I thought I would start a thread for Stealth owners to chat in, share experiences, basically just talk about these awesome cars.

The debut of the Stealth was in 1991, the same year I graduated. I fell in love with them when reading about them in Motor Trend. MT referred to them as the "Affordable Ferrari." Well, not affordable for a recent high school graduate. I got married the next year and after buying a house, I pretty much gave up my dream to own one at that time. Years passed and I had kind of forgotten about Stealths as they aren't cars you see everyday. I was in need of a new car, as the car I was driving was near death, so, I went looking for new cars. I went to all the dealerships in the area, test drove many a car and just couldn't bring myself to pay $25K+ for a commuter car. The last dealership I went too was a Honda dealer. Upon pulling in the lot, right up front they had a black 91 RT model. My wife, a fan of Stealths as well, said "Oh Oh Oh, they have a Stealth on the lot, lets test drive it!!" Right on I said. So, we talk to the salesman and go for a ride. Poor guy was crammed in the backseat while I put the car through its paces. 2nd gear was a little notchy, the interior was a little rough, cigarette burns, dirty, plus they wanted $11K for it. I knew that would not be the car I was buying, but it did re-kindle a love for a car I had all but forgotten about. So, the search was on. I called all the used car lots looking for Stealths, many had 3000gt's (sister car) but I was dead set on a Stealth. After test driving several over the course of a few months, all with little odd problems, I was about to give up. One night at my parents house, I got online to check the classifieds, and found a small ad for one about 15 miles from my house. No description, just the price, $7K. I called the number, spoke with the owners husband, he told me it had 100K miles on it. I about declined looking at it, but he said his wife had bought it new and had taken wonderful care of it. So, I decided to take a look. We went that night, took it for a test drive, it was fully loaded, everything but a sunroof. We drove it around for about an hour, fell in love. Upon returning it too their house, I gave her $100 to hold the car. Once I got my money together, I bought the car. She said she was glad I was buying it because after we test drove, some teens came and looked at it and she was fearful of the fate her car might be in store for. She had records of oil changes, tires, belts and other misc. items, but she had never had the 60K maintenance done. I offered her $6800 for the car. Needless to say, she took it. Upon signing over the title, she started to cry, I almost felt bad for her, but my elation about the car wouldn't let me. The first thing I did was schedule the 60k maintenance for it, that cost me about a grand, right off the bat, but better safe than sorry. I changed the plugs, belts, hoses, wheel bearings within the first 6 months of ownership. That is really all I had to do to the car in the first 5 years of ownership. In the last year of so, I have had the computers rebuilt, put on new tires/wheels and done regular maintenance, but for the most part, this has been a very trouble free car that I have spent around $10K on, including the price of the car, maintenance, and my new wheels.

Still looks pretty good for being almost 15 years old and 160K+ miles.

 

There is my Stealth story...please feel free to add yours if you'd like. [sm=icon_cheers.gif]

 

Well heres my story, I had never even heard of a Dodge Stealth until about 5 months ago. Me and my husband went car hunting because I had a 97 Kia Sportage that died on me and it was time for a new ride.
Well, we went looking and every car we seen was too much or needed to much work done to it. Then we went to this car lot that a friend of ours told us about and they had this beautiful black car. Didnt know what it was called or anything until after I paid for it lol. I honestley thought it was a pontiac because it looks just like them cars. Well when I got it I had alot of crap happen to it and I just happen to get it finally running 3 days ago. I love it it is such a great car we paid $2200.00 and a kia and 95 ford contor for it. Since we have had it we have put well over 1500 dallors into it. But, overall it was well worth it. This is an amazing car and Im glad I have the chance to own it. It only had 100,000 mile on it for being a 91 I thought that was good. I also dont see much of these cars if I see one I freak out because they are kinda rare. Thats my story.

 

