(first posted 7/3/2017) While we Curbivores prefer our classic cars to be of the curbside variety, some cars are so rare that they can only be seen at a car show, which is why the Car Show Classic category was created. Case in point: The featured car I spotted at a recent show surely must be one of the last remaining unmolested first-generation Mitsubishi Eclipses. While you can still see plenty of these cars prowling the streets, you are highly unlikely to see on the street this original and pristine.
The first generation 1990-94 Mitsubishi Eclipse (along with its Diamond-Star siblings Eagle Talon and Plymouth Laser) proved to be exceptionally popular with GenX’ers back in the 90’s. I should know: Being of Generation X myself, I seriously considered getting one back in the day. These cars were also darlings of the motoring press, routinely winning comparison tests and making regular appearances on Car and Driver’s 10-Best List.
The appeal of these cars is easy to understand: slick hatchback styling, hood so low that a blister was required to clear the engine’s timing chain cover, available high-powered DOHC engine as well as (then) exotic options like all wheel drive, turbocharging, and ABS. Couple this with a low starting price of around $11,000, with all but the hottest GSX model stickering for under 20 grand, and you have a recipe for success.
The Diamond-Star triplets were even more prized as used cars: They were highly sought after by the Fast and Furious tuner crowd in the 90’s and 00’s, with easily overboosted turbocharged engines and a healthy supply of aftermarket performance and appearance parts. As a result, many of these cars got used up by owners in search of cheap speed, much like Novas, Camaros, and Firebirds did a generation earlier.
Our featured example is a GS Turbo model, second only to the mighty AWD GSX in the Eclipse lineup. Indeed, the fact that it has a turbocharged engine and five speed manual transmission makes its survival that much more impressive.
What it does have is just over 11,000 miles since new, and the freshest interior I’ve seen in a Diamond-Star car for many years. That mileage, by the way, works out to less than 500 miles per year since it was new.
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse – A Victim Of Its Target Demographic PN
Cohort Classic: 1990 Eagle Talon TSi AWD – The Eagle Has Landed Brendan Saur
Wow that car looks showroom new! I remember these cars well, as I was a subscriber to Car and Driver during this period. These were great cars that gave the owner what he wanted, great looks and driving, as well those mentioned high performance models. I had a new Honda Civic SI, and later went to the Datsun Z car route. Like so many Acura Integras, Preludes, Civics, etc. these cars really suffered the ravages of time and subsequent teen aged owners. Great find!
I wish C&D still did “Bang for the Buck” nominations like they did when the Talon/Laser/Eclipse were new.
These were always top bang for the buck picks in the eyes of Car and Driver.
“Bang for the Buck” was more a Motor Trend thing, but yeah.
They gave us wrecking yard operators the most “Bang for our Buck”, too, namely in used engine sales…..
Holy cow, one that hasn’t been riced! And only 11k miles? Nice!
Hmm . . . that’s a term I’ve not heard before. What does ‘riced’ mean?
As for the car it looks assembly-line new. Someone’s poured a pitcher of ♥ on this Eclipse. Doesn’t look like a 25-year-old car, to be sure.
Feast your eyes on “rice”…
See also: Ricer blink. Never acceptable! LoL
Wow, is that ever nice! There was a lot to like in these – Mitsu and Chrysler hit this one out of the park, IMHO. Had I been in the small car market when these were new, they would have been on my short list.
It takes a special breed of cat to hold onto a new car and barely ever drive it, and keep it that way all through the “these aren’t worth anything” years. I hope this car finds a series of owners who will appreciate it and preserve it.
And I’m sorry, it is just not possible that these are 25 years old. Who do I talk to about this?
This was the only other car I considered when I got my ’94 GS-R (https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1994-acura-integra-gs-r-picking-up-speed/). It was mostly reliability concerns that scared me off.
Unbelievable. On the Renault article yesterday I was thinking how rare it is to see a leCar. One popular is now extict. I’d like to buy one.
Agreed. They get a lot of grief, but I’d love to drive one. Unfortunately the last operational one I saw was way back in ’89.
