RE: Mitsubishi Starion: Spotted
Discussion
That interior looks wonderful. So much space, so much glass, so much air.. The seats look so inviting, and there's no f
king stupid screen shouting "touch me touch me touch me". Or any of that "sporty low slung high transmission tunnel angled dash" wk the plagues modern cars.
How wrong modern cars have it.
king stupid screen shouting "touch me touch me touch me". Or any of that "sporty low slung high transmission tunnel angled dash" wk the plagues modern cars. How wrong modern cars have it.
I had 2 Mitsubishi Galant Turbos in the late eighties after lusting after my father in laws 88 Model wide body starion ( couldnt afford a starion with his daughter in tow). Always hankered after an original Lancer 2000 Turbo because of the rally history (2000 Turbo legend on front spoiler reading backwards). Great cars back then and stood out from my mates all wanting XR2s and XR3iS. went opel manta GTE after that. Im not one for following the crowd.
Quite a cutting edge design for the time. I’ve just bought a similar vintage Celica, similar condition, and this looks much more modern.
And unfortunately the price is about right!
Thanks Rallycross for posting the racing pictures. These cars, sponsored by the drums retailer, used to regularly win all the races my family used to be in, in a lowly Celica / Corolla / Supra depending on the year. They were very good!
Finally - they did some rallying. A Group B car was developed then the class banned. So in about 86 on Pentti Airikkala and RalliArt developed a very successful car which did what is now the BRC. Loved them! Now slightly regret getting the Celica.
And unfortunately the price is about right!
Thanks Rallycross for posting the racing pictures. These cars, sponsored by the drums retailer, used to regularly win all the races my family used to be in, in a lowly Celica / Corolla / Supra depending on the year. They were very good!
Finally - they did some rallying. A Group B car was developed then the class banned. So in about 86 on Pentti Airikkala and RalliArt developed a very successful car which did what is now the BRC. Loved them! Now slightly regret getting the Celica.
Something from another site on the rallying...
After that Ralli Art had the car sitting around for a while. By 1988 Pentti Airikkala had no program and he wanted to piece together a BRC drive. He thought Ralli Art had no use for the Mitsubishi Starion Turbo and since Ford Sierra Cosworth and BMW M3 are doing well in the BRC, the unwanted RWD Starion Turbo may not be such a bad idea after all. And that Mitsubishi themselves didn't seem to think much of this car would be a good starting point to talk rental prices. Pentti asked Andrew Cowan and his reply indeed was on the lines of 'Sure, you can have it, but I don't know what you want it for, it's a useless car'. Andrew Cowan didn't seem to care much about the idea while Pentti Airikkala went out testing and altering set ups. Shortly afterwards Cowan was on a business trip to Japan. In the plane he bought a daily newspaper and only in here he found out that his "useless" car had won the opening round of the BRC 1988 (Cartel Rally)! Questions if this was luck or lack of competition Pentti wiped away in winning round3 (Welsh Rally) too. And while the Cartel Rally had a high attrition rate, lady driver Louise Aitken-Walker coming 2nd to the Starion Turbo in a Peugeot 205 GTI, in Wales Pentti and the Starion had to beat Jimmy McRae's works Sierra Cosworth by 28sec. However then results started to drop, but in the end Pentti in the Starion still finished 2nd in the championship.
However later Pentti was to claim the car indeed wasn't that brilliant. It had potential, but after the first successes Japanese Mitsubishi engineers started to be interested in it. Ever heard anybody unhappy about works support? It seems the Japanese engineers had their own ideas of how to make the car even more competitive. The story sounded a bit like what went wrong in Toyota's F1 program, several Japanese engineers each trying to put the successes to their own personal claim when the successes were there already and the engineers just kept getting into the way. They interfered with Pentti's own set up ideas and apparently the car became more undriveable event by event, the more the Japanese works engineers worked on it. At the end of the season Pentti was then involved in a huge accident with the Starion that hospitalised him. Pentti's verdict: "This was a good thing, the car I hated was dead and I met the most beautiful nurse!"
