1984 Dodge Conquest - We Are What We Drive

My blog about the Nissan Pulsar's my wife's family had jogged my memory about the Dodge Conquest my father in law owned when I first started dating my wife in the summer of '88. Much to my chagrin he traded it in not long after we met for a Pulsar but not before it left an indelible impression on me as a reflection of the man. After all, we are what we drive. Or what we want people to think we are. This black and gold '84 Conquest is for illustrative purposes. His car was an even more "oh-so-eighties" gold on gold.

At the time, although I had known of these cars but didn't really understand what they were, I was pretty impressed with someone his age, he was fifty-eight at the time, owning a car that wasn't a frumpy old four door "dad car" like my father drove. Funny, my father was only seven years older than my wife's father but he might as well have been from another century seeing how old fashioned he was in comparison. And I'm being kind.

A "captive import" like the Mitsubishi Lambda/Dodge Challenger was, these cars were also sold in the U.S. (and Japan for that matter) as the Mitsubishi Starion. Confusing? Just a little. That meant you could buy a Starion and a Conquest in this country and, save for some minor cosmetic differences between the two, buy the same car at roughly the same sticker price. The only difference in the end was that Mitsubishi was able to side step tariffs on Conquest sales because the car was technically a Chrysler.

What's more, Plymouth and Chrysler (the division) both sold these as "Conquest" at one time or another between 1984 and 1989 too. I know, I know. Then again, we are talking about Chrysler. I guess their car naming department had the day off when some suit upstairs made the decision to sell these in other Chrysler showrooms.

Technically a Chrysler but mechanically identical to the Starion (above), although they kind of look like front wheel drivers, they were rear wheel drive and used Mitsubishi's 2.6 liter, balance shafted, they called it "Silent Shaft", in line four. Thanks to a small turbocharger and electronically controlled throttle body fuel injection, the big little engine made 145 horsepower; as much if not more than most domestic V-8's at the time. In a world of phlegmy carburetors, these sorts of cars were innovative,  heady stuff. Appearance wise the biggest difference between the cars was the Conquest didn't get the Starion's over center hood scoop.

Not that any of the technical wizardry of his car mattered to my father in law. He was all about the seat of the pants experience and the statement these kinds of cars made. A "god damn it, pay attention to me" kind of guy, I had no idea at the time how the overtly styled 2+2 fit the man to a tee. Far better, honestly, than the Pulsar did. I loved the guy and my wife says he loved me but much like his Conquest was, he wasn't for everyone. 

Seeing how meticulously engineered and assembled Japanese cars usually are, it was somewhat ironic that not only did the power windows not go up or down on his Conquest, the air conditioning didn't work either. So, any time I spent in his car that Summer of '88 was akin to a steam bath. Shame too considering what a fun to drive, nimble performer it was. His Conquest had a barrage of other electrical gremlins that I blamed on Chrysler, my wife blamed on his cigar smoking. The poor thing was probably just a lemon. It happens even with Japanese cars.

With the car out of warranty, he deemed it best to just get rid of it for something else. That replacement, again, sadly, was that Pulsar that wasn't a bad car, per se, it just didn't fit him like the Conquest did.