1990 Mitsubishi Mighty Max Base Standard Cab Pickup 2-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

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Toyo Tires will bring another wild catalog of rides to SEMA

Toyo Tires carts all kinds of toys to SEMA every year, the rubber company planning another 30 or so automotive exhibits this year in two locations. One of them, the Baja 911, comes with a pedigree not usually associated with the bewildering wares hawked at the Las Vegas show. TJ Russell was once lead fabricator for Singer Vehicle Design, now he's the head of Russell Built Fabrication in Sun Valley, CA. Sticking with the marque he knows well, Russell started with a 1991 Porsche Carrera 4 cabriolet, fitted the interior with a full roll cage, then built a hardtop around it to design a desert runner channeling the old Rothmans safari 911s. Underneath that bodywork lives a box-plate trailing arm suspension with 12 inches of travel, working 15-inch Fifteen52 FIA-approved Gravel wheels and 30-inch Toyo Open Country A/T II tires. Power comes from a purpose-built 3.8-liter air-cooled flat-six with about 350 horsepower — 100 hp more than stock — in a car that weighs 400 pounds less than the original. Oh, and as documented on Instagram with the tagline "All race outside, all business inside," the interior's full of quilted, cross-stitched leather, and Toyo says Russell's going to do a low-volume run of the Baja 911 starting early next year. ruffian-ford-mustang-sema-01 View 10 Photos Chris Ashton built a 1970 Ford Mustang Fastback called the Ruffian Mustang, inspired by the Trans Am Racing Series. The exterior changes are more subtle than one might think – the chin spoiler, hood scoop, and side mirrors are barely exaggerated versions of those on the original car, the intake vents astride the front lights and the steel bumpers teleported from 1970. Changes outside include de-chromed and flush-mounted glass, vented hood, front fenders that are dropped an inch, rear fender vents, dual side-exit pipes, and gargantuan fender flares over staggered Signature One wheels and Toyo Proxes 888 tires. The interior's fitted with a roll cage and race car workings. In spite of the Boss 427 badging, the engine's a 625-hp Chevrolet LS3 V8. button-built-ferrari-355-sema-01 View 13 Photos The Button Built Ferrari BB355TT picks up from last year's stanced BB328GTS widebody that gave many Internet denizens heart attacks. Laid up on a 1999 355 Berlinetta, the BB version appends a widebody kit designed Mitchell Button, rendered by Khyzyl Saleem and drenched in Azzuro la Plata, a color from Ferrari's Scagliette palette first used on a 1967 275GTB Le Mans racer.

Even Consumer Reports is savaging the Mitsubishi Mirage

When we reviewed the 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage a few months ago, we absolutely hated it. Our conclusion was that if you needed a car in this segment to either pay a few hundred dollars more for a Chevy Spark or spend less for an entry-level Nissan Versa. Basically, avoid this Mitsubishi at all costs. It turns out that we weren't the only ones who despised it. Consumer Reports can often find something positive about just about any vehicle, but even the usually gentle publication struggles to find compliments when it comes to the Mirage.
It's most serious gripe concerns the model's handling. CR describes the way that the Mirage wallows around turns with tons of body lean even at low speeds as "scary." A little car with a curb weight of 2,051 pounds just shouldn't corner this poorly.
While Consumer Reports definitely has no love when it comes to the 2014 Mirage, finding something to dislike about practically every aspect of the vehicle from its powertrain to the interior, the reviewers do end up digging out one positive aspect. You'll have to scroll down and watch the video to find out what it is.

Junkyard Gem: 1990 Mitsubishi Montero

Americans had been buying Mitsubishi-made pickups (badged as Plymouth Arrows and Dodge Ram 50s) for the better part of a decade when the Americanized version of the Pajero SUV appeared in American Mitsubishi showrooms. Naturally, there was a Dodge-badged version as well (known as the Raider), but finally Americans could buy a bouncy, off-road-capable SUV with big Mitsubishi badges all over it. The first-generation (1985-1991) Monteros have become quite rare, but I found this high-mile example in a Denver yard a few weeks back. You won't often see a late-1980s/early-1990s Mitsubishi with more than 200,000 miles on the clock, but Monteros held their value longer than Mighty Maxes and Mirages. I couldn't find any meaningful rust on this one, but the interior looked pretty tired. Under the hood we find the ubiquitous 3.0-liter 6G72 V6 engine, which found its way into everything including Chrysler minivans, Mitsubishi Diamante luxury sedans and even 1990s Hyundai Sonatas. Mitsubishi got its money's worth out of this engine, which stayed in production from 1986 through 2011 (in China). Most of the early Raiders and Monteros I've found in junkyards had manual transmissions, but this one shows the direction American SUV buyers were headed in 1990: two pedals, no shifting. It still lacks the dozen cupholders of later US-market trucks, of course. The Montero name went on Pajeros sold in North and South America, while UK-market trucks got Shogun badging. This beefy grab bar for the front-seat passenger suggests the kind of rugged driving environments not much like the highway commutes now used by SUVs in North America. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Just the vehicle for contemplating the ocean... or racing. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Mitsubishi: Suddenly, the obvious choice.