Does anyone here remember the Eagle Talon? Don't worry if you don't, it was a short-lived nameplate that Chrysler offered from 1990 to 1998. But recent footage of one of these coupes converted into a dragster is a good reason to remember that the Talon existed.
It all started in the late 1980s when Chrysler purchased American Motors Corporation (AMC). Wanting a new line of automobiles that would compete with GM's Saturn, Chrysler established Eagle, e name inherited from the AMC Eagle.
The latter continued to be sold as the Eagle Wagon, but the new brand also kept selling a range of vehicles previously introduced by AMC. In addition, it launched four nameplates based on Mitsubishi vehicles. The Talon was one of them.
Eagle's halo car, the Talon was mostly a rebadged Mitsubishi Eclipse. It was developed as part of the Diamond-Star Motors joined venture between the two companies, which also spawned the Plymouth Laser.
Built over two generations and powered by four-cylinder engines exclusively, the Talon was discontinued in 1998, after only nine years on the market. Shortly after that, the Eagle brand was phased out.
But history is not why we are here. Someone turned an Eagle Talon into a dragster and I think that's the craziest thing you can do to the Mitsubishi-based coupe. And get this: the shop that built this race car didn't take the traditional route by dropping a V8 under the hood. It rebuilt the four-cylinder mill instead.
But while this Eagle still packs a four-banger, it has little in common with the original Mitsubishi mill. It features a billet block, a rebuilt exhaust system, and a Precision, 88-mm turbo. A Haltech ECU contributes to the system's output of up to 1,800 wheel horsepower. All that oomph hits all four wheels through a manual transmission with a PPG gearset, while the rear end comes from a Mitsubishi 3000 GT.
So how fast is this thing? Well, it's a seven-second monster on the quarter-mile. The guys from Boostin Performance brought the Talon to Byron Dragway and set a new record for four-cylinder cars. They covered the distance in 7.25 clicks, resetting their own 7.46-second benchmark set with a previous version of this car. Trap speed is also an impressive figure at almost 197 mph (317 kph).
But this beefed-up Talon, called the Red Demon V2, is actually quicker than that. The crew's best ET time comes in at 7.11 seconds, to go with a trap speed of 211 mph (340 kph). It's safe to assume that Red Demon will become a six-second racer soon enough.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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