Timing, they say, is everything. Take the Mitsubishi Eclipse. Assembled by union hands at the Mitsubishi/Chrysler joint-venture facility in Normal, Illinois, the Eclipse offered a slightly esoteric take on the small, front-drive sports coupes that had been popping up across the autoverse for a couple of years prior. So enamored were we with its acceleration, stability, and, well, outsider personality that we immediately placed it—in alpha-dog, turbocharged, all-wheel-drive GSX trim—on our 10Best Cars list, where it stayed for four consecutive years. But while the Eclipse was basking in the sunlight, its competitors came back with smoother and faster coupes that bumped it off the list, never to return. Mitsubishi stayed with it, however, keeping the Eclipse in play for more than 20 years and four generations, offering a quirky alternative to the status quo and churning out some killer concepts in the process. Click through to follow the Eclipse’s evolution.