Alpina_Blue

About once or twice a year, a nice StarQuest pops up on Hemmings – I still have the search saved from when I was looking for mine, and almost bought an excellent black 1987 listed here years ago, but didn't act fast enough. I feel like you don't often see the '86's for sale, and this one is very nice and original – it's fun to spot all the little differences between my 87. I'm not a fan of the mud flap look, but it's cool to see a rare item! https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1986-mitsubishi-starion-fort-worth-tx-2969203

I don’t know about the flat body cars but the wide body came with Yokohama A-008 tires (at least for 1987), which they actually still make for vintage applications, but I don’t think they’re available in our factory sizes

SHP (sport handling package) was the Mitsubishi term, for some reason Chrysler chose to call it the Performance Handling Package (PHP). It’s a Conquest above, so just using the correct term 🙂 It’s up to $35K, might set a BaT record for the StarQuest

Extremely nice Conquest, it’s always fun to see the details on these highly original, low mile examples. This should do very well, appears to be a PHP car as well. It will be interesting to see what it brings compared to the 40K mile Conquest (also red, also PHP) that sold for $35K in February. Great to see such nice StarQuests are still out there https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1988-chrysler-conquest-27/

I’m not into collecting Hot Wheels but a friend of mine is and sent me this - apparently there will be a Starion offered for the first time. Looks like it’s the Dave Wolin #88 SCCA car livery, although I think that car was red (I have some original magazine ads where Mitsubishi was touting their Showroom Stock success with #88… I’d upload a picture if it wasn’t limited to 63kb). Anyway, pretty cool! https://www.instagram.com/p/DV134mKjq4l/

If anyone does need a new exhaust manifold, the new MKS part mentioned above is very high quality. I got that along with the steel exhaust manifold gasket and ARP hardware he sells last summer, very pleased with all of it. At nearly 40 years old, we’ll all need to replace it at some point, awesome that MKS has it available

Looks to be a nice Conquest, rare to see them in this one year color! https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1987-chrysler-conquest-10/

Pretty cool that they restored this historic truck (along with its 222hp G54), just a reminder of Mitsubishi's amazing racing heritage https://japanesenostalgiccar.com/mitsubishi-pajero-1985-paris-dakar-rally-restored/

Very cool, I like the look. Seems like there might be a set on eBay right now but they're kinda beat up – https://www.ebay.com/itm/167895478734 – although the lenses don’t seem as “3D” as the ones you have? You can especially see it in the Speed Hunters pictures (RIP Speed Hunters). Maybe a slightly different variant? Regardless, I'm sure finding really clean ones isn't easy to say the least @tux Post some pictures when you have them installed!

It took a few years to find the original floor mats (thanks, Steve), but the leather was looking a bit dry, so I'm going to condition it today along with cleaning up the engine bay https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yoqWxkfA6LZl6HbXsdxeNUSIZZRnMlvr/view?usp=sharing

I've only been here for a few years but somehow at one point there were 1,997 users online at the peak, according to this stats in the member statistics – hard to believe. My 87 Starion has finally been largely sorted out mechanically, thanks to Chris at Top-End Restoration and Performance in VA – and to Steve Sutherland, who has probably helped most of us out at this point. One of my cam journals was damaged, and somehow the guys at the other "top end" (Top End Performance in California) are still in business and had a beautiful cylinder head and cam for me – they also worked with Chris to make sure it was set up properly. I bought an OVC hard pipe from them years ago, so they still have some unique parts around. Also thanks to MKS Motorsports, their new exhaust manifold is fantastic and I had it ceramic coated. Yesterday I washed the car and took it to the Greats Falls Cars and Coffee in VA, there were a lot of serious machines there (a F40 is a regular, also saw a beautiful 2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0, stunning car), but you might be surprised at how many vintage Japanese sports car enthusiasts there are. The old girl is nearly 40 years old but she attracts a crowd! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the holiday weekend – I'm going to give the engine bay a good clean today with the help of a few cold beers – cheers! Some pictures below: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h1bCSagV6r7pPBmRKpS6PliTBaXOATin/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TvYGuhdbgbefHyKsGXiOH_TX81ef7Hk4/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bi8TA0IQZCeHLGXEPn-JuqenPe_38sU8/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FGXwypJm4oMIIK1uxp4ETiUJFdHeSlio/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P7a1KcO3E1FyBMDweuxdtR9wRGaLJo0y/view

