Dodge’s partnership with Mitsubishi yielded a Dodge-badged twin to the Mitsu’ 3000GT called Stealth. There’s nothing stealthy about the chrome wheels and polished Arrest Me Red paint on this 1992 Dodge Stealth R/T. The Fayetteville, North Carolina sportster boasts more power than stock, All-Wheel-Drive, and a new transmission. It shows well for its age and claimed 108,000 miles, only about 16,000 of which occurred after the power mods. Check out more pictures and details here on Craigslist where $11,900 transfers the title. Thanks to Mitchell G. for spotting this Tar Heel State terror. Regional experts could guess the location by this picture as driving and parking on your grass is the official NC State Pastime.
One tear in the driver’s seat could be touched up by your local upholstery shop and you’d be good to go from what we see here. That steering wheel cover might hide other dermerits. The Stealth R/T’s AWD, six-speed gearbox, four-wheel steering, twin-turbos, and DOHC made contemporary go-fast machines like the 5.0 Mustang and Camaro Z/28 look like farm implements on the technology evolution timeline. All those spinning and whirring doohickeys came at a cost though, as a fully dressed-out Stealth R/T ltipped the scales around 3800 lb., about as bloated as today’s V8 RWD pony cars. Thanks to Wikipedia for some details.
Upgraded turbochargers crank out a claimed 500 HP at the flywheel and over 400 at the wheels, a significant boost from the stock 320. I’ve experienced a modified twin of this ride, the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4, and its taut handling and AWD delivers power and handling that will have your local drift expert clutching for handholds and appealing to a higher power. Buyers continuing the ’80s tradition of All Show, No Go could opt for a 160HP SOHC 3.0 V6 or the non-turbo version of this motor pumping out 222. All three mills displaced 3.0L (~183 cid).
An added wing further obstructs vision rearward, but as we know from the 1976 film Gumball Rally, what’s behind you doesn’t matter anymore. Do you see values rising on these anything-but-stealthy ’90s supercars?
Fitch, always liked these cars, they seemed to produce performance numbers that delivered above what you’d expect on paper.
Were the 222hp variants on the awd chasis as well ?
Thanks Stan. I can’t +1 your comment but here’s a personal +1. AWD only came with the killer twin turbo. I’ve actually been in one of these with all three engines, the VR4 making about 400 engine HP was impressive. The DOHC non-turbo felt sporty and the SOHC was nice to look at. Cheers! I read a funny story from when John Hennessey was making go-fast parts for these. He took a 3000GT to Bonneville I believe and the tech inspectors were WWII era Engineers. One popped the hood and said, “Mitsubishi? Isn’t that who made the Zero?”
There was a front wheel drive turbo! 3000gt(called GTO! there) variant for the Japanese market only. I dont think the Stealth was sold in Japan.
I never owned one of these but drove several, The Were a Blast! They seemed much better put together than most Mopars of the period.
Weren’t they made by Mitsubishi and licensed to Dodge?
These things were beast! Very underrated. My roommate in the Air force had one and it was such a blast to drive. The technology in these things were way ahead of the American car companies. This would eat other sports cars of that time frame for lunch. Don’t see many now a days and if my garage was not full I would jump on this.
Ten years ago, with money to burn on a non-practical car, I looked at these, and drove a few, they were in the $20,000 range for a decent example. So prices are dropping, maybe bottoming out. Even then the maintenance costs were high, a doc friend who had had one, red like this, told me not to buy it if I wanted to rely on it for transportation, it would be OK if I had Toyota as a spare, in which case, like he did, just buy a Supra, or a 280Z and have sport and reliabilty in one car. But I still like them.
I had an acquaintance who purchased one of these new. A day or two later he took it to another acquaintance who was a doctor as well as a car guy. The doctor was offered an opportunity to take it for a spin so he took it on a back road which had a railroad crossing in a curve, the crossing being slightly elevated caused the suspension to unload, the car spun out of control hit a tree and was totaled, the doctor survived with minor injuries but much embarrassment.
Seen one at one of our Outlaw tracks had LS could run front wheels or rear or AWD it was a beast on a new slick track..
Many folks like to question parts supply and service sources for the first-gen ZR-1’s. Good luck with both parts and service on this beast.