I have to think there’s still many a Cinq puttering along in European and MENA markets — there were a LOT of them built for a surprisingly long time.
I think my neighbor has one of the MOST molested. It’s a real POS. But he seems to collect them. He has a early 70s Nova that is rusted all the way through down the sides. But it has pretty brake calipers and two nice wheels… He has an armature of a 74 or 5 Nova under the carport (for the other one?) and a GMC mini truck that hasn’t run in over a year. The county did make him take it off the two jack stands at the end of hte driveway and move it. Wait, I’m ranting…. Never mind.
The Eclipse above looks nice and reminds me of why they were desirable.
It is important for car nuts to realize that keeping junk on the driveway is rude.
Agreed. This person sounds like a hoarder, and not a car enthusiast. People like this give us enthusiasts a bad name.
Wish it were a rarer Plymouth Laser or Eagle Talon, but I just have to smile at this! Looks beautiful!
And it has the original fire extinguisher/chock block.
Most car shows (AACA, CCCA, etc.) require a fire extinguisher.
Only 500 miles per year…….
Well, now we know why the head gasket hasn’t blown put of it, yet……?
Aside from the “Fast and Furious” crowds, there is a good reason why you see more of these in junkyards, than you do at shows and still being driven……
Beautiful designs for the style and body. Garbage under the hood…..
Even in the 70’s Mitsi’s had a habit of blowing head gaskets.
There’s at least one more left: this 1992 base model Eclipse I saw a few years back. It’s still on the road, though, according to CA smog check records.
I always find it strange to see 20+ year old relatively ordinary cars show up with just a handful of miles on them. Who can afford to buy a new car just to garage it? After all, such cars are not really collectible…and will NEVER be worth more than the dealer price. Just doesn’t make sense……
I agree with you on some points, however this car if put up for sale will most likely wind up selling for quite a bit more then what the out the door price was on this car in 1992.
I could also be that the owner of this car bought it as a pleasure car to be kept in the garage most of the time except for nice easy drives. We see this with a lot of classic cars from the 1960’s such as Mustangs. While a lot of these Diamond Star cars were bought by Gen X folks, a lot of them were also bought by older folks (My best friend in high school dad (who was in his 50’s) had the Plymouth version) so some were taken care of.
I disagree that these were ordinary cars. The Eclipse and its Eagle and Plymouth ilk were huge when they arrived on the scene. The auto press had glowing praise for them. These were the cars that kids of that era lusted after. In my high school, nobody wanted a Mustang, they all wanted one of these. These looked so much more modern and sporty then the Fox Mustang which was still using the same body(with small updates) that arrived in 1979 (when Disco was still popular)
Just because it may not make sense monetarily to preserve a car like this, doesn’t mean that someone wouldn’t do it anyway because they really liked them or some other reason.
Though I’d really like to know the story too. A manual transmission Eclipse isn’t your typical old lady car. Did someone really buy one with the idea of preserving it from day one, or is there some other reason it’s made it 25 years with so few miles? Has it been registered and driven (albeit only occasionally) all this time, or did it rack up all those miles in the first year or two then sit for 23 years for some reason?
I always found the styling on these to be a cross between a pimple and a boil. Way too round looking at every angle for my tastes, then and now. The 3000GT/Dodge Stealth were far superior cars in my eyes and I found the popularity of the DSMs to them perplexing, not just in sales(I understand these were cheaper) but desirability, I had friends in grade school who wanted them more.
Now I miss them, in part for the childhood nostalgia and for another no cars in this segment come close to being the regular road sightings these were in the 90s. These were truly everywhere, and regular owners miraculously got by without the all practicality BS people are so easily swindled by today.
I looked at buying a 90 model when I was graduating high school.
The inside killed it for me. I felt like I was in a cave. It had a dark interior and the seat being so low with the high console/ shifter I was claustrophobic.
I bought a 91 Galant instead. That was a dog of a car. When it ran it was great. Emphasis on WHEN
Still think it’s a great looking car but I’m kinda leary of anything with a triple diamond logo
“The inside killed it for me”.
