MOD Revisited – Mitsubishi Owners Day 2010
By Joey Leh, Photography by the author
For any business, taking care of customers is very important. The car industry is no different. Scion holds concerts, BMW has a driving school, Mazda has a club racer parts program, and Mitsubishi has a giant annual car meet known as MOD (shameless plug! we have OR stickers available here – Ed.).
MOD stands for Mitsubishi Owners Day and the annual car meet is a giant operation that takes place across the entire Mitsubishi corporate headquarters in Cypress, California. Held as a “thank you” for owners and fans, MOD is a Mitsubishi-only car meet and show held the right way, with corporate funds and backing.
Besides being held on hallowed ground for Mitsubishi fans, at North American HQ, MOD features special presentations, raffles, vendor displays, a Vans bike/skate demo, dyno challenge, and lots of cars on display.
As far as our eyes and camera lens could tell, just about every Lancer Evolution in California was present, as well as Eclipses, Galants, and Starions.
MOD 2010 was also indicative of the slow economic recovery of the industry. With a presence more akin to 2008 than 2009, MOD 2010 featured a packed vendor area with displays from such companies as 5Zigen, INGS, Carbonetic, TEIN, Mackin Industries, Etnies, Brembo, DC Sports, Sparco, Eibach, Tanabe, Tomei, Yokohama, Cusco, and Work Wheels – some of whom sat out last year’s show.
Carbonetic even put up a carbon limited-slip differential as a raffle grand prize, a unit that doesn’t come cheap. We would know; we use it in Project Evo 9.
The fans and show attendees also came back this year stronger and deeper. With MOD scheduled to being at 9AM, we spied long lines of Mitsubishi owners sitting in their cars at 6:30AM, ready to enter the parking areas. As the cars filed in, the parking lot at Mitsubishi developed into a packed show stage, filled door-to-door with modified Evos and factory stock cars alike.
For those that aren’t near California, Mitsubishi also holds the Factory MOD and East MOD events. Held in September, Factory MOD takes place at Mitsubishi’s Normal, Illinois North American manufacturing headquarters. East MOD takes place in October 2010 for the first time ever, held at Mitsubishi’s office in Swedesboro, New Jersey.
[...] For more coverage of MOD 2010 check out The Octane Report. [...]
No AMS? Didn’t they dominate the dyno challenge last year?
Galant’s, Starion’s, and even a Eagle Talon… WHAT! NO 3000GT! I cry foul sir!
Rick: FSR did w/ Dale’s 97 VR4 that hit 660= awhp. Great pics guys, seeya next year.