Is the exploding popularity of Radwood elevating Gen-X cars to desirable classic car status? This clean-looking 1989 Chrysler Conquest up for sale from RM Sotheby’s seems to at least suggest that possibility.
[Vintage Views: Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R and Chrysler Conquest TSI]
Crossin…
Let's see...
The good:
The bad:
Overall, this car wasn't prepped very well for auction. I wouldn't pay $17,500 for it. I would put it in the $10-15k range. Better prepped examples have been selling on BaT for $20-25k. Too bad, this car has a lot of good things going for it; if the seller had fixed some of the issues I think they could have expected to get a lot more for it given how crazy the market is.
Yes they are classics. I want one, but I can't think of anything they do well enough, other than just be really cool, to make me buy one.
obsolete said:Let's see...
The good:
- Looks like nice original paint, or if it's been repainted, good job with the reproduction decals.
- Hatch alignment is decent. Driver's side is good, passenger's side is sticking out toward the rear of the car a little. This tends to get worse over time as the bushings wear.
- Body panel alignment looks good, doesn't seem to have ever been crashed.
- Cats have been deleted, which is a good thing at this point if you plan to actually drive it.
- Interior looks nice, black/tan color combo is great.
- Air dam is in good shape.
- No sunroof, good, they all leak eventually anyway.
- Wheels are in nice shape, and they look original, not restored.
- Whoa, the stamped steel engine under-tray, and the plastic air deflector that goes between it and the air dam, are still installed and in good shape. That's rare and very nice to see.
- Factory floor mats, nice.
The bad:
- Heat shields between the turbine housing and the ABS unit are gone. Hmm, where'd they go?
- Wait, that's not a stock turbo! Looks like a Chinacharger. Must have the Treadstone T3 manifold on it then.
- Oh, and the rubber boot between the compressor inlet and the MAF has been butchered to make it fit. Not good, not good at all.
- Tail lights are getting wet inside, you can see the rusty water stains inside the lenses. Driver's side is way worse. Both of them need to be disassembled, cleaned, reflectors re-painted, gaskets replaced.
- Trip odometer reset button is broken.
- E36 M3 black spray bomb job on the cruise control actuator for some reason.
- Front strut mounts are cracked. You can still buy brand new ones on RockAuto, you know.
- Red plastic on the automatic seat belt release levers is sun-faded, bummer. Seat belt buttons look good, though.
- Ironman tires? Really?
- The under-car shots appear to strategically avoid the parts of the unibody that you really need to see. The passenger's side, where the exhaust cooks the undercoating and paint off the body and the "frame rail" structure rusts through, and the driver's side, where the steering box leaks and the fluid strips all the paint off...you can't see either of those spots, probably for good reason. The rest of the car looks fine underneath, but I would not buy this car without getting some good pictures of those areas, because that's where the problems will be.
Overall, this car wasn't prepped very well for auction. I wouldn't pay $17,500 for it. I would put it in the $10-15k range. Better prepped examples have been selling on BaT for $20-25k. Too bad, this car has a lot of good things going for it; if the seller had fixed some of the issues I think they could have expected to get a lot more for it given how crazy the market is.
And this is why you have an expert look at a car before you purchase your dream car!!!
Another thing that I found a bit annoying is the "artistic" use of depth of field in the photos. It puts a lot of what is in the photos out of focus. So only a very small part of the photo is actually useful. Another way to hid things in plain sight. I have seen it in the past but this set of photos is using it to such an extent that it borders on being deceptive.
This image is an example. Only the area in the ellipse is in focus. You basically can not really tell the condition of anything outside of it.
At a local auto-X event here in CA, shooting photos for PROTHANE, I came across this Mit. Starion. Has a Corvette motor! My point here is, if you can't find a clean one, think about using the restorable one you find to make a hobby machine. It caught my eye!
Colin Wood said:
Is the exploding popularity of Radwood elevating Gen-X cars to desirable classic car status?
I guess I forgot to answer the original question. Yes, I believe it is.
tuna55 said:
Yes they are classics. I want one, but I can't think of anything they do well enough, other than just be really cool, to make me buy one.
Yeah, that's pretty much it, but sometimes that's enough, y'know? Mine puts a smile on my face more consistently than other cars for that reason. It's kind of a dumb car that's not objectively great at anything, but it's really cool, and when I drive it, I feel really cool.
dean1484 said:Another thing that I found a bit annoying is the "artistic" use of depth of field in the photos. It puts a lot of what is in the photos out of focus. So only a very small part of the photo is actually useful. Another way to hid things in plain sight. I have seen it in the past but this set of photos is using it to such an extent that it borders on being deceptive.
