The first thing to jump off the page is the Mitsu's bodywork. Bauza adorned the car with no less than three body kits before arriving at the combination you see here. The winning silhouette consists of a Sensei front bumper, Andy's Autosport side skirts, an Arospeed carbon-fiber wing and a trick carbon-fiber hood.
There was no targa option box on the 1995 Eclipse order form. Bauza enlisted the services of Ruben's Autobody of Hialeah, Fla. to make his unique vision a reality. Along with the dope targa roof, Ruben's also shaved the door handles and antenna, added NSX scoops and grafted in Supra taillights. With the body ship shape, the car was delivered to Strictly Top Of The Line, a paint shop in Homestead, for the immaculate application of PPG blue electron pearl with chameleon-hued flares.
The aggressive look of the Mitsubishi was completed with a set of 18-inch Zenetti Vega wheels, 225/40R-18 rubber from Toyo Tires and lowering coils from Honda Solutions of Hialeah Gardens. Bauza went through three sets of aluminum before deeming the Zenetti Vegas worthy. Nestled behind the front wheel and tire combination are AEM brakes featuring 12.5-inch rotors and four-piston calipers. The rear set-up has been enhanced with upgraded Brembo rotors.
The GS is no poser either. Its A420 DOHC four cylinder has been transformed to a hard hitter with a Star Performance turbo conversion kit. The kit includes a T04B/T3 hybrid turbo, cast iron manifold, external wastegate, air filter, HKS bypass valve and chromed piping. A boost-dependent fuel pressure regulator and a 255-lph in-tank fuel pump handle fuel enrichment.
The conversion kit is a stage two configuration, which adds a front-mount intercooler to the mix. Other upgrades that can be ordered with the kit include a T04E turbo and either a GReddy Type-S or HKS Super Sequential blow-off valve. Bauza runs the stage two intercooler and upgraded GReddy Type-S blow-off valve on his car. On the hot side of the turbo, a Turbonetics wastegate ushers spent gases through an A'pexi Dunk exhaust set-up. Beyond the turbo, a pair of AEM cam gears and Unorthodox Racing underdrive pulleys are used to coax every last pony out of the powerplant.
The interior was heavily worked over by DeColores of Miami. DeColores added purple-wrapped Sparco Sprint bucket seats with matching door panels treatments. For an added racer look, an Autopower four-point roll cage was bolted into place and A'pexi gauges were mounted in the glove box along with a GReddy ProFec B boost controller. The center dash was dressed in carbon fiber and Seor Stereo of Hialeah Gardens wired up a wild Alpine system with a V12 amp and 12-inch woofers mounted in a custom enclosure in the rear. A 5-inch IconTV monitor and Sega Dreamcast game console round out the entertainment system.
The Mitsubishi raises eyebrows and drops jaws wherever it goes. It gets more than its fair share of judges drooling as well. The targa Eclipse, representing Shotime Imports car club, has racked up three Best of Show awards, six best Mitsubishi trophies, two Top Ten accolades on the big circuit and seven First Place awards at smaller local events. The car has it all-radical, one-off mods and all the little details that make the Mistu more impressive the closer you look at it.