Media | Articles
Final Parking Space: 1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI‑R
We’ve seen some interesting discarded Japanese sports cars in this series, including a 1987 Toyota Supra Turbo, a 1984 Nissan 200SX, a 1978 Datsun 280Z, and a 1993 Geo Storm GSi. Now it’s Mitsubishi’s turn, and this rare find in a Denver self-service boneyard is one of the raddest cars to bear the triple-diamond logo during the 1980s: a genuine widebody Starion ESI-R.
Rebadged Mitsubishis began being sold in the United States by Chrysler in the 1971 model year, when the first Dodge Colts reached our shores. Many more Chryslerbishis followed during the next decade, and then Mitsubishi opened up its own American dealerships in 1982.
The first Mitsubishi-badged vehicles sold out of those showrooms were 1983 models, and the narrow-body Starion was among them. The other ’83 Mitsubishi models we could buy here were the Cordia liftback coupe, the Tredia sedan, and the Truck (the Mighty Max name was just a trim-level designation at the time).
I was 16 when I saw my first Starions on the streets of the East Bay, and I wanted one as an upgrade from my $50 beige 1969 Toyota Corona sedan. Being a broke teenager working the ticket booth at the Island Auto Movie at the time, I ended up getting a $113 Pontiac GTO instead.
I’ve found quite a few junked Starions over the years, but the top-of-the-pyramid ESI-R model is unusual in a place like this. The 1986-1989 ESI-R boasted an intercooler attached to its turbocharged 2.6-liter straight-four and was rated at 176 horsepower and 223 pound-feet.
Marketplace
Buy and sell classics with confidence
Because Chrysler and Mitsubishi were still partners, there was a version of the Starion known as the Conquest. The Conquest was sold with Dodge and Plymouth badging, then became a Chrysler late in the game. The Conquest TSi was the equivalent of the Starion ESI-R.
Plenty of these cars were sold here with automatic transmissions, but this one has the base five-speed manual.
The 1986 Starion ESI-R came loaded with standard features, which was appropriate for a car with a $17,989 MSRP (that’s about $52,372 in 2025 dollars, and a lot more than the sticker price on a new $11,060 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 that year). However, this sunroof was a $265 option ($772 after inflation).
The automatic HVAC controls were standard equipment in all 1986 Starions.
Likewise for the AM/FM/cassette audio system with equalizer.
This car nearly made it to 250,000 miles during its career, which is very impressive for a Mitsubishi product from the mid-’80s.
It appears to have been in pretty good shape upon arrival here, so its owner or owners took good care of it for its 39 years.
I found some new Sparco race seat mounts and sliders inside, so perhaps this car’s final owner had plans to make a race car out of it.
You don’t see a sports car like this every day… and with so few available, you probably won’t.
As you’d expect, the home-market TV commercials were a lot more fun.
SUPER POTENTIAL!
Find more values
Search for prices of other cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles
I love that car. The Eclipse’s 4G63 engine has had parts of it used to modify/upgrade these cars. It was a great 80’s car and looks fantastic for it’s day. The widebody is the best look.
I always liked that angular styling and always admired the Conquests and Starions back in the day until I ran into someone who had one. It was a very finicky car that spent a lot of time in the shop. This is the sort of thing that has junkyard LS swap written all over it.
Hey Murilee, I lived in the East Bay too! And went to my share of movies at The Island as well. $50 and $113 dollar cars! One of my buddies bought a Morris Minor for $69 in Hayward and the engine blew up shortly after. Funny thing was it cost him $89 for the rebuild!!! He was not a happy camper. So maybe not so funny to him
That was Hayward’s “Auto Row” . Forget what dealer pot lot he purchased it at
Don’t have to send this to the crusher, looks like it has already happened!
I always liked those cars. Nowadays, the MKII Supra crowd would be pilling the disc brakes off it to upgrade their older Supras. AND you even get 5-lug hubs!
I bought an ’83 Starion when they first came out. It was announced only 7,200 would be imported to the states that year. Thought it would be a good investment. Then the badge engineered Conquests came out a couple years later. By 1986, it was worth what I owed on it. Sold it to a friend for what I owed plus his clean ’71 Dodge Charger. Anyway, I really liked the heavily bolstered seats and premium audio system. And the front spoiler was made of metal! Today, if it’s still around and in decent shape, it’s worth about what it sold for new.
They were different than anything else offering good performance and handling (for that era). I always liked them but never knew they were that expensive.
When I was 20, I bought one of these when it was only about 4 years old! It was an 88 with all of the options, and I paid about $4500 for it. The only thing really wrong with it was a very large dent right behind the door. Having no money to have it fixed, I pushed it out the best I could and just enjoyed driving it. These 2.6 liter engines were slow off the line, but once that turbo spooled up, WOW! I could enter the freeway on a round on-ramp at 70 and not realize how fast I was going.
It was fun enough that it earned me my first and only Reckless Driving charge. I was entering the freeway with my usual heavy foot, but the roads were a bit wet, and the rear end kicked back and forth a little. A cop had followed me from the bowling alley and assumed I had been drinking; I hadn’t, and I never lost control. I had only been working as a full-time mechanic for a couple years, so didn’t have the resources then to work on the power curve. I never really had any mechanical issues with it. When I found an even more rare car, an 86 Toyota Cressida with a 5-speed, I had to have it. I sadly traded the Starion in for it (they only gave me $2500 for it). This car wasn’t slow off the line, and I really liked it. I installed lowering springs and sway bars for a Supra, as well as installed the larger 3.0 JDM engine. I had intended to turbo it, but never got to it. I had it until 2007 and it had about 275k on it when I sold it.