Absolutely. That's a great point.
100% and still one of my dream cars. Though I'm holding out for a blue one with a manual. Of course I have no place to put it, so it's a moot point.
Yes, see them for sale all the time on FB marketplace with one common caveat which is the motor. It's always something with the motor. I want one but the engine problems that I see it seem to have is off putting.
Kid at my HS and his dad each had a new one around 1988. Red and Royal blue IIRC. Definitely one was red. I remember both had brush strokes through the pinstripes, 80's style. Always liked these.
Is this a trick question?
And, is No an allowed response?
The Conquest/Starion is a car designed around a perfect set of box flares and wheels.
I still remember the first one I ever saw. It was this red color. A Russian guy I knew in college had it. Had the boost turned up "to 11" all the time. Something was always broken on that car- and this was in the late 90s.
Echo what others have said, this would be a great car, with almost any other engine. Ford 2.3 Ecoboost swap?
volvoclearinghouse said:I still remember the first one I ever saw. It was this red color. A Russian guy I knew in college had it. Had the boost turned up "to 11" all the time. Something was always broken on that car- and this was in the late 90s.
Echo what others have said, this would be a great car, with almost any other engine. Ford 2.3 Ecoboost swap?
I think the aftermarket has figured out the engine woes, most involve the cylinder head. I've never worked on one though.
Just checked the auction link, sold for $9,900. So I guess even I was a little optimistic on the price. Probably has some issues that are evident in person that the "artistic" pictures were hiding. Still might have been a good buy for under $10k. It probably won't ever be worth less than that, especially with a few relatively small fixes.
volvoclearinghouse said:
I still remember the first one I ever saw. It was this red color. A Russian guy I knew in college had it. Had the boost turned up "to 11" all the time. Something was always broken on that car- and this was in the late 90s.
Mitsu and Chrysler sold more red widebodies than any other color/style by far, so they're the most common, and looked down upon by Starquest enthusiasts who are fixated on having all the rarest things. I like them in red, I think it's the best color.
Echo what others have said, this would be a great car, with almost any other engine. Ford 2.3 Ecoboost swap?
How about an Ecotec? (Shameless self-promotion)
To me a classic means, even non-enthusiasts want one.
It's a classic to us car geeks, for everybody else, they probably don't even know what it is.
A '57 Chevy, everyone knows what that is.
Sine_Qua_Non said:Yes, see them for sale all the time on FB marketplace with one common caveat which is the motor. It's always something with the motor. I want one but the engine problems that I see it seem to have is off putting.
Wait a minute- Are you saying you can't find a Mitsubishi without some sort of engine problems? That just seems silly, because they were all just so darn sturdy when they were new.
What if I were to say that I know where two of these are sitting side by side to each other.....should I go and inquire.....prehaps?
759NRNG said:What if I were to say that I know where two of these are sitting side by side to each other.....should I go and inquire.....prehaps?
Do you have a lot of spare time to find parts and when you're not doing that you'll be fixing something.
AENfor43 said:At a local auto-X event here in CA, shooting photos for PROTHANE, I came across this Mit. Starion. Has a Corvette motor! My point here is, if you can't find a clean one, think about using the restorable one you find to make a hobby machine. It caught my eye!
That guy was on a Hoonigan video in the past. He's an engineer and works for Chevy I think?
Junghole said:AENfor43 said:At a local auto-X event here in CA, shooting photos for PROTHANE, I came across this Mit. Starion. Has a Corvette motor! My point here is, if you can't find a clean one, think about using the restorable one you find to make a hobby machine. It caught my eye!
That guy was on a Hoonigan video in the past. He's an engineer and works for Chevy I think?
His name is John Lazorlack. I think he used to do digital design work for Chevy. His car has A LOT of work done to it.
For a long time they were common in the junkyard, I rarely saw running ones 20 years ago. The interior is very cramped too, tall people can't really fit in one.
In reply to stroker :
That appears to be a somewhat desirable 1985.5 model, you can tell from the 5-lug wheels (most flatties are 4-lug).
Really these cars need a MPFI setup on the 2.6 or a 4G63 swap to come alive. The stock TBI setup is...weird, and it also seemed to change slightly every year.
In reply to stroker :
There is a yellow flared model in my neighborhood that looks about like this. So far, I've resisted the urge to stop in and ask about it...
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