I had personally never heard of the Stealth except when reading about it being a sister model to the Mitsubishi 3000GT in the 2004 Consumer Reports for used cars. I never really paid attention to it until my little brother came back and bought a 3000GT in an add he found for 1500 bucks. The car broke down after 3 miles (didn't test drive it) but when I went and saw it for myself in a set of apartments it had been towed to, I became interested. So after looking at the car, I decided to go looking on the internet, and found what it looked like and was instantly hooked. What was even better was Mike Whiseant, a car dealer and good friend of mine, had a Stealth sitting in his dealership (it belonged to his son and he was getting a new bumper for it). After setting my eyes on it I couldn't tear my gaze from it, I asked if I could sit in it and look at the insides and everything (never seen/heard of this car before) and so he showed me car. I looked at everything, and I mean everything, all the way down to the car's curves, and fell in love with it. I asked him if he was willing to sell the car (at the time I didn't have the money) and he said he may, but I could see the car had sentimental value to him and his son. A few months later, and several discussions about Stealth's later as well, the Stealth was back in his dealership and he said he was replacing the mats for it, and showed me how entirely messed up they were. Tar (burn marks), dirt, mud, matted, and discolored, the floor mat for the driver seat looked like it was done for good. I offered him my services of being able to restore the mats to like new condition, because he liked them so much and I was such a fanatic about the mats. 3 days and several cleansings later, the mat previously described as 'gone for good' was it's bright original, slightly faded, red color, and the fabric was pulled back up where it was matted. He was amazed and wanted to pay me, but I refused payment because I liked the car so much I did it as a favor.

Back in May my Brother in Law Charles came up to help fix my little brother's car, and he and I both transplanted an engine and transmission from a more unfortunate 3000GT that had flipped over on the highway. But of course the engine seized when it was water logged due to a poorly placed intake for the cold air intake on the car, knocking two holes in the block. It's currently sitting in the back yard, slowly being put back together. My brother wants to get rid of the car, refusing to take responsibility for it even though the second break down was because of his own fault, even though the car was running perfectly fine. I still haven't given up on my own quest for a Stealth, and am currently looking to get one with relatively low miles, and something I wanna turn into either a collector's car to completely restore and drive on special occasions, or pamper it and have it as an every day town car.

 

I'll try not to veer too far off topic/rant on my Stealth story:

I'm 25 yrs old now, and have wanted a Stealth since the late 90's (I've always called it my "affordable dream car")People always said "Get a 3000 GT", my response was "I want it to say Dodge! And the spoiler makes it REALLY stand out!"...My dad is a GM man, My uncle is a Ford man. I chose to do "harmless rebellion". I became a Mopar guy. I always liked sports sedans due to the fun AND room (My fave sedan was my '97 Intrepid ES). After almost 200K miles, she finally gave (****-poor care by prev owner). For the driving I do, a TT was kinda unnecessary. I'm still single and w/o kids. I decided now is the best time to buy one...went looking, and found only base models for $7K+ w/100K miles plus. Then, like you the stealth, I found an add for a dark green R/T NA w/92K miles, for 5300/b.o. 15 miles from my house. The guy was 2nd owner (his dad was the 1st). The car had sentimental value for both of them, and it was hard for them to sell (The dad even flew in from Pennsylvania). They wouldn't have sold it to anyone...like you said stealth, out of fate of the car. I'm an EMT in the area they work, and going to be a police officer. That helped! They didn't have the 60K done, but had records of all other maint. I had the car scoped, and fluids checked/brakes checked, all were good. 5000 was what I talked him down to. I have NO regrets, this truly is a dream car. I will NEVER sell this car, I will pay what I can to keep this car around til it can go no more, and I WILL drive her into the ground.

Red

By the way, Friday, I had a black Viper guy tell me I had a nice car!!! I was behind him, he was next to a Pontaic GrandAm (lol). The GrandAm tried to beat him and lost at next lite, Viper made the lite. So there I am, next to Grandam boy at that lite, he tried to race me! LOL! Not his day, he picked the WRONG mopars!!!

 

The best excuse to get a stealth ever: the stealth is more practical than my '89 Ranger! Really, it is! My two kids were getting too big to fit in the Ranger with me so I needed to get a new car. I had seen the Stealth's and 3000GT's when they came out, but as I couldn't drive then and hadn't seen many around (unlike Mustangs's) I forgot about them. While looking for a fun new car with back seats I wanted to avoid the Ricer/Gangster image. After much comparison of stats of various cars I decided on the Stealth/3000GT. I looked at a lot of cars within a 50 mile radius that were beat to pieces, begining to wonder if any decent ones still existed that the owners were sadly parting with. I finally found a '91 ES. I have had to have the ECM rebuilt and rebuilt the clutch slave cylinder but other than that I love it! My kids love to ride in it and it even gets better gas milage than my Ranger with 2.8L V-6! I wouldn't mind a pair of turbo's under the hood, but that can come later.

