Cars You've Never Heard Of

I have this thing for obscure cars. Not rare cars, just the ones that have fallen through the cracks of moto-history. Because of their relationship with and the events surrounding Chrysler during the 1980's, Mitsubishi had some excellent cars that people never noticed.

In 1978 Chyrsler started importing the Plymouth Sapporo and the Dodge Challenger, the cars that would eventually lead to the Eclipse. It was a contemporary of the Toyota Celica of the time. It's not much to look at, really, although it got some style improvements later on. Is it all that special? Not really, but it appeals to me for some reason. It's an underdog, and I wouldn't mind owning one. Anyone out there got one for sale?

Mitsubishi also took on the Toyota Supra and Nissan 300ZX with it's Starion, with a Dodge and Plymouth version named Conquest. These cars fared better popularity wise, but are still somewhat obscure. I love the angular styling, probably the best out there. Ford and GM need to take lessons on how to do the angular style bit from Mitsu, the Focus and Aztek need the help.

The last car we'll look at was a replacement for the Sapporo/Challenger, but Chrysler did not import any. Mitsubishi brought it here, where it was known as the Cordia, truly an obscure car. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen one. There was also a 4-Door version called the Tredia. The styling is rather bland, but the car performed reasonably well, and it was the next step towards the excellent Eclipse/Talon/Laser models.

We'll finish this off with a link to a true rarity, the Toyota Celica Sunchaser. And let me know if you have a Sapporo/Challenger for sale, I'm interested!