Jalopnik: celeste

The Snake Wants To Put You In A '78 Plymouth Arrow!

Murilee Martin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

Don "The Snake" Prudhomme did pretty well with his Arrow… and somehow the success of a vaguely Arrow-shaped Funny Car implied that the street version of the badge-engineered Mitsubishi Celeste would also be, you know, not too slow.

Actually, the Arrow did all right for its time, certainly a more interesting car than most of the other vaguely sporty economy machines of the Middle Malaise Era. We wish more Arrows were on the street today, but most were crushed decades ago. Thanks to Joe Hardrock for the tip!

Sacramento Plymouth Arrow May Well Be Governor Schwarzenegger's Incognito Ride

Murilee Martin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:30:00 EST

This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition, where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot. Today we're venturing up to the state capitol, where Alan Galbraith- the man responsible for Billetproof- spotted this '77 Arrow, parked right across the street from his '76 "Hurst Edition" AMC Pacer. Now, we don't have any proof that Arnold hisself drives this car when he wants to be inconspicuous, but what better choice could there be? The rebadged Mitsubishi Celeste has governor-grade style, yet doesn't scream for attention.

DOTS FAQ

Fire Arrow In Action

Murilee Martin — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:30:00 EST

Back when we had the 1980 Plymouth Fire Arrow DOTS, commenter and Project Car Hell Poster Child SeanKHotay included a link to the image above in the comments. Our laughter at the rebadged Celeste's inherent Malaiseness suddenly seemed inappropriate. Our memories, they are like elephants', and thus we now offer you a Plymouth Arrow Moment of Zen. Enjoy. [SpecialStage.com]

1980 Plymouth Fire Arrow, With Bonus Malaise Louver Poll

Murilee Martin — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST

I spotted this car just a few minutes after shooting the '54 Chevy, and I must admit I was far more excited over the 27-year-old Plymouth than I was with 53-year-old Chevrolet. At first glance, the Fire Arrow seems to be just another tape-striped Late Malaise turd in disco colors, but lurking under its oxidized, arrow-decal-bedecked hood is the mighty 2.6 liter Mitsubishi Astron engine! By the standards of its time, the Fire Arrow was a pretty quick machine.

The Fire Arrow was actually a rebadged Mitsubishi Celeste with about 50 pounds of tape stripes and decals, all in colors straight out of Malaise Central Casting. The regular Plymouth Arrow came with the smaller 2-liter engine and only 15 pounds of decals.

This example is in pretty rough shape, but the rust-free climate has kept it in restorable condition.

I was tempted to put a note under the wiper offering to buy the car, but California's smog overlords stand in the way of my plans for such a car: drop the turbocharged Astron out of a Starion in it. I'd probably end up in Smog Guantanamo if I tried to get such a setup past the bureaucracy.

You want Malaise? How about these plastic quarter-window louvers? Don't they make you feel like Jimmy Carter is back in the White House, and the hostages are back in the US Embassy in Tehran?

The important question here is: Do the Fire Arrow's louvers capture the optimism-in-the-face-of-gloom spirit of Malaise Era automotive styling more effectively than those on the 1973 Pontiac Grand Am Colonnade?

First 150 DOTS Cars

Plymouth Fire Arrow on eBay

Mike Bumbeck — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:00:00 EDT

Further proof that the definition of a classic car is changing as time marches on is this Plymouth Fire Arrow on eBay. The seller built this Fire Arrow using the parts from a rough original, and a body from a regular Arrow. He even had of custom set of Fire Arrow decals made to replace the originals. The Fire Arrow was a Plymouth take on the Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste, and had nothing to to with the also sold-as-a-Plymouth Sunbeam Arrow. The rear-drive Fire Arrow packed a 2.6L four, a five-speed, and four-wheel disc brakes. '70s adverts for the Arrow featured Harry Nilsson's Me and My Arrow as the jingle. The song arose from a fable Nilsson conceived while on acid and gazing at tree branches called The Point! We're holding out for a tow yard auction Arrow to appear so we can replace the atmospheric 2.6L with a turbocharged Starion mill. [Thanks to Al Kirschenbaum for the tip ] [Plymouth Fire Arrow on eBay and Arrow History via Allpar]

Celestial Arrows and Feather Dusters

Mike Bumbeck — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:30:00 EDT

While 1976 had America churning out Dodge Dart Lites and Plymouth Feather Dusters complete with bicentenial red-white-and-blue vinyl interiors, Mitsubishi unleashed a Lancer variant known as the Celeste. We mention the Dart and Duster because the compact rear-drive Celeste was also sold here in the States as a Plymouth Arrow, and if you wanted to get sporty - the Fire Arrow. Out of the hundreds of thousands of videos of kittens playing Yahtzee, parrots serving pizza, and old Charlie the Tuna commercials on YouTube, there are precisely two that have anything to do with a Mitsubishi Celeste. Here is the clearer one. – Mike Bumbeck

Related:
Spy Photos: More on the 2008 Mitsubishi Evo X [Internal]