eBay Find of the Week: A Mitsubishi with all the technology
This week’s eBay find is a technological tour-de-force. All-wheel drive. Four-wheel steering. Active aerodynamics. And a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6. How is it 26 years old?
The Mitsubishi 3000GT, and its linemate the Dodge Stealth, debuted in 1990 amid a golden era of Japanese sports cars and grand tourers. Mazda redefined the classic British roadster through the Miata, and Acura showed the Italians that a supercar could also be reliable via their NSX. Grand tourers were larger, more powerful, and more complex. Nissan’s 300ZX twin turbo first hit the 300 horsepower mark in 1990. Toyota’s Supra was a larger four-seater replaced by a 320 hp monster with its 1993 redesign.
But the Mitsubishi/Dodge twins used every last available performance-enhancing technology. In addition to all the gadgets listed in the first paragraph the 3000GT’s exhausts could be made louder at the push of a button and the interior was quite luxurious. You could even option a retractable hard-top towards the end of the model’s run—the first time this feature was offered since the 1959 Ford Skyliner. Ultimately, all of the doodads were good for a 4.8 second sprint to 60 mph and 13.4 seconds to 100 mph (Motor Trend May, ‘97). The zero to 100 run was severely hampered by the car’s substantial 3737 lb. weight.
This one, a top trim level VR-4, has 77,429 original miles and has a Buy-it-Now price of $12,500. It is not a show car, rather a driver, and has recently been taken out of storage. The seller says, “I don’t know of any major problems but the buyer may well find something considering it’s age” but it “starts and drives excellent.” If there are issues, they may prove costly due to the car’s relative complexity.
