Last year, while I was shooting in the Optima Alley at SEMA, this 1988 Mitsubishi Starion caught my eye. It belongs to John Lazorack, and I’m pretty sure I called it a Chrysler Conquest. I was close, but not quite right. Then again, “not quite right” describes this car to a T. Let’s start off with the license plate: “TRACKSLT”. If you can’t decode that, ask someone else…but trust that whatever box-flared Mitsubishi-based model this is, that it will run rings around any standard car, anywhere, any time. Then there’s the engine…no 2.6L four here, turbocharged or otherwise. LS power provides the grunt and reliability needed for the Starion to go lap after lap before hitting the highways.
It’s a race car that is allowed to wear license plates, for sure. This isn’t daily driver material. But why not a Starion? Nevermind my personal Mitsu fixation, but the Starion/Conquest were really decent looking little coupes, a nice mix between Japanese sports tourer and wide-bodied racer, and if you had any issue with a lack of power, certainly a V8 swap can work for you. It’s the kind of car that, after hearing it run one time, you are left dying to take the wheel in anger just once…
Did you know it was meant to be called a Stallion but the dumbos at Mitsubishi used the Japanese pronunciation and we ended up with a “Starion”!
I’ll just ignore the pile of LS,,,,,
Geordie, are you rearry still angwy of the LS tranplant?
Always had a fascination for these cars but couldn’t afford them when new. Tough these days finding them for sale.
Aye mate – I’ll be really angry until every LS is banished from our planet….
I love the Starion, Conquest cars. The guy should be castrated for puting an LS in one…”I’m gonna do something completely unique, put a chevy in (fill in the blank); just like evrybody else does”.
Riiight, because the lump Mitsubishi put in there was perfect.
I had an ’89 Conquest, purchased used in 1993 with 25K on the odometer, total cream puff. The 2.6 four banger made a decent amount of power, enough to make it a really fun car to drive. It was a well balanced car. If I still had it and wanted more power I’d stick with a 4 cyl.
It is a Conquest.
It is a Conquest.
The Smoking Tire crew is wrong and John is too nice to correct them.