First car off Mitsubishi line: Where is it now? - The Southern
SPRINGFIELD — Along with providing millions of dollars in incentives for Mitsubishi to build and operate a car plant in Normal, Illinois government is forever linked to the soon-to-be shuttered factory through a little red coupe. In appreciation of his hands-on involvement in helping to lure the joint venture between the Japanese company and Chrysler to a site west of Normal, the first car that rolled off of the Diamond-Star Motors assembly line back in 1989 was presented... The story of how the coupe ended up spending many of its years tucked away in the garage of the Executive Mansion on Fourth Street in downtown Springfield began in the mid-1980s when Thompson led the charge to bring the joint venture between two... The car, a 1990 model, rolled off the assembly line to great fanfare and was soon presented to Thompson. The car that wound up in Springfield boasted all the options someone in early 1990s might want - including a top of the line cassette deck stereo system. Ron Cooley, who is now executive director of the Illinois State Police Merit Board, said the tall governor was too big for the little car. Source: thesouthern.com
