Alex Kwanten on Instagram: "In the 90s Mitsubishi fans were treated to a steady diet of performance cars - Eclipse, 3000GT, Lancer Evolution - but in the 80s it was the #Starion that anchored Mitsubishi’s performance efforts. Its cars already been sold in the U.S. since 1971 as Chrysler products, but in 1982 #Mitsubishi launched it’s own dealer network with a trio of cars - Cordia, a sporty Scirocco-style coupe, Tredia, a family sedan on the same platform, and Starion - an angular but slick sporty GT resembling the Porsche 924. The Mighty Max pickup and Montero SUV followed in 1983 and the Montero would eventually be Mitsubishi’s U.S. breadwinner, but in those early days the Starion was the standout model - fast and pretty, and loaded with technology. Early “narrow body” Starions packed a 145-hp turbocharged #4G54 2.6 liter four, a direct relative of its predecessor that appeared in the MkII Dodge Challenger/Plymouth Sapporo, and Plymouth Arrow - all Mitsubishis under the skin. At t...
764 likes, 4 comments - oldmotors on January 14, 2018: "In the 90s Mitsubishi fans were treated to a steady diet of performance cars - Eclipse, 3000GT, Lancer Evolution - but in the 80s it was the #Starion that anchored Mitsubishi’s performance efforts. Its cars already been sold in the U.S. since 1971 as Chrysler products, but in 1982 #Mitsubishi launched it’s own dealer network with a trio of cars - Cordia, a sporty Scirocco-style coupe, Tredia, a family sedan on the same platform, and Starion - an angular but slick sporty GT resembling the Porsche 924. The Mighty Max pickup and Montero SUV followed in 1983 and the Montero would eventually be Mitsubishi’s U.S. breadwinner, but in those early days the Starion was the standout model - fast and pretty, and loaded with technology. Early “narrow body” Starions packed a 145-hp turbocharged #4G54 2.6 liter four, a direct relative of its predecessor that appeared in the MkII Dodge Challenger/Plymouth Sapporo, and Plymouth Arrow - all Mitsubishis under the skin. At the time, #Japanese GTs had taken over the sports car market, offering fast, reliable performance and a plethora of models. Chrysler, not super keen on Mitsubishi’s launch of it’s own stores, eventually grudgingly arranged for it’s own version of the Starion - the Dodge/Plymouth Conquest (’84-’86), which later became the Chrysler Conquest (’87-’89), but it was rarely marketed and identical in all but badging to the regular Starion. The ’83-’85 cars are referred to as “Narrow body” because in 1986 a second version appeared - with wide fenders and more aggressive aerodynamic add-ons, a transformation that mimicked the earlier change from the Porsche 924 to the 944, a car the wide-body intercooled Starion was often compared to at the time. These later cars debuted new model names too, ESI (Mitsu) and TSI (Chrysler), and boasted 176 hp - hot stuff in 1986, growing to 188 hp in 1988, with only 2,800 lbs. to haul around. The early, narrow-body cars were less desirable than these later machines and are often overlooked - but are pretty and interesting themselves. This one has the “Technica” package, which offered full digital instrumentation, lock-resistant rear brakes, and a limited slip diff, but no intercooler.".