After that Ralli Art had the car sitting around for a while. By 1988 Pentti Airikkala had no program and he wanted to piece together a BRC drive. He thought Ralli Art had no use for the Mitsubishi Starion Turbo and since Ford Sierra Cosworth and BMW M3 are doing well in the BRC, the unwanted RWD Starion Turbo may not be such a bad idea after all. And that Mitsubishi themselves didn't seem to think much of this car would be a good starting point to talk rental prices. Pentti asked Andrew Cowan and his reply indeed was on the lines of 'Sure, you can have it, but I don't know what you want it for, it's a useless car'. Andrew Cowan didn't seem to care much about the idea while Pentti Airikkala went out testing and altering set ups. Shortly afterwards Cowan was on a business trip to Japan. In the plane he bought a daily newspaper and only in here he found out that his "useless" car had won the opening round of the BRC 1988 (Cartel Rally)! Questions if this was luck or lack of competition Pentti wiped away in winning round3 (Welsh Rally) too. And while the Cartel Rally had a high attrition rate, lady driver Louise Aitken-Walker coming 2nd to the Starion Turbo in a Peugeot 205 GTI, in Wales Pentti and the Starion had to beat Jimmy McRae's works Sierra Cosworth by 28sec. However then results started to drop, but in the end Pentti in the Starion still finished 2nd in the championship.
However later Pentti was to claim the car indeed wasn't that brilliant. It had potential, but after the first successes Japanese Mitsubishi engineers started to be interested in it. Ever heard anybody unhappy about works support? It seems the Japanese engineers had their own ideas of how to make the car even more competitive. The story sounded a bit like what went wrong in Toyota's F1 program, several Japanese engineers each trying to put the successes to their own personal claim when the successes were there already and the engineers just kept getting into the way. They interfered with Pentti's own set up ideas and apparently the car became more undriveable event by event, the more the Japanese works engineers worked on it. At the end of the season Pentti was then involved in a huge accident with the Starion that hospitalised him. Pentti's verdict: "This was a good thing, the car I hated was dead and I met the most beautiful nurse!"
Small Car said:
Something from another site on the rallying...
After that Ralli Art had the car sitting around for a while. By 1988 Pentti Airikkala had no program and he wanted to piece together a BRC drive. He thought Ralli Art had no use for the Mitsubishi Starion Turbo and since Ford Sierra Cosworth and BMW M3 are doing well in the BRC, the unwanted RWD Starion Turbo may not be such a bad idea after all. And that Mitsubishi themselves didn't seem to think much of this car would be a good starting point to talk rental prices. Pentti asked Andrew Cowan and his reply indeed was on the lines of 'Sure, you can have it, but I don't know what you want it for, it's a useless car'. Andrew Cowan didn't seem to care much about the idea while Pentti Airikkala went out testing and altering set ups. Shortly afterwards Cowan was on a business trip to Japan. In the plane he bought a daily newspaper and only in here he found out that his "useless" car had won the opening round of the BRC 1988 (Cartel Rally)! Questions if this was luck or lack of competition Pentti wiped away in winning round3 (Welsh Rally) too.
However later Pentti was to claim the car indeed wasn't that brilliant. It had potential, but after the first successes Japanese Mitsubishi engineers started to be interested in it. Ever heard anybody unhappy about works support? It seems the Japanese engineers had their own ideas of how to make the car even more competitive. The story sounded a bit like what went wrong in Toyota's F1 program, several Japanese engineers each trying to put the successes to their own personal claim when the successes were there already and the engineers just kept getting into the way. They interfered with Pentti's own set up ideas and apparently the car became more undriveable event by event, the more the Japanese works engineers worked on it. At the end of the season Pentti was then involved in a huge accident with the Starion that hospitalised him. Pentti's verdict: "This was a good thing, the car I hated was dead and I met the most beautiful nurse!"
Thread revival - as we are all stuck at home lets share some good retro videos that are slowly appearing on you tube.After that Ralli Art had the car sitting around for a while. By 1988 Pentti Airikkala had no program and he wanted to piece together a BRC drive. He thought Ralli Art had no use for the Mitsubishi Starion Turbo and since Ford Sierra Cosworth and BMW M3 are doing well in the BRC, the unwanted RWD Starion Turbo may not be such a bad idea after all. And that Mitsubishi themselves didn't seem to think much of this car would be a good starting point to talk rental prices. Pentti asked Andrew Cowan and his reply indeed was on the lines of 'Sure, you can have it, but I don't know what you want it for, it's a useless car'. Andrew Cowan didn't seem to care much about the idea while Pentti Airikkala went out testing and altering set ups. Shortly afterwards Cowan was on a business trip to Japan. In the plane he bought a daily newspaper and only in here he found out that his "useless" car had won the opening round of the BRC 1988 (Cartel Rally)! Questions if this was luck or lack of competition Pentti wiped away in winning round3 (Welsh Rally) too.