 

Ok my love of Stealths started with an ex gf of mine that got one. She and i were still friends and she bought it in AZ and drove it back to Chicago. She stopped off in little rock where iw as living at the time and let me drive it since i knew my way around. It was an amazing ride and i couldnt believe how well it handled. So fast forward a few years...like 16 of them. (ugh i cant believe i can say that) I had an MR2 as my "toy" but i found a decent BMW 525 that had more problems than i could afford to fix so due to our own finances being in a bind i sold the BMW with my wife promising that we could replace it in the next year or so when we had our finances in better shape. I was shopping for daily driver but came across a 94 Stealth with a 5 speed for sale for 2700 and went and looked at it and bought it. I LOVED that car. However it was not to be i ended up getting hit by some guy in a Vtech honda going 45mph in a 30mph zone and although not totalled it would cost more to fix the stealth than to replace the thing. So off i was on another search this time i found one on ebay from Florida but it was the dark green and other than a oil leak on the back of the motor it is perfect. The clutch is wonderfully soft to the point i can even teach my wife to drive stick on this one. Once i get the rear leak done its going to be an awesome little car and i plan on keeping this one for a while and its currently sitting in my driveway waiting for some new rims from thestealth and for me to get room in my garage to fix the oil leak. I dont know that i will ever get a different sports car for my toy unless i wreck this one too. But i hope i dont!!! I hope tohave this one long enough to have my 3 year old son drive it when he goes to prom. . well....maybe if he a good enough driver.

 

my stealth story hahaha. when i was growing up and i still am seeing im only 17 all i could think about were muscle cars. my dad had 3 ss novas, a 57 chevy with a 350 in it, a old truck with a 454 in it and a opel gt. so i was raised on the big muscle cars of back in the day. then when junior high hit i got big into cars and didnt want anything else in the world more then to be able to have my own. and since the fast and furious came out all of my friends were all like o yea lets get imports but i was the only one still wanting a muscle car. then one day that changed my dad and i were driving to my wrestiling tournment when i was 14, and a blue car went flying past us it was the most beautifull thing i had ever seen it was amazing. so that night when i got home i tried finding out what it was and after a few days of searching i found a picture of a stealth same color and i knew that i wanted that car. when i told my dad and showed him he just made fun of me and called me a ricer. but since my mom loves me haah i got one! we started looking for one when i had my 15th b-day becuase we herd they are rare and i am very picky. after looking at 3 of them i was kinda like i dont think i can get one. the base was to slow for me and the twin turbo was way out of my price range. then one day driving threw davenport i saw it a red dodge stealth es. i instantly was in love with it and still am to this day. it needed some tlc big time but we still bought it. when you turned the vents on bugs flew out of it. the power steering was broke, it had 3 flat tires, it smelt like fish, and had 5 small door dings on it. but i couldnt let it go. it tooks us 4 months to buy it because the dealership was a p.o.s. and the owner is in jail today for selling people ****y cars. the dealership didnt want to fix it for us so we made them and then we got a call saying it was hit. the owner had back his truck into it accidently( yea right). so we just told them to give it to us. so we took it home smelling like fish, blowing bugs on us, with flat tires, dents, and a new front bumper with 100407miles on it. i paid 3750$ cash for it. since then it has gone threw 3 transmissions each one cost me 2000$ the brakes went out on me and i almost hit a semi. new ones cost me 800$. my exhuast fell off. 950$. the eletrical failed on me and i spent a total of 1500$ with alot of new parts, then new tires. so all together i have spent 13,000$ on this car. and now since it broke down on me again it is getting engine rebuild bored .30 over. itp is rebuilding my transmission its getting rims and tires and a new paint job. i tried getting my self out of this but i ahve to much money invested in it allready so why get rid of it. i had a eagle talon tsi that i sold now and that money is going into the stealth. then for 2 days i ahd a 240sx and a rt stealth. but i the rt stealth needed a new clutch and i didnt want to to it so i just got rid of it and the 240 and now im conecentrating on geting my baby running and gong good again. o yea its getting a vortech super charger. thats the story of my stealth. and once its all done im going for the ride of the month. if someone could tell me how to get pics on here i can show you what she looks like now. she could proly win now! i dedicate all my spare time to her. in my eyes she is better looking then the rt stealth but its just my tatse so dont take offense to it.

 

Rather than edit in my post, I am continuing with a new one.

