{"id":33025,"date":"2020-01-15T16:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T21:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=33025"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:23:49","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:23:49","slug":"flashback-of-dodge-stealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/heritage\/2020\/01\/flashback-of-dodge-stealth.html","title":{"rendered":"Flashback of Dodge Stealth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just like the \u201980s and the unlikely collaboration with Dodge\nand Shelby, the \u201990s sparked another interesting partnership. This one also ended\nup only producing a single model, but it was a very special car well before its\ntime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1970, Chrysler took a 15% buy-in into Mitsubishi Motors\nand began importing and rebranding the cars to sell in the U.S. These cars were\nfar from impressive or glamorous, but did pave the way for some impressive\nvehicles to make their way to the streets bearing the Chrysler, Dodge and\nPlymouth names. By the mid-\u201980s, Mitsubishi wanted to bring their vehicles to America as Mitsubishi cars with\ntheir own dealerships and network, so production began in 1988 under the\nDiamond Star Motors partnership in the U.S. A new plant was built in Normal,\nIllinois, to facilitate production of both Mitsubishi and Chrysler versions of\nthese vehicles and I have to say, for the \u201990s, they were pretty cool little\ncars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Side<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chrysler sold their share of the company back to Mitsubishi\nin 1993, and luckily, continued on with a few joint vehicles. I\u2019m talking about\nthe Dodge Stealth\/Mitsubishi 3000GT! The car was released simultaneously by\nboth Dodge and Mitsubishi, but was for the most part a Mitsubishi vehicle. In\nmany ways, it was a car WAY ahead of its time. The first model year was 1991 and\nit came in four trim levels: Base, ES, R\/T and R\/T Twin Turbo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Side<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Base model scooted down the road on the front two wheels\nwith a single overhead cam 12-valve 3.0L V6 making 164 horsepower and 185 lb.-ft.\nof torque with a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual transmission. Not\nthe most amazing specs ever. The ES was\nset up similar, but with a 24-valve dual overhead cam 3.0L V6 ripping out 222\nhorsepower and the same transmission options. We are getting a little\nbetter. The real star of the show was\nthe R\/T Twin Turbo. So let\u2019s go over it a little more in-depth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Side<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I do have some personal experience with the RT TT Stealth. I\npersonally owned one and I have to say, I loved that car. The RT TT was powered\nby the same DOHC 24V 3.0L V6 but with, you guessed it, twin turbos! The latest\nrevision of the powertrain before production ended resulted in 320 hp and\n315 lb.-ft. of torque. For the \u201990s, 320 hp was pretty solid power production\ncompared to the other cars in the market, especially out of such a small\ndisplacement V6 motor. The car was\npretty aerodynamic, with a .33 drag coefficient; and just to put that into\nperspective, a 2001 Lamborghini Murcielago also has a .33 drag\ncoefficient. It was significantly faster\nthan something like the \u201994 Mustang Cobra, which had way more displacement. The\nlast two years of production were the best years, with new refinements and\nupgrades each year of production. It was one of the few all-wheel-drive sports\ncars of the \u201990s. Most performance cars were RWD, with your occasional cool\nFWD. The full-time AWD system let the twin turbo stealth launch like a rocket\nwith near-perfect traction at all times. It wasn\u2019t very common to incorporate\nAWD in the domestic performance market. To this day, hordes of people beg to\nhave an AWD option available in the Dodge Challenger and Charger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Interior<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Another component that was slightly ahead of its time was\nthe 6-speed manual transmission. It was not common to find a 6-speed manual in\na car in this price range. Get this, the\nStealth even had electronic controlled suspension. I have to admit, the fact\nthat it was on there was really cool. We ARE talking about the early \u201990s here.\nWhile it did not seem to be as versatile and functional as the current\nelectronic controlled suspension in the SRT Hellcats produced today, 20 years\npre-Hellcat, it was definitely ahead of its time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Engine<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Four-wheel steering? Yes! Four-wheel steering. What? I don\u2019t\neven know of any cars out in the past decade that have a feature like this, at\nleast not available in North America. The four-wheel steering system utilized\nturning rear wheels to help smooth out cornering. It was never something I\ncould feel happening. Maybe I would have been able to feel it if it weren\u2019t\nhappening? It may not be the most practical way to solve a problem, but the fact\nthat this much thought and tech went into a $30k car in the \u201990s is still\nimpressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Side<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once you start adding up all these cool little features, like\nDOHC, 24V, twin turbskis, 6-speed manual trans, 320 hp, low drag coefficient,\nAWD and all-wheel-steering, you get one pretty awesome performance machine. All of\nthose were specs and features hardly found in other vehicles during the \u201990s. Toss in some fancy creature comforts like all-leather interior, glass removable targa top, digital dash, 18\u201d wheels and a\nkiller wide and sleek design. All this put together really made for an amazing\nstreet machine that could take down just about any other car being produced. It\npacked serious power, tech and appeal at a time when the U.S. automakers were in\ntheir \u201crebuilding years\u201d. The \u201970s were the glory days for The Big 3, the \u201980s\nwere a sad state of affairs and the \u201990s weren\u2019t THAT much better. But this\nlittle gem really stuck out. For me, it still sticks out to this day. The \u201994\nDodge Stealth R\/T Twin Turbo is one of my all-time favorite cars. It was slated\nto be the pace car for the Indy 500, but got kicked out of the running due to\nbeing considered more of an import than a domestic car. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rear<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know if it was because I was younger and less experienced,\nor because it really was that good, but the RT TT just felt like a well-balanced car. It had the right amount of horsepower and handling while being\nnimble for its size and weight. Did I mention the fact that it looked so damn\ngood? I\u2019d dare to call it the SRT Hellcat of the \u201990s. It holds a special place in\nmy cold stone heart and I would do anything to find one in good condition today.\nIt was a blast to drive and I enjoyed every minute of ownership. It does make\nme a little sad that so few people these days know what the car was all about,\nor just how impressive it was. If you\never run across one, or get the chance to drive one, do it. I think you will be\nimpressed, even almost 30 years later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Front<\/a>
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another odd-couple partnership that led to something wicked\ncool! I still regret selling mine, even to this day. The party eventually ended and production on the\nDodge Stealth ended in MY1996, unfortunately. Mitsubishi continued to produce\nthe 3000GT for several more years. I feel like it was the perfect number of\nmodel years to go along with the perfect combination of power and tech that\nalso makes the Twin Turbo Stealth extra special. It wasn\u2019t overdone,\novercooked, played out. The dead horse was not beaten. And just like that, the\nStealth began to fade from everyone\u2019s memory except mine!\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just like the \u201980s and the unlikely collaboration with Dodge and Shelby, the \u201990s sparked another interesting partnership. This one also ended up only producing a single model, but it was a very special car well before its time. In 1970, Chrysler took a 15% buy-in into Mitsubishi Motors and began importing and rebranding the cars to sell in the U.S. These cars were far from impressive or glamorous, but did pave the way for some impressive vehicles to make their way to the streets bearing the Chrysler, Dodge and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":33020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2622],"tags":[2948],"class_list":["post-33025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heritage","tag-dodge-classics"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Stealth_Feature.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33025"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33045,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33025\/revisions\/33045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}