Now I so want to find an AMC and enter the 24 hours of Lemons.

Weren't those Mitsbishi's? I'm sure a world of different build quality than a true AMC.

Interesting theory. Here all along, I thought some of the folks were just yanking ma chain - :confused0068:

In that case, I'm off in search of the car of my dreams - :thumbsup:


humfrz

Diamond Star Motors. Much input from Chrysler but yes mostly Mitsubishi. Sort of a Twins predecessor if Toyota nd Subaru had made a third company between them. Mitsubishi bought out Chryslers share at some point in the early 90s though so eventually it just became Mitsubishi of America.

It was actually triplets since it was the Mitsu Eclipse, Plymouth Laser and the Merc Talon. The true twins in that generation were the Dodge Stealth and the Mitsu 3000GT (GTO in Japan). A case could be made about the Chevy/Toyota Cavalier but since Toyota never actually sold the Cav here I dont count it. But yeah it actually goes further back with the Piazza and Starion.

Three models but only two companies. Eagle was just a badge from Chrysler by then. So sort of like the Scion = Toyota thing with the twins.
Ya the history was much more extensive that my two lines would indicate but I was keeping it to the DSM sports cars. Chrysler designed the platform used by most of the Mitsubishi models for several years.

Among my group, AMC Eagles are sincerely highly desired.

fun fact, Toyota actually did sell the Cavalier in Japan for a short while.
I believe it was just badge engineered and converted to RHD.

Theres also the Nummi plant that GM and Toyota shared where they built the Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe. I think that plant started with the Corolla/Prism in the 90's (badge engineered though).
Funny thing about that was that those twins were engineered by Toyota, The Matrix was designed by Toyota, the Vibe was designed by Pontiac, and Toyota sold the Vibe (but not the Matrix) in Japan as the Toyota Voltz.

There also exists Triplets in Europe: Toyota Aygo, Peugot 107/108, and Citroen C1.

Even Jeeps?

AMC made some weird design and engineering choices and had some quality issues over the years, especially toward the end when they were out of money and the roof on the Kenosha plant was leaking on the assembly line. What makes the cars attractive now is that they were the underdog giving its all against overwhelming odds, the little guys pitted against the corporate giants. They were willing to take risks and break the "rules" a little to survive.

I didn't buy the Eagle because it's fast or handles well, or because it's a particularly attractive design. It's none of those things. I bought it because it represents a completely different way of thinking at that time, something nobody else was doing. I think that's pretty neat. Decades later it's interesting to see other manufacturers finally producing crossover vehicles that serve the same market niche and pretending that they're doing something new.

BTW, where I come from, Toyotas were always frowned upon as dumpy econoboxes. They were considered throw-away cars you only drove until you could afford a decent American car.

Yet here we are.

Yep, even jeeps. Jeeps were wanna be country vehicles for city slickers.

Any Japanese made car was throw away.

If you wanted a "real" vehicle it was either a Ford or Chevy, preferably a pickup truck.

So, there it was - :D


humfrz

Remember the old Dodge Turbo Colt...they would fly past you and two miles farther would be sighted smoking on the side of the road.


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Never heard of em looks like they have a lot of potential

There were a couple of smoking hot sisters in my high school who had a turbo Colt they would take out on the Parkway on Friday and Saturday nights and race people red light to red light. It was hilarious. There would be a couple of Mustangs or Camaros going at it full throttle, and then here would come this little Colt up from behind zipping right past them in the third lane. They'd be laughing their cute little asses off at the next red light.

Boys would try to get them to pull over. They'd flirt at the lights, then laugh and run when the light changed.

They have probably all rotted away into piles of brownish red dust by now.