I was walking home from watching the Brazil vs. Costa Rica match at a bar when I saw something that made me do a double-take. We often feature cars on here that generate comments like, “Wow, I haven’t seen one of those in years” and “These all disappeared from my city ages ago.” Well, check out this Mitsubishi L300 Express. Wow, I haven’t seen one of these in years. These all disappeared from my city ages ago. However, somebody from Jakarta wouldn’t be saying that.
This was the first generation of Express van sold here, debuting in 1980. The Starwagon decals signifies this as the people-mover variant, first introduced here in 1982 and seating eight passengers. The mechanical layout of these was nothing exciting: rear-wheel-drive, recirculating ball steering, front disc brakes and rear drums, and independent double-wishbone/coil spring front suspension with a live axle and leaf springs at the back.
These were popular here, mostly as delivery vans. However, their ubiquity paled in comparison to that of their 1986 successor. That model was sold concurrently with its successor, and was available to order from Mitsubishi Australia all the way up until 2013. At that point, Mitsubishi retired the van because of its embarrassingly poor crash test ratings.
In some markets, however, crash safety just isn’t a priority. That means vans like that 1980-vintage Express can still be found throughout the world. When I was sharing this find on my Instagram the other night, a commenter pointed out this very vehicle is still sold in Indonesia.
There is something especially surreal about seeing a 1980-vintage interior on a fancy, Flash-heavy modern website. The old L300 is sold in Indonesia in pickup, cab chassis and bus chassis form. The sole powertrain is a 2.4 four-cylinder diesel mated to a five-speed manual transmission. It’s hard to tell just what has changed in almost 40 years with the L300.
The 1980s never died. The tooling just got sent to Indonesia.
Check out the proud badge at the front: Power Steering. What luxury!
While I can appreciate the price sensitivity of developing markets, I take a dim view of automakers selling new vehicles with poor crash protection in any country. Fortunately, the rest of Mitsubishi’s Indonesian lineup is thoroughly modern. There’s the familiar Mirage and Outlander Sport, as well as the capable Triton and Pajero Sport.
Lest you think Mitsubishi Indonesia only manufactures old L300s, check out the new-for-2018, Indonesian-designed and built Xpander. The B-segment people mover segment is popular in South-East Asia, and the front-wheel-drive Xpander is Mitsubishi’s rival for vans like the Toyota Avanza and Honda Mobilio. Measuring just six inches or so longer than an Outlander Sport, the Xpander seats seven passengers. It rides on a new platform, with motivation provided by a 1.5 four-cylinder engine mated to either a five-speed manual or a four-speed auto. It’s simple, it’s what Indonesian consumers want and, while it competes in an entirely different segment, for a developing market product it’s a lot more impressive than the old L300.
Express photographed in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, QLD in June 2018.
“The 1980s never died. The tooling just got sent to Indonesia.” – My favorite line of the day. I wonder if there is an upshift light?
That last picture of the Xpander is truly frightening. It looks like the science fiction version of a mid 50s GMC truck. Or a giant angry stinging insect, I can’t decide.
These were sold in the US as the “Mitsubishi Van” in the latter half of the 1980s. I don’t think they were very popular, but at least they didn’t catch fire like the US-market Nissan Van of the same era.
I had no idea these were ever sold in the US! I certainly remember the Toyota Van of the 1980s, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Mitsubishi or Nissan van from that era in the US.
We’ve covered them here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/cc-the-last-one-of-its-kind-still-on-the-streets-1988-mitsubishi-van-delica/
But these are a generation newer than the featured van. Not exactly significantly different, but somewhat.
“Severe issues with engine compartment overheating led to fires, and Nissan had to buy back all of them.”
Well that explains why I’ve never seen one on the Nissans…
Well, I managed to find one and wrote it up here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-1987-nissan-van-how-did-this-turkey-escape-the-crusher-or-oven/
I actaully saw a conversion van version fo sale recently. It came from California, so was in good condition.
Love that little pickup. I’d rock one. perfect for getting into and around my little alley houses.
I dig it too. It would be perfect in cities and parallel parking would be a cinch.
Don’t forget that Ford’s Econoline is still available as a cab/chassis, even though the van is long gone. It dates back to 1992 or arguably to 1975. Thoroughly obsolete, yet there must be some sort of demand for it (School buses? RVs? Food trucks?).
Not only is Ford’s E-series still in production as Cutaways and stripped chassis it is the 3rd best selling vehicle in the Commercial Van segment. YTD in the US it accounts for just under 25% of Ford’s van sales. It is still far and away #1 in the van based RV, High Cube, School and Shuttle Bus segments.
Wow, I did not realize they still sold so many of them! Interesting.
Here is the goodcarbadcar page for May and YTD.
http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2018/06/commercial-van-sales-in-america-may-2018/
Note Chevy stopped reporting monthly which is why it is not in this report, so I’m basing #3 on the history of the Chevy sales coming in #2 in 2017
http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2018/01/commercial-van-sales-america-december-2017-year-end/
Never saw a first-gen L300 this fancy! Had no idea this model was still in production all these years later; and I thought its replacement (going 30 years) was around forever!
The L 300 was sold here too in Volkswagenland, though not very succesfull. But once in a while you saw one. I remeber a little laundry in my street that have one first generation L 300s in beige.
