. If you get it right. Exactly right. – Jonny Lieberman More »

Half-Price Day Junkyard Day

Uttering the phrase half price anywhere near the word junkyard sends a couple of the Jalops driving with toolbox toward the self-service junkyard like so many moths to a streetlight on a summer night. One of the larger self-service yards in California had a statewide half price sale a while back and we were there in NoCal and SoCal. Bumbeck headed down out of the hills into hot and dusty Sun Valley while Martin ventured out onto the mean streets of Hayward from Alameda. Out of the thousands of cars being picked apart we've chosen ten that qualify to enter into the pantheon of Jalopnik half-price day junkyard specials. Our selections in blazing full color after the jump. More »

Screw You Tweaker, You're Not Selling Bumbeck's Starion!!

An IM conversation from earlier this evening:

Bumbeck:: someone swiped my pic from jalopnik for a CL ad

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Sierra! Astra! Starion! Rally!

Look! It's random rally footage featuring Sierra Cosworths, a Vauxhall Astra and a couple of unfortunate schmoes who manage to plow their poor, beleagured Starion through a fence. Note to Starion drivers: the Drift King says, "Do not upset the car!" – Davey G. Johnson More »

Starionamino!

Apparently this fine machine is used as a parts runner for a shop in the UK. While it does seem to be cheating a bit on the bed opening (simple hatch removal), it does have a functioning tailgate. Go, Starionamino, go! – Murilee Martin More »

Turbo Gremlin!

Back in late 1970, Clarence Milstead purchased a 1971 AMC Gremlin. As time went on, he began tinkering with the six-cylinder Kammback hatch until the fateful day he saw an XR4Ti in a junkyard, yanked its turbocharger and plumbed it in, using a carburetor bonnet scavenged from a Mitsubishi-built Chrylser Hemi 4-cylinder. What fully awesome cars used the Hemi 4? That's right kids, the Conquest and its Starions! As time's gone on Milstead's continued to widdle with the Gremmie, converting the front drums to discs and dropping the final-drive ratio to 3.55. We'd be proud to drive this car. We'd be even prouder to say we built it ourselves. – Davey G. Johnson More »

TURBO SPECIALTY GUITAR, Starion!

We have found Bumbeck's Starion's evil twin. It lives in Nihon and wears American-market Conquest TSi badging. We tend to prefer the stock wheels on Bumbeck's car to the blingy bits on this machine, but if they canned the stickers, it would be the perfect nightime attack-mobile for an aspiring Yakuza hitman with a penchant for the States. If Brock Samson lived in Japan, he would drive one of these. Dare we say it? We do. SUPER MURDERMAN-CARRYING POTENTIAL! – Davey G. Johnson More »

Holy Crap! Obvious Jalopnik Brainstorm!

We're not sure why we didn't think of this as soon as we realized how heavily Changfeng relied on Mitsubishi technology and design of a certain age. If Mitsu won't give us a new Starion, why shouldn't Changfeng give us an old Starion with a leaping cheetah gracing the front end instead of a diamond star? We can almost guarantee that it would never make us disappointed. – Davey G. Johnson More »

Dateline Dearborn, MI: Import Center

While in Detroit half-trying to locate the Ham Center we found instead the Chrysler Import Center. This well lit sign reminds us to not forget about Chrysler's long-term relationship with formerly beloved Mitsibishi. Right after this memory was served we found Miller's, and were served cheeseburgers. Another reminder is the that the Chrysler Conquest was in realty a rebadged Mitsubishi Starion. Not sold at your local Chrysler dealer since 1989.– Mike Bumbeck More »

SUPER POTENTIAL! The Ad That Launched a Million Random References

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Cannonball Run II: Not Good, But, Starion Afterburner!

Not only is there an extended scene of Jackie Chan's Starion crossing from San Pedro to Long Beach, but he then uses his afterburner to elude capture. It's a tossup between this car, Clarkson's infamous pseudo-rally car and Uncle Bumbeck's Battlecar Galactica as to which is the coolest Starion of them all. – Davey G. Johnson More »

SUPER POTENTIAL! Older than Starion, Younger than Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi began as a shipping firm founded by Yataro Iwasaki in 1870. The theory of superpotential was first posited by E. T. Whittaker in a series of papers dating back to 1903. The Starion was introduced in 1982. It took a war between Japan and Russia, two World Wars, a stalemate in Korea and a debacle in Vietnam to finally bring the two together. Oh, and a space in what was originally a compound word. But we sure are awfully glad they found each other. – Davey G. Johnson More »

Why Mitsubishi Deserves a Second Chance in America

Yes, we all know that Mitsu is a somewhat beleagured brand these days. But they did give us the mighty Starion, the totally underrated Mirage Turbo hatchback, and of course, the nothing-short-of-obscenely miraculous Lancer Evo. Paukert drove the upcoming Lancer on some winding roads near Santa Barbara recently, and seemed to like it just fine. But that doesn't matter. Without Mitsubishi, we wouldn't have Super Active Yaw Control, Mitsubishi Innovative Valve-timing-and-lift Electronic Control or, most importantly, SUPER POTENTIAL!. There, Mitsubishi, we just came up with your new tagline: Super. Innovative. Mitsubishi. Check's in the mail? Great, thanks. Business doing potential with you. – Davey G. Johnson More »

SUPER AGING-TOYOTA POTENTIAL! Mitsu-2.6 Turbo Corolla on eBay!

