{"id":76111,"date":"2024-08-25T00:03:17","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T04:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=76111"},"modified":"2024-08-25T00:03:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-25T04:03:17","slug":"junkyard-gem-1995-mitsubishi-mirage-coupe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=76111","title":{"rendered":"Junkyard Gem: 1995 Mitsubishi Mirage S Coupe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The very first front-wheel-drive Mitsubishi production car was the Mirage subcompact<\/a>, which first hit Japanese streets in 1978. We were introduced to this car when it appeared in North America as a 1979 model with Dodge Colt<\/a> and Plymouth Champ<\/a> badging<\/a>, replacing the rear-wheel-drive Colts<\/a> that had been sold here since 1972<\/a>. Mirage-based Colts were available in the United States<\/a> all the way through 1994<\/a>, but that wasn’t the end for that generation of Mirage on our streets. Here’s a Mirage from the first year of the post-Colt era, found in a Colorado self-service boneyard<\/a> recently.<\/p>\n

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For devoted fans of the Mirage, the 1989 through 1994 model years offered American car shoppers near-identical versions of that car sold via four<\/em> different brands: the Mitsubishi Mirage, the Dodge Colt, the Plymouth Colt and the Eagle Summit. For 1995 and 1996, the Eagle Summit remained available in coupe, sedan and MPV form<\/a> (the Colts having been shoved aside by the new Neon<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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For 1995-1996, the Mirage was available only as a two-door and in just two trim levels: S and LS. This car is the cheapest new Mitsubishi available in the United States for 1995, and one of the most affordable new cars overall: its MSRP was $9,799, or $20,483 in 2024 dollars. The essentially identical 1995 Eagle Summit DL coupe listed at $9,836 (presumably, the extra 37 bucks was for the prestige of the Eagle name).<\/p>\n

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This is a 1.5-liter SOHC four-cylinder, rated at 92 horsepower and 93 pound-feet. The Mirage LS got a 1.8-liter with 113 horses for 1995, but it cost nearly three grand more.<\/p>\n

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The final year for a new Mitsubishi with a four-speed manual transmission in the United States<\/a> was 1993 (and that car was really a Hyundai<\/a>), so this car’s base transmission was a five-on-the-floor manual.<\/p>\n

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This one got well past 150,000 miles during its life, which is not terrible for a disposable econo-commuter of its era. The best-traveled Mitsubishi product I’ve documented in a car graveyard was a 1986 Dodge Ram 50 with 313,560 miles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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There’s rust and copious amounts of body filler over rust.<\/p>\n

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Are\u00a0you<\/em> practicing safe shoring<\/a>?<\/p>\n