I could never get around that bizarre downward slant to the right of the instrument cluster: HVAC vents, controls in all. I always thought it looked like it melted and sagged.
You raise a really good point Tom. Though I’m not a car enthusiast on the basis of monetary value that appreciates, I’ve still formed the view that the R32/33/34 Skyline GTRs and first series WRX and STi variants will be future collectibles. The most desirable (and theoretically most valuable) of these will be the unmolested ones – extremely rare as first, second, third and so on owners have modified them to enhance performance.
Apart from the Lancer Evos, Mitsubishis like this never seemed to appeal to the ricer crowd here.
I am not into these cars personally but I get the perspective.
To those who figure it’s not worth a lot I give this example.
In 1985 my aunt and uncle bought my cousin a car. It was a bare bones 1969 Dodge Dart Swinger. It literally had three options. The 225 6, automatic transmission and a radio. It also only had 5,900 original miles on it. They bought it from the Dodge dealership for $1,500. By 1991 it had well over 100,000 miles on it and was on its way to the wreckers after 6 well salted Canadian winters. At that time it was just thought of as a well preserved used car.
Bring it forward to today. It would have AT LEAST one more zero in the price and if you tried to drive in in the winter now you would immediately be hunted down by a enraged pack of Mopar fans !
So when you look at a 90’s or 00 car that has had an easy life and think “big deal”, remember, our kids or grandkids are going to look at it with completely emotions and a completely different perspective!
Cool find, and this is why it’s great to have the “Car Show Classic” category, because there really are vehicles there that sometimes at a car show, they’re the only place that you’ll find them. I always thought that these were great looking cars then, and they’ve aged well.
Tom, This looks like it was at the Stan Hywett Father’s Day car show in Akron. Do you have any other finds?
You are correct, it is the Fathers Day show at Stan Hywet. I was there showing the Mark III this year. I’ve got a few more finds coming up in future posts.
Growing up my family went to this show almost every year and I assumed that every city had an equivalent show but that hasn’t been the case (certainly not where I live now). The grounds are absolutely beautiful and the number of cars ensures that there is something for everyone. And afterwards Swenson’s is close by to have one of America’s great hamburgers.
I’m looking forward to seeing what else you’ve got to show us from the show!
I got to spend some wheel time in a AWD turbo Talon I had replaced the turbo on for a customer. Probably the closest thing to a 4 wheel crotch rocket this side of a ’63 fuel injected Corvette. Or a 289 Cobra. Fun times indeed.
Jeez. if keeping a moderately popular and common old car in pristine condition is of questionable sense, then my maintaining less than 25K miles on a 92 throw-away festiva must be some category of mental deficiency. one reason maybe? – it’s passion, not profit.
If you’re motor-vated to keep your ’92 Festiva in good nick I say: Go With It. 😀
I just about peed myself seeing that gorgeous firey red Eclipse! You just don’t see old mitsus like that anymore. The ricers and donkers have destroyed so many of those fabulous cars. I bet a car like that Eclipse at auction would sell for $50,000. Id take the Eclipse for 50 grand anyday over some dumb overpriced clumsy old muscle car from the 60s. Heck the Eclipse can out run any crappy old American muscle cars! I just feel so warm and tingly all over knowing that someone has loveingly preserved a great great great classic Mitsubishi??????
There is a very good reason, you don’t see many old Chrysler LLC anything(let alone Mitsubishi products) still on the road…….
And in the case of the Eclipse, it isn’t because of the “ricer” crowds having seen too many “Fart-Can Furious” movies, either….
Very nice car in it’s original condition. Another car that is extremely difficult to find in original condition, and I have looked, is any Prelude from the second and third generation.
Three strikes for those God-awful mechanical seat belts. Not quite GM door belt bad, but a huge turn off.
Looking back through a 30 year lens, the overall design inside and out, has a Saturn-like vibe.
That wiper stalk has quite the assortment of functions! Looks like you get on/off/int, followed by an adjustment of the intermittent time, followed by the rear wiper control and capped off with a full-function cruise control!