This Mitsubishi Eclipse sold fast for a furious $170,500
17 January 2022
Mecum
Cars with Paul Walker provenance are continuing to command blockbuster prices. This 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse fetched $170,500 at Mecum Auctions Kissimmee sale thanks to its appearance in 2001’s The Fast and the Furious where Walker is seen behind the wheel.
Walker’s Brian O’Connor doesn’t have the easiest time with the Eclipse, however. Early on we follow O’Connor trying to get to grips with the car in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. He redlines the engine, the speedo whips past 150 mph and then the car is suddenly sent into a huge spin, before stopping inches from roadside barrier.
The Eclipse is O’Connor’s way entry into the illegal street racing scene, so he perseveres, entering his first race against a Mazda RX-7, a Honda Civic Type R and an Integra Type R. O’Connor opens the taps on his nitrous tank, but proves to be no match for Vin Diesel’s rotor power, losing the floorpan and destroying the manifold of his Eclipse in the process.
None of this deterred bidders at the auction, mind, and the Eclipse joins a Walker-driven Toyota Supra in fetching a furious price. The Mitsubishi is one of six units built for the film and is visually tricked up like the rest, with an APR Performance rear wing, seven-spoke alloy wheels wearing Toyo Proxes tires, custom mirrors. The interior features diamond-plate floor pans, Recaro seats and a Jensen stereo. Mechanically, it’s stock, with the two-liter 16-valve four mated to an automatic transmission, while the roof scoop is a dummy.
Cinema Vehicle Services provided documentary proof that this Eclipse—known as Buck Car 35—was seen on the big screen and that was enough to convince one movie fan to act decisively and cough up the highest price ever paid for an Eclipse that we know of. It’s not, however, the biggest ticket Mitsubishi ever sold—that honor goes to a 2000 Lancer Evo VI Tommy Makinen Edition, which went for a record $197,000 at Silverstone Auctions in 2021.
Article courtesy of Hagerty