The Chrysler Conquest / Mitsubishi Starion twins remain one of my most favorite captive imports, despite their somewhat finicky reliability and tendency to show up only as abused and modified examples. This 1989 example is considered a survivor by the seller, despite its somewhat imperfect cosmetics. However, given how many are just plain abused, I’m inclined to agree with him. Find the Conquest here on eBay with a $2,995 Buy-It-Now.
The dent in the rear quarter really is the only thing holding me back from giving my full-throated endorsement of this car’s survivor status. However, that’s likely more than a paintless dent removal guy can handle, hence why the panel remains crumpled. The factory San Marino yellow paint is a great color for one of these, sitting between the Porsche yellows of the 90s and a pastel shade that wouldn’t pop quite like this color does. Factory wheels remain in place, and the ride height appears stock, too.
The interior is somewhat tired but all there, including the leather sport bucket seats and dreaded automatic seatbelts. The seller notes several issues seemingly centered around the cabin, including a bypassed heater core, inoperative passenger power mirror, as well as a broken rear hatch release and non-functioning key cylinder. Not major issues, but still somewhat of a let-down after promises of this Conquest being a survivor.
1989 is an ideal year to own, as the seller notes a few suspension tweaks and wider wheels were specific to this model year. The better handling is certainly desirable, but there’s a few issues to sort out before this Conquest is turning corners rapidly. The seller also notes the presence of an oil and power steering leak, both of which should be addressed prior to driving this turbocharged coupe too hard. Still, finding one that’s largely original is a tall order, and this one deserves to be restored.
Yeah, the severe body damage and the 204,000 miles would tell me it is not worth anywhere near the asking.
Isn’t it amazing how few under 100,000 mile cars there are that have 6 digit odometers?
Never seen one of these before. Kinda looks like a Turismo from the back, 280/Celica from the side and a Pulsar from the front. Definately not the best example. But first time seeing one for me
Always loved these! Great styling, decent performance too.
Had an ‘89 just like it, only white w/a black gut. No front spoiler ever survives, and yes, finnicky engines (their truck motors with a turbo) were fast as hell but difficult to maintain. Still miss it though…
When I think of a survivor car, I think of a low mileage car that has the factory paint and is in showroom condition. This car’s survivor status exemplifies the hapless fellow who’s boat or airplane floating in an ocean waiting to be found alive but barely. And this write-up mentions an automatic transmission, but I saw a stick shift. Over all this whole car looks rode hard and I would only consider buying it if all the nice ones were already sold.
I had ordered one of these, in this yellow, that became sales resistant, so I sometimes drove it home. I will attest to the handling, it was fun. I barely fit in the seat. I was more comfortable in the 3000GT we took on trade a few years later.
I remember a coworker, high school guy that was older than me that had one. He took it in for some work and they rotated the tires, which he didn’t ask for. He was very upset when he went to pick it up. The backs are wider than the fronts. Lol. He drove it home that way and switched them around.
These seemed to be mostly owned by disco douchebag wannabees way back when.
… from the era when not-really-a-Chrysler was a good thing.
I think that he should have been more careful with the car looks like he was playing bumper car with it!
I missed one of these at an estate auction last year. Solid for less than 1k, was Very clean & straight, less than 50k miles, but dead battery so wasn’t able to start. I drove one as a trade in, it was still nice and had been taken care of. Was a fun car to drive!!
Capable of 140+mph in their day. A rear wheel drive neck snapper. Cheesy interior instrumentation and controls. The hatch was hokey, but had seen one with a custom rear hatch that gave the car a distinct coupe look. Personally, a resto-mod only makes these better with time.
Had a Matching set of these one time Both were Orangish Red. Fast cars for a four Cylinder, the Turbo really made them Fly, but not sure how long they would have Held together the way I drove them. They seemed faster than both my Vette and my 300 z I had at the same time.
I just read a magazine article in “grassroots motorsports” the feature was a 1988 Chrysler conquest highly modified by its owner- the driveline now featured a 6.2litre covrvette engine and 6 speed tremec