For those young 'uns reading this, Eagle was a brand that existed during the late 1980s and early 1990s after Chrysler bought AMC (mainly for the Jeep brand). Since there are no Eagle-branded cars sold new today, you'd be right to assume that they didn't do that well and ended up being shut down. Which means it is perfect for LeMons because they're over 10 years old and can be repaired readily since they used Chrysler mechanicals (though that isn't necessarily a good thing).
The Eagle Vision was the flagship of the Eagle range, based on the venerable Chrysler LH platform, which helped Chrysler become very strong in the 1990s, while Ford and General Motors were somewhat struggling. I think it was the best-designed of the LH cars. That and people wouldn't think it was an insurance agent's car, like you would with the Dodge, or a car that belonged in a retirement community, like any of the Chrysler LH models.
So why am I considering an Eagle, even though I could get an old Chrysler New Yorker, Concorde, LHS, or a Dodge Intrepid? It's because the Eagle is thought of as the obscure car, which may help me in BS Inspections at LeMons when I point out the Eagle is an extraordinarily rare mainstream car, and will help me avoid penalty laps. If that doesn't work, I'll point out since I have a 4-speed Chrysler automatic transmission, there's absolutely no way the Vision will finish a race. (Of course, I'd have had the tranny rebuilt well before then.)
One of the major problems with the Eagle Vision (actually, this is true of any 1990s Chrysler product) is the automatic transmission. A lot of them were probably scrapped with the price of the fixing the transmission after 100,000 miles probably exceeded the value of the car, which probably contributed to a low number of them lying around throughout the country.
What I didn't anticipate was how low the number of them was. Believe it or not, when I tried to find Eagle Visions for sale, I could find fewer of them at any price compared to my search for Ferrari Mondials under $30,000. On the bright side, any Vision I came across was $4,000 or below, so I could easily come under the $500 limit by selling off the parts. I'm praying that someone might want the Eagle badges on eBay, though I have no idea what they go for. (I'd go on eBay and check, but then I'd be lost for hours looking for an Eagle Talon TSi AWD with a manual. And I also might pay the inflated price a lot of owners ask for them.)
Even my usual search on Autotempest didn't pull up much. eBay had none. Craigslist only came up with under 20 cars within 1,500 miles of me. Autotrader only found four in the United States. The closest Vision to me was over 300 miles away. Cars.com came up with five, but each was least 1,000 miles away from me. Even Oodle has about five. So seriously, Eagle Visions are more difficult to find than a Ferrari Mondial, at any price.
In any case, I did find three to consider, all of them the higher-end TSi models, although only two of them are somewhat close to me. Here go my LeMons Vision ambitions:
Option A: I'm only considering this car because it's local. Otherwise, I wouldn't give the listing any consideration because there's no mileage figure listed in the ad. It does say the engine and transmission run perfectly but I'll have to see if I test drive the car. After all, there is NO MILEAGE LISTED on the ad, which will give me goosebumps, especially if I sense the transmission is going to fail. On the other hand, it is $2,200, so I don't know if it's good or bad, but it might be worth that amount in parts.
Option B: This car was the third closest to me, which meant it was over 300 miles away from where I lived. This one is the lower-end ESi model, which means cloth seats and no higher-end stereo to sell on eBay Motors. Even the wheels have that cheapness to them. This one is listed for $2,850, presumably because the seller needs to recoup the cost of paying for the Autotrader listing. That and to hedge against the fact the seller will get much less than that figure at auction. It also has 126,000 miles on it, which means the transmission is due for yet another rebuild. I'm not going for this one.
Option C: This one is my ultimate choice for a few reasons, none of which involved mechanicals. First off, this car is the closest to me, were I to consider running a Vision in LeMons. It's also white, which means I can paint things on the body and it'll be visible. It is listed at $3,000, but there are 100,000 miles, which is quite reasonable. However, I still don't know if the transmission will need fixing. But it is being sold by a car wholesaler, which means a) the price is negotiable, and b) a wholesaler wouldn't be attempting to sell a car professionally unless he felt it would run for the next 100 miles. They do seem to be reputable, which is why I would consider buying from them, were I to use a Vision for LeMons.
So, as usual, I'll go with a dealer I think is the most reputable. Somehow I think I'll be burned by the transmission down the line...