This weeks trader dreamer is more of a ‘try and find another
one’ than anything else. A browse through ebay saw me happen across this rarity
in the UK, howmanyleft states that while there were once 4 in the UK, only one remains on the road, presumably this one. You’d surely be hard pressed to find another totally
unique car for the small sum of £2,495!
Some of you may not be familiar with the Eagle Talon,
although it’s inclusion in Forza will surely have raised it’s presence outside
of the US. Seing the Talon in one of those police chase programs was what alerted me to the brands existence, I found myself very impressed by it’s turn of speed,
though if you buy this one I suggest you find another way to explore it’s
abilities.
Eagle is one of those failed brand experiments of the US and
there really are loads! It was created to supersede the AMC brand, which
Chrysler had purchased, as well as to answer GM’s newly formed Saturn brand.
Aimed at the enthusiast driver the manufacturers first models for 1988 didn’t
really fit that intent. The AMC Eagle was briefly rebadged as the Eagle Wagon,
above that in the range sat a rebadged Renault 21, the Eagle Medallion. The
Renault 24 based Eagle Premier sat above that, and at the bottom of the range
was the Mitsubishi Colt based Eagle Vista. While the Renault models were a
hangover from a partnership with AMC, the Mitsubishi was part of Chrysler’s
joint venture with the Japanese Company.
The Colt was also rebadged as a Dodge and a Plymouth,
Chrysler had been rebadging and importing Mitsubishi’s since the 1970’s. By the
1980’s Mitsubishi was establishing it’s own brand presence in the United
States, given the US’s restrictions on imports that meant Chrysler could sell
less of it's rebadged models. The solution was to build a factory to build
Mitshubishi’s models in the US. A 50/50 joint venture was created called
Diamond Star Motors and a factory was built in the excitingly named Normal,
Illinois.
The first car to be produced at this factory would be the
Mitsubishi Eclipse, which was rebadged Eagle Talon and Plymouth Laser. The
Elcipse, supposedly named after an English racehorse, was never exported to the
UK either, making this eBay Talon even more unique. It’s also the top of the range
model, featuring the Mitsubishi 4G63T engine that also powered the
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. In the talon it produces 195bhp standard,
dispatching 60 miles an hour in under 7 seconds.
The Talon was a big success for the Eagle brand in the
states, but the Brand itself was withdrawn from the market in 1999 during
Chrysler’s merger with Daimler, leaving the Eclipse to carry on with out any
rebadging. The Eclipse itself was withdrawn from production in 2011 and the
factory in Normal is now owned solely by Mitsubishi.
Given the Mitsubishi parts, you can hope that many parts
won’t be too hard to find, just make sure you don’t damage any bodywork!
Despite this possibility of expense, this car has got to be worthwhile for
someone, how many other cars can you buy and say you have the only one in the country!
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