Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX Jackie Chan Limited Edition
Weird Car of the Day #509: 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX Jackie Chan Limited Edition – Big chop
Before we get to this car's defining feature, a unique piece of bodywork that no other production vehicle has adopted, I ask you to slow your scroll and consider one crucial bit of information about this incredibly real car.
Mitsubishi unveiled the Lancer Evolution IX in March of 2005 in Japan.
Jackie Chan unveiled the Lancer Evolution Jackie Chan Limited Edition in Singapore, in May 2005.
As challenging as its styling may be, pulling off a white carbon body kit and vehicle modifications (and more!) within two months of a car's global reveal emphasizes how today's WCOTD is also one of the few modified cars of any era to have this level of factory support.
michael banovsky
Contemporary reports say 50 of Chan's special Evos were built, with the first deliveries for the Singapore market, keys handed over by Chan himself.
Before I get into the car, consider how huge of a deal it would have been to be among the first to drive any Evolution IX, let alone a modified one with movie star cachet.
Underneath the celebrity treatment, the Evo IX already had the final and most developed iteration of the 4G63: a 1,997-cc DOHC 16-valve turbo four cylinder, now fitted with MIVEC variable intake-valve timing, driving all four wheels. Japanese-market cars were rated at 280 PS, with the GSR making 400 Nm of torque, while Mitsubishi retained hardware including Bilstein dampers, Brembo brakes and its sophisticated four-wheel-drive system.
Thinking back to 2005, when the world was only two The Fast and the Furious movies deep, a standard Evo IX would have had the instant respect of drivers around the world.
At that time, Chan was already a multi millionaire, into business ventures, a noted car enthusiast, and a Mitsubishi-driving, high-grossing movie star—plus all of the relationship and familial damage that went along with it.
In several films, including one where his character's job was as a Mitsubishi test driver—Thunderbolt—Chan's characters already drove the very best cars Three Diamonds Automotive Industry Company had to offer.
Today's car is, really, the result of decades of partnership between a martial artist stunt actor-turned-actor, for the first time purchasable as a tangible product.
To underline my point that this car was a Very Big Deal, unlike most other tuner cars, ever, the JCLE had a proper launch.