This video is a couple years old, but new to me – nice to see this very original Starion cleaned up and looking great again. I hope the owner was able to address the mechanicals and get her back on the road

I agree with the comment above, it’s always great to see new people interested in the StarQuest, but I’d do your homework before jumping in. A good place to start would be checking out the project cars Steve has for sale - he’s extremely knowledgeable about these cars and could likely give you a solid idea what it would take to bring one back into good working order. You can also get a feel for what parts cost on his website as well: https://starquestparts.net/starion-conquest-project-cars-for-sale But I also agree with the first comment - these cars are awesome, but not necessarily ideal for anyone on a tight budget

It's a ridiculous long shot, but does anyone have a 1987 Starion owner's cassette tape that they would be willing to sell? I had heard about this before and apparently it does (or did) exist! Sometimes it's amazing what you can find on this site from nearly 15 years ago... anyway, this would be a really cool collector's piece to have

Nice write up, it's always great to see them with photos! I've had a CX Racing radiator in my car for 2+ years, although I went with their fans rather than the factory ones, so fitment there wasn't an issue. The new CX fans seem to work well and are significantly quieter than the factory units (at least compared to my old fans), often to the point where it's hard to hear them running. The shop that works on my car installed everything, so I can't speak directly to mounting the radiator, but they didn't mention any fitment issues at the time (maybe they were too minor to note). That said, I'm very happy with the unit and have zero issues with cooling, so I'd definitely recommend the CX radiator, and as mentioned above, it might be the only new option left for our cars - if you're considering one, I'd get it while they're still available.

I’d love to know if anyone has ever seen those Aero wheel covers in the 1988 brochure (page 12). It sounds like these were actually part of the Sport Handling Package according to what it says? https://importarchive.com/brochure/mitsubishistarion1988_01

I had a custom turbo back exhaust built by a local shop for my car, but it looks like you can still buy all of the exhaust components new from MK1/Mookeeh https://www.mookeeh.com/shop/starion-parts

Thanks to @psu_Crash I was able to get a hold of the vector logos that Natallica used to create custom floor mats for a group buy back in the day, so I figured I'd share that here in case someone else needs it, see attached. It's an EPS file, which is a vector format, and includes the "Star Wars" Starion logo, Conquest logo, rear hatch Conquest graphics, a custom Starion version of that, TSi logo, flatty "turbo" logo and more. I hope it can help someone else trying to reproduce these! Conquest & Starion Hatch logos_Mike.eps

Welcome back, an 89 Starion is a very rare find!

While a 500kb limit might have been fine back in the day, modern phones usually take photos around 2-3mb at a minimum. While there are many free image compression tools online, getting an image below 500kb might not be possible and it’s an extra barrier to entry on the site, the same with using an outside file hosting service. And 73kb like the SHP wheel example above might only be possible if you were uploading from a flip phone. Our cars might be from the 80’s but it would be nice if this site allowed for a more modern user experience, I’m sure it would boost engagement.

I prefer the early logo with the more stylized font as well, however, my car is an 87, so the later, more blocky logo would be more appropriate. That said, I’d be ok with either in vector format @psu_Crash Thanks, just sent you a PM

Hi, does anyone have a vector file of the Starion logo? I haven't seen a decent set of original Starion floor mats in burgundy for sale in years, so I was thinking of buying new mats and having a local custom embroidery shop recreate them for me (well, kind of). Thanks!

I was pretty surprised to see this pop up, it’s rare to see such a nice flatty for sale these days, only the second one listed on BaT. It’s hard to imagine this isn’t one of the better examples left out there - very cool, especially with the digital dash. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1985-mitsubishi-starion-2/

I would highly recommend anyone in the DC area check out the Old Town Festival of Speed next year, May 19th, it was an amazing event and free to the public. Apparently almost 50K people showed up this year. It’s not often you can get up close and personal with a Ferrari F40 and many more amazing cars. Some dude shot video of most of the cars there this year:

Thanks guys! I recently had some paint work done on the front to correct a few rock chips and discoloration on the driver side headlight and such, but most of the paint is original. I’m only the 2nd owner, the original owner kept the car in amazing cosmetic condition over 72K miles, it just took about 2 years to sort out all the mechanical issues haha. Other than the recent paint work, all I’ve done is condition the leather and do a few clay bar sessions. If I can ever find a set of OEM Mitsubishi floor mats in burgundy it will be complete!