Oh crap...Bumbeck just shot this one over, and might we say that it's a doozy? Somebody yanked the motor out of a Dodge Conquest and dropped it in a '74 Corolla, added hood pins and mags, and well, voila, sans culottes, this shit is simply the business. Go forth and bid. And then take us for a ride. – Davey G. Johnson More »

SUPER ENGINE-EXTRACTION POTENTIAL! Bumbeck's Starion Goes Under the Wrench

Yeah, whatever, schmoes. Bumbeck is manly enough to yank his own 2.6L Hemi — with hood-removal assistance from Coonce — and live to tell about it. Soon, the Mighty Starion shall rise, relieved of its Achilles' Jet Valves. And your boots? Well, they'll just have to get used to your quaking in them. Deal with it. More »

Classic Top Gear: Fifteen-Hundred-Quid Coupes

While there's something to be said for the Trans-European Veyron-vs.-Cessna race, and the Merak/Urraco/308 GT4 challenge is certainly a classic, our all-time favorite Top Gear competition is the "1,500-Pound Coupe That Isn't a Porsche" bit. Hammond in a BMW 635, May in an XJS, and Clarkson, brilliant bugger that he is, chose a Mitsubishi Starion. And now, via the glory of YouTube, we present it to you. What makes it so great? The trio are at the top of their game with the one-liners, the challenges are inventive, and the grass-track race at the end is simply epic. More »

Oh, Look! Danica's Making More Money!

The domain-name registrars at Go Daddy have signed on to help fund Danica's Motorola-marqueed Andretti-Green car for next season. They find her "edgy, innovative and fun!" according to some guy named Bob who helms the company. H sker D was edgy, innovative and fun. Danica is not H sker D . Meanwhile, in more interesting news, Bumbeck began the initial stages of a Jet-Valvectomy on his Starion up at the place we like to refer to as "Robin Masters' Compound East." Boss pic, non? Danica? Potential. Starion? SUPER POTENTIAL! [Thanks to Haller for the tip.] More »

Hoon of the Day: Look Out Honey, 'Cause He's Using (Turbo) Technology

There are few things we love more than Mitsubishi Starions and the Stooges. One comes from Japan. The others come from Michigan (except, of course, for Watt, who reps Pedro harder than anyone else). Together, we suppose, if they decided to rock it Voltron-style, with Iggy forming the head, they would become the Chrysler Conquest. Nevertheless, James Williamson's guitar tone in "Search and Destroy" is one of the most godly forms of sound ever conceived, and the perfect score to watching some dude in a widebody Starion hoon it around a parking lot. Pure bliss. More »

Hey Killboy: Can You Shoot StarQuests On the Tail of the Dragon?

We want to see your skills of an artist. More »

The Mitsubishi Starion A6M7

A while back, Bumbeck told us that a friend of his asked a Mitsu bigwig why they didn't capitalize on the heritage of the Zero, one of the finest fighter planes of World War II. Yesterday, we suggested that the company needs to bring back the Starion to stave off doing the collapse in the US market, and furthermore posited that the top-spec Neo-Starion should be badged the A6M. Turns out that Andy Takakjian had already photochopped up such a beast, based on a widebody version of the Conquest's twin. We simply must have one. And who among the bosozoku wouldn't be stoked to own this car? Not a one, we imagine. More »

You Never Should've Killed the Starion: Mitsu May Say Goodbye to US

Let's just put it this way: We never made it to Webelo status, so "Be Prepared" was never fully burned into our consciousness as though by a hot brand on the flank of a longhorn. And since we don't have an Automotive News subscription, we can't give you details on this one. But apparently, Mitsubishi is considering withdrawing from the American market if the new crop of redesigned vehicles don't sell. Mitsubishi: we have a proposal for you. Click through for salvation, whoaaooh. More »

No Starion From Mitsubishi: Eclipse Spyder, Concept-CT Instead

No doubt, Bumbeck's weeping in his cranberry juice right now, as his pleas to Mitsubishi to bring back the beloved Mitsu variant of the StarQuest twins have fallen on deaf ears. However, they did introduce what they refer to as an "attainable exotic" in the form of the Eclipse Spyder. Because the Solstice is obviously an unattainable exotic. More »

Ahoy! StarQuest Bonus! Redux! Whatever! The Gullwing Starion!

Too late for yesterday's blockbuster Maximum StarQuest Day bonanza, Bumbeck tipped us off to an example of one of the rarest of the Starion/Conquest breed: the vaunted Gullwing! Originally conceived for a Japanese cop show nobody seems to know anything about called simply, Gorilla, Mitsu created four of the cars back in '88; a fifth was built by the vehicle's owner with parts ordered from the factory. More »