It is always intereting to see that cars that have disappeared here for a long time are being rebuilt in other parts of the world. As well as the line up there, with this old and new mixture.
I must agree with JPC, that Xpander is frightening.
I’ve been looking at purchasing a new to me used car and just two weeks ago I went to look at one at a fairly large used car dealership that does a lot of high end brands. In their showroom, with vintage and not so vintage, Porsches, Mercedes and BMWs along with a restored 50’s Ford Pickup was one of these in US spec. The interior looked almost showroom fresh, obviously never having Goldfish, Cheerios, or anything else ground into its seats and carpets. I was truly shocked just to see one, let alone one in showroom condition, but even more so to see it in a place of prominence in this showroom. The showroom was separated into an area that seemed to be the owner’s personal collection and that is the side it was on.
The very early versions of L300 are getting rarer but the later models are about in large numbers, they were very cheap new and popular with tradies, everything in them feels lightly constructed compared to the other Japanese van offerings but judging from the sheer numbers still out there earning they cant be too bad, Ive had a fair bit of wheel time in a 91 4×4 version that was ex Aussie Telecom and surprising capable off road and in mud.
I think it’s worth noting that while the Xpander and Mobilio are the more typical FWD layout, the Avanza is RWD with a solid rear axle, presumably for more rugged off-road or near-off-road use in SE Asia. I noticed they were very popular taxis in Malaysia.
The L300 was very popular in South Africa in the 80s. Built here too.
And also for a short moment badged as Ford Husky in South Africa.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiefordadverts/5656243716
Here a short story from a Flickr user Gerard.McNeill.
“The Ford Husky came about when Ford merged interest with SIGMA, the local Mazda/Mitsubishi manufacturer. SIGMA, was formed in 1976 when mining giant Anglo-American bought out Chrysler’s local operation. AA at the time owned Illings, a small firm that produced Mazda and Int’l Harvester, so SIGMA had licenses for both Mazda (through Illings) and Mitsubishi (through Chrysler). SIGMA acquired the local Peugeot-Citroen operation in 1979 and there was a failed merger with Leyland. SIGMA marked primarily the Mazda 323 and the Mitsubishi Colt Galant.
SIGMA merged with Ford to form SAMCOR in late 1985 and Peugeot was discontinued. The new company’s policy was to sell the same product line (or equivalent) under both Mazda and Ford . The Laser/Meteor replaced the Escort, but the Sierra was retained because of its popularity on the market. The Mazda-based Ford Courier replaced the Cortina-based bakkies and Mazda dealers got the Rustler, a rebadge of the small Ford Bantam pickup based on the Ford Escort. Ford had no equivalent of the L300, so it was rebadged as Ford Husky for Ford dealers to sell. SAMCOR later added the bigger Ford Spectron and Mazda Marathon vans based on the Bongo Brawny. Loyal Ford customers hated this arrangement and sales suffered dramatically as the result.”
Wow, I haven’t seen one of these in weeks. These mostly disappeared from my area ages ago. A high school teacher of mine had an ’82 – not a Star Wagon, but it had all the seats. I drove it once in 1991ish, and discovered it suffered an acute lack of power. They were popular in NZ though, especially the Star Wagon, and even whenb the new model came out in ’86 we continued to get the cab-chassis variants of the pictured generation up to the mid-90s – they were popular with small motorhome manufacturers. I still see the occasional L300 of this early generation around, but their plaines-of-plain styling and laughable crash safety means I don’t feel the love and won’t miss them when they’re finally all gone. Quite shocked that Mitsubishi still sells them in Indonesia…!
Years ago, the D-Gen comedy mob who went on to make (amongst a lot else) The Hollow Men, did a spoof news segment. They reported something like this:
“a terrible mudslide disaster in India today, over 200 people have died. But now [cheery ad-type loud voice] let’s swing over to Tony who’ll adjust it on our Deathalyser Population Adjuster and……that’s only equivalent to three people in Australia, so it’s not a disaster at all!” (All paraphrased from memory).
Most cringe-inducing, for sure, but it’s stuck in my head ever since.
It’s just wilful corporate malfeasance to sell something THIS out of date, though not if the mindset is “it’s just Indonesians.” Especially when these things were dire in crashes even when new. Mitsubishi sold a rwd Express with a nose and basic safety stuff well over 20 years ago, long since amortised, surely super cheap to make there now.
I’ve got to admit it makes a bizarre artefact now, like something from weird dream where past and present are mixed in impossible ways.
As for that Xpander, it seems awfully unhappy with whatever it ate.
Ooof. Savage. I’ve heard a similar observation made about American news media whenever a pretty young blonde woman goes missing…
Incidentally, The Hollow Men is probably my favourite Aussie comedy of all time. Absolutely brilliant, biting political satire. The “Phase Two” episode was probably my favourite.
It’s remarkable that Mitsubishi Indonesia seems to have skipped the subsequent two generations of L300 entirely. While neither is exactly a Volvo XC90, they’d be at least marginally safer than this old thing.
This is why regulations exist. To stop corporations from selling inferior, unsafe products. And without regulations (or public pressure), corporations will continue to sell what makes them profits, safety be damned.
+1.
And you must watch their more recent series Utopia, then. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.