Junkyard Find: 1998 Eagle Talon
While assembling my website pages with links to every Eagle and Mitsubishi car I have ever photographed in wrecking yards, I learned something troubling: I had never shot an Eagle Talon. Sure, there was this Plymouth Laser Turbo and this much never Mitsubishi Eclipse, but no examples of the Eagle Division’s most beloved — well, only— sports coupe.
I resolved that I’d shoot the next Talon I spotted in a wrecking yard; that car turned out to be this one in Denver, from the final model year of Eagle.
It’s a front-wheel-drive, naturally-aspirated model, but at least there’s no slushbox to ruin all the fun.
164,899 miles is an acceptable final figure for a 1990s Mitsubishi product. The interior is rough and the exterior has suffered from a key-scratching attack, so cosmetic issues may have doomed this car.
Even with the windows open on a cool Denver day, the musty interior smell was strong. A half-dozen Vanillaroma Car-Freshner Little Trees couldn’t hide the odor. So it’s possible, even likely, that this Talon was a runner when it took its final ride to the car graveyard.
I checked the VIN and it was born a Talon. Maybe someone glued a Mitsubishi badge here, or perhaps some body parts have been transplanted. Either way, this is one of the very last cars to bear the Eagle name; if we are to believe Wikipedia, only 4,308 Talons were sold in 1998.
The turbocharged all-wheel-drive Talons really could haul the mail, while this version was more of a zippy-looking commuter. With 140 horses and a five-speed, though, it didn’t crush drivers’ spirits in Tercel-ish fashion.
Chrysler had such optimism for the Eagle brand at first.
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I was addicted to the turbo kick of my 1992 Eclipse GSX. It was also the easiest car to handle at the limits of cornering adhesion of any car I have ever driven. I literally drove the wheels off of it -- the front left strut disintegrated -- after 16 years and 200,000 miles. Man, I miss that car!