However later Pentti was to claim the car indeed wasn't that brilliant. It had potential, but after the first successes Japanese Mitsubishi engineers started to be interested in it. Ever heard anybody unhappy about works support? It seems the Japanese engineers had their own ideas of how to make the car even more competitive. The story sounded a bit like what went wrong in Toyota's F1 program, several Japanese engineers each trying to put the successes to their own personal claim when the successes were there already and the engineers just kept getting into the way. They interfered with Pentti's own set up ideas and apparently the car became more undriveable event by event, the more the Japanese works engineers worked on it. At the end of the season Pentti was then involved in a huge accident with the Starion that hospitalised him. Pentti's verdict: "This was a good thing, the car I hated was dead and I met the most beautiful nurse!"
This chap VHS rallies seemingly has endless 80's rally tapes in great quality which he is putting on you tube - this one features the car we are talking about here, the narrow body Starion turbo with the later upgraded engine 2.0 turbo (as per evo) rallied to great effect by the late great Penti Arrikola -a flambouyant driver in any car, especially rwd.
As mentioned above this car won the first round against the works teams - shows how good it was (or car and driver was).
https://youtu.be/Ga5MQ_hwwX8
some great clips in here, a group A 3rd cossie battling a group N cossie - see how it pulled away on the corner exit. A 309 Gti vs a 205 1.9, and a Skoda works 1300cc - enjoy.
rallycross said:
This chap VHS rallies seemingly has endless 80's rally tapes in great quality which he is putting on you tube - this one features the car we are talking about here, the narrow body Starion turbo
https://youtu.be/Ga5MQ_hwwX8
Now that's rallying !https://youtu.be/Ga5MQ_hwwX8
I had a rwd galant turbo, it felt properly quick back in the day, just thinking, must have been my first turbo car.
This shape https://images.app.goo.gl/iUXysMEdQnMjnbLv5
My mate had a widebody 2.6 in red with black leather, one of the smartest cars in the town back then
This shape https://images.app.goo.gl/iUXysMEdQnMjnbLv5
My mate had a widebody 2.6 in red with black leather, one of the smartest cars in the town back then
Edited by biggbn on Friday 27th March 21:05
Loved mine, it was a bit rough around the edges but for £1,500 I couldn't complain! I must have kept it 6 or 7 years, and took it from 118k miles to nearly 140k miles. Had a fair bit of welding done on it, but otherwise the only issues I had was a leaking power steering pump, a sticking caliper that I got rebuilt and the radiator succumbed to terminal rust. It also had the most extensive history file of any car I've owned- a complete lever-arch file containing every single MOT and invoice going back to 1989. It also had the original service and handbooks.
Used it as my daily car for the first 4 or so years until I bought my Integra Type R. It was awful on fuel, loud, and drew more attention than my TVR does- I felt like a king swanning around in it at 20 years old. Unfortunately the attention it drew was mostly bearded older blokes at petrol station forecourts as they were the only ones who knew what it was
I've still to this day never seen another on the road, either before, during, or since owning mine. The narrow-body version never did anything for me- it was the wide arches that made it. Biggest problem is rust, rust, and more rust. Probably why so few have survived.
Pleasingly mine seems to have been one of the lucky ones- a quick check shows it's MOT'd until July 2020 and does a couple of hundred miles a year- a far cry from when I owned it!
The goosed radiator after I removed it...
Used it as my daily car for the first 4 or so years until I bought my Integra Type R. It was awful on fuel, loud, and drew more attention than my TVR does- I felt like a king swanning around in it at 20 years old. Unfortunately the attention it drew was mostly bearded older blokes at petrol station forecourts as they were the only ones who knew what it was
I've still to this day never seen another on the road, either before, during, or since owning mine. The narrow-body version never did anything for me- it was the wide arches that made it. Biggest problem is rust, rust, and more rust. Probably why so few have survived.
Pleasingly mine seems to have been one of the lucky ones- a quick check shows it's MOT'd until July 2020 and does a couple of hundred miles a year- a far cry from when I owned it!
The goosed radiator after I removed it...
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