A few weeks ago I was online searching through various websites when I came across Cars.com, I was curious about it thinking I could find a decent deal on a car (I had tried autotrader, gone through and created separate categories for cars I had looked at, and couldn't find one at a decent price range). I started looking and was initially discouraged, seeing so many vehicles with over 150,000 miles and too much money (12-17k). Then while scrolling down towards the end of the list, I saw a car posted for 5,999. I thought it was another R/T, but then I saw under the listing where it said All-Wheel-Drive. So I did a little bit more searching, saving that car under my favorites, telling myself I would come back to it later. I found two others that were similar priced, but the mileage on them were far too much, so one day I decided to give this guy a call, but was a little discouraged that he lived in Nevada. I was discouraged a bit more when I only recieved his answering machine, saying he was out of town, but I persisted on contacting him. I emailed him twice and left three messages on his answering machine when I finally got an email. We talked a bunch over three days in terms of price, parts, and everything else, and I was attempting to schedule a trip up there, he gave me a good history of the vehicle and what he had done, as well as given me a CarFax History Report. One evening the guy emailed me in response to a previous conversation and said someone was coming to look at it. He had told me he was getting non stop calls about the car, so I immediately transferred 150.00 to seal the deal, and place a hold on the car, and told him I would be there within a week. At that point he agreed and I made a mad rush to get everything set up for the trip. In a span of 5 days time I had:

Added it to my insurance
Pulled out a 3k loan (which I am about to start paying on)
Opened a phone contract
Bought a plane ticket
Bought luggage with appropriate dimensions for carry-on
Snacks and water for trip (good thing considering the current terror plot)
Transferred my Focus title from myself/my brother to me as sole owner to offer as collateral
Arranged for pick up at the Airport
Arranged payment for the vehicle
Mapped out a drive back
Fought my employer for time off to pick the car up
Made out 2 different check lists for the car (with special thanks to thestealth)

I made my trip on August 1, 2006 from Texarkana, Texas to Reno, Nevada, to much dismay of my girlfriend (she was afraid about this guy, and the fact that I went ahead and decided to carry cash on my person). I got in Reno, met the guy (who came and picked me up in the Stealth), and the entire time he drove around, I was looking at the leather, the interior, the controls, and to the best of my ability the outside for chips and stuff. We got to his work place and introduced me to a few co-workers, allowed me to check the vehicle (it had NOTHING wrong with it, amazingly). I even checked the intercoolers to see if it was burning oil, nada. We drove again and half way around town he got out and allowed me to test drive. This was exciting/unnerving in a way because my previous manual experience was my Mom's Nissan Sentra.....5 months ago. Needless to say my knowledge was good, but experience sucked, and I of course did get off to a rocky start but was soon "Driving like a pro" in Sean's opinion. I ended up buying the vehicle that evening, and the next day I drove it to a mechanic in Reno to have the vehicle checked out (and then to DMV for moving permit). And after that, I made a road trip that any 20 Year Old would remember, going from Reno, to Las Vegas, to Route 66, and all the way to Texarkana, TX. The car drove smoothly the entire time, so well that I decided to test drive it on the desert flats of Nevada between Carson City and Las Vegas. I got it up to 125mph no problem at all, although the front end started to shake (turned out to be out of balance tire) as well as the steering wheel because of the tire.

While in Las Vegas I went to The Strip and went into the Venetian and bought my Girlfriend "Phantom of the Opera" Souvenirs as well as pictures of everything Phantom related (before Las Vegas I went to Death Valley ^^). Needless to say navigating The Strip with camera in hand and manual shifting was harrowing, but hey, I came across a VR-4 while in the same parking garage on the same level while in The Venetian. The next day after sleeping in Kingman, Arizona (passed through Hoover Dam and other places after LV), I drove all the way along Route 66 to Meteor Crater, got some Route 66/Meteor Crater Souvenirs for my Girlfriend/Family. Then I went to Albuquerque, made a wrong turn there (lol), and eventually found my way to Amarillo where the "Check Engine Light" came on, and navigating the interstate with a divider on your left and a rail on your right with oncoming traffic with there brights on, it was scary, considering there was no room to manuveur and I saw dozens of areas where tire tracks just skidded off road. I made it back to Texarkana though, and now have the car registered in my name and tags on it. I have run that Voltmeter Diagnostic and all I have to do is just fix that and everything on it will run perfect and all I would have left to fix is cosmetic things.

Needless to say I am finally a part of the Stealth Family with my 1991 Dodge Stealth Twin Turbo/AWD with 93,000 miles on it.

 

This is how it looked the day I checked it out. I bought it the following week.
Someone had added the red raised letters on the front, they looked stupid.



Cleaned up and debadged.



Starting to black it out.






Hidden rear wiper mod...just cleans it up a bit and the banana does a good job of hiding the wiper arm.


All blacked out.






About the only other visual mods I plan to do is some lowering springs/coilovers and either a new hood, or some kind of scoops to replace the strut covers on the hood.