Sure, total solar eclipses are cool. They’re even cooler when they occur over the OnAllCylinders World Headquarters in Akron, Ohio and the Summit Racing Retail Store in Arlington, Texas.
But as amazing as these rare celestial events are, we think this Eagle Talon TSi is better way to enjoy an Eclipse.
We’ll explain why in a moment—but first, here’s a bit of automotive history.
Before Eclipses, There Was a Diamond Star
Before we start talking about Eclipses, let’s first talk about stars—Diamond Stars, to be exact.
“Diamond Star Motors” (or DSM as it’s known in gearhead circles) was a joint manufacturing effort between Mitsubishi and Chrysler, and the name itself was inspired by a mashup of the Mitsubishi Tri-Diamond and Chrysler Pentastar logos.
Though Mopar had a financial stake in Mitsubishi and had been selling badge-engineered Mitsubishi vehicles as captive imports since the 1970s, the DSM joint venture established a dedicated factory on American soil—which allowed Mitsubishi to market more of its own branded vehicles into the U.S., while still giving Chrysler some diversity on its dealership lots.
The new arrangement was struck during the mid-1980s. Pretty soon after that, fresh DSM cars began rolling off the assembly line of an all-new plant in Normal, Illinois. (Fun Fact: That factory has since been sold and is now producing Rivian electric vehicles.)
While there were a few models produced under the DSM umbrella, the ones most noteworthy here are the Mitsubishi Eclipse/Plymouth Laser/Eagle Talon triplets that debuted in 1990.
Essentially badge-engineered platform mates, the trio hit the showrooms together as sporty, low slung compacts with youthful appeal. Though the Plymouth Laser would die-off after the initial generation, both the Eclipse and Talon would go on to build solid performance resumes during the rise of the import tuner car scene.
That performance was the result of options like all-wheel drive and a stout DOHC 2.0L engine that could handle gobs of boost.
Sadly, the Talon would vanish in 1998, making it the last vehicle sold under the short-lived Eagle brand. The Eclipse, on the other hand, rode the aforementioned sport compact wave until 2012.
Enough About Eclipses Already—Check Out This Talon!
***
Special hat tip to Summit Racing’s Mandy Longoria for her help with this interview.
***
Given the Eclipse and Talon’s performance potential, it didn’t take long for them to start showing up at race tracks across the country—and humbling plenty of V8 owners along the way.
In fact, we’re reminded of a past conversation with Ross Esposito from RIPP Superchargers. Ross is a big DSM guy and, thanks to their featherweight chassis, boost-happy powerplants, and all-wheel drive, jokingly referred to these cars as “Cheat Codes” on the dragstrip. You can catch that interview in our OnAllCylinders podcast section.
But to really understand the capability of these cars, we caught up with Gabe Aguilar from the Summit Racing sales team.
Gabe’s got an all-wheel drive 1997 Eagle Talon TSi that’s he’s slowly built up over several years. “My vision has always been a fast car that can still be driven daily while looking clean inside and out,” he says. “I still want to be able to listen to music and crank up the A/C for the family.”
Gabe tells us that the toughest part of the build was making the car reliable and fast for the race track, while keeping it relatively stock on the outside with no significant compromises to its everyday drivability. “I accomplished all of that,” he happily reports.
Interestingly, thanks to the parts-interchangeability from that aforementioned platform sharing within Diamond Star Motors, Gabe actually rebodied the car as an Eclipse for a while.
“I liked the body of the 1997-99 Eclipse,” he explains. “But I went back to the Talon body, because you don’t see them anymore—and that’s what it was originally.”
So yeah, purists can exhale now: After a brief career masquerading as a Mitsubishi Eclipse, Gabe tells us that the car has now fully embraced its Eagle heritage and is back to living as a Talon TSi—complete with a custom 3D-printed Eagle emblem up front for dramatic emphasis.
Under the Hood of Gabe’s Eclipse…err….Talon
As you’d imagine, most of the Talon’s magic stems from under the hood, where Gabe has tossed a litany of performance parts at the DOHC 2.0L engine. It’s got upgraded JE Pistons with Eagle rods, Kelford cams, a Mishimoto radiator, upgraded intercooler, and three-inch exhaust.
The transmission was plucked from a Euro-spec Mitsubishi Evolution.
“My clutch was old and couldn’t handle the power, so I had to upgrade to something good for 650 plus pounds of torque—so I put in a South Bend Clutch and an SS-X Series pressure plate with a full-face ceramic disc for the streetability.”
Gabe says that, with all the performance modifications, the engine is now making north of 500 horsepower.
We asked Gabe if he’s ever thought about moving on from his Talon. “People always try to buy it from me—ALL the time,” he laughs. “But it just has too much sentimental value. I made that car resemble my style and I did my own work.”
…And you don’t need to wear a special pair of glasses to see how proud Gabe is to say that.
Comments