I’ve been struggling with CC fatigue. After ten years of this, it’s getting harder to be inspired to write about another old car; it seems like we’ve done them pretty much all. But then something comes along to perk me up, like this Mitsubishi van which I spotted at a stop sign a ways off on our walk. Whoa! The last one of these in town disappeared a while back. I thought it was the end of the road for these. I whipped out my phone hoping to get at least a distant shot.
I suddenly had a new spring in my step, and headed towards it, but I figured it would pull away before I got there. But you never know…
It was still there as we got closer. I’ve definitely never seen this one here before.
And as I approached it with my phone in front of me, snapping away, the young woman in the passenger side got what I was doing and opened her window. I called out to her: Nice Mitsubishi van! I haven’t seen one in town for some years!
Oh; you know what it is. Yeah; I just bought it in Bend this weekend. I’ve been wanting something like this and I finally found one.
Awesome! Congratulations. Enjoy it! I’m going to be posting it, at CurbsideClassic.com!
Cool! I’ll look for it!
The essence of CC is about celebrating the old cars still on the road, and this Mitsubishi van is worth a celebration. My enthusiasm is restored, at least until the next good find.
Related reading:
CC Mitsubishi Express: The White Boxy Cockroach Will Stopford
Don’t lose the faith on posting about old cars.. it’s what keeps the hobby alive.
True, and every year brings a new and varied crop of CCs.
And if you’re suffering from CC fatigue, you could’ve fooled me. Yesterday’s piece on the ZiL/Honqi/Ford do Brasil limousine was brilliant, and something you can’t find elsewhere!
Here’s one that I always thought was kinda cool.
A co-worker of mine and her husband bought one new in 1991 – they were quite happy with it. I haven’t seen one in years.
Yes, the EXPO was ahead of its time and very practical. Only flaw was the capacitors in the computers that would fail and immobilize the car.
It was crossover before crossover was cool
CC Effect, saw one on I-55 this afternoon! Shoulda had the wife grab a pic.
While the exterior styling of these vans (as far as I know, the passenger versions were called “Wagons” in the US) was never to my liking, I think Mitsubishi had some of the best and cushiest-looking interiors of any cars of the 1980s.
I’d love to have a van with this kind of configuration today:
It is amazing to me how long the forward control formula retained currency in small vans worldwide.
And you have to love someone who actively hunted for one of these until she found it.
I found myself looking at the wipers to see if it was JDM. Even if it isn’t, it’s still pretty cool!
Sweet find! One of these appeared in a driveway in my subdivision for awhile. It sat parked for about 6 months and then disappeared without a trace. Maybe the owner was not able to get it to run.
Wow, really rare to see a Mitsubishi Delica that’s left hand drive! The JDM importers love these so primarily it seems you see them in RHD. I wonder if this model was brought down from Canada?
Wow, that’s so cool. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one, either they were never imported to Canada or they were so rare I just never encountered it.
Kudos to the owner for seeking such awesome weirdness.
I still find CC fun (came for the cars, stayed for the community) although a lot of us would also follow paulspromasteradventures.com 🙂
They were sold rarely in the US and not at all in Canada. Mitsubishi didn’t sell cars in Canada under its own brand until 2002.
If you wanted a forward-control van from Asia in the late 1980s to purchase in Canada you were looking at a Toyota Van or a Kia Besta. As far as I know the Nissan Vanette was never sold in Canada either.
I’ve seen many of these Mitsubishi vans in other countries, like Australia, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the US.
I vacationed in the Bahamas about five years ago and these vans were still *everywhere*; clearly they were in production long after they left the US market. My personal ride was a first-gen RHD Honda Odyssey, the one that’s not really a minivan but rather a euro-style MPV with hinged doors. Also ubiquitous were medium-size Toyota buses I’ve never seen here.
Reading CC every day is eye candy for the cars, and brain food from the conversation, community, the learning, and the memories both shared and evoked. Thanks for all you do Paul.
Meanwhile, in Australia, you would have to drive through fields and along sewers and footpaths or other wise blindfolded if, on your journey, you wish to AVOID one of these L300’s, as they are only slightly less numerous than the kangaroos. Sold from 1987 right through to an outrageous 2013, there was a long, long stretch when I’m convinced that it was a requirement of some corrupt piece of legislation that every tradesman was required to be so equipped. And as they could not be killed by anything other than a crusher, they also had long second lives, one of them even belonging for a while to none other than your current commenter.
It wasn’t whole nasty, having rack steering and a very slick five-speed floor/engine cover gearchange, but it lacked most safety requirements except brakes (and I’m not including seatbelts because a short flight through the windscreen would give you a higher chance of survival than your certain demise if you stayed inside in a smash).
Someone in Melbourne decided that the legally registered one you see below was a good idea, and whilst it’s true they weren’t fast vehicles, I would think the builder and driver of this one might have a very good sense of the absurd but is also insane. Or just Australian…
“… a short flight through the windscreen would give you a higher chance of survival than your certain demise if you stayed inside in a smash.”
Now THAT is great commentary… thanks for the laugh!
+1
I’d need to be convinced that one is ‘legally’ registered with the V8. However the bloke who owns that drag strip has one of these Mitsubishi vans with a jet engine in the back! Not sure if it is just used for drying the track, but he has other jet-powered dragsters.
The Mitsubishi van ended up with a 1-star safety rating but people kept buying them until I believe it was a new round of emissions regs took them off the market.
I just take it for granted you live in Surreal City, USA; your city is just full of interesting cars–more ICPC (interesting car per capita) than even Woodward Avenue, Michigan!
I had not thought this possible, until I started looking at this website.
Keep looking…instead of walking 5 minutes, perhaps 10 minutes now. But the cars are there….
Thanks!
I had the same thought. What an interesting place, at least car wise and I’m sure in many other ways. One might chalk up the high ICPC figure to the climate and general frugality of the citizenry, but perhaps it’s more than that. At least in this case, someone went out of his/her way to find one of these and bring it to Eugene.
I spend all day in NZ traffic and these vans are still common they only stopped selling them recently, they were very cheap new.
A co worker recently bought an early diesel version its very cheap to run he reckons and since his last car was a Commodore I believe him, plus his Harley fits in the back. Also available used with a minor restlye as a H100 by Hyundai.
thanks to the 25 yr rule, we are starting to get some interesting jfm imports on the east coast. saw this delica near central park a couple of weeks ago.
one more
Cute van, but looks like a lot of weight over the front wheels. Paul, I like your style of being upfront with your appreciation of a car you like, you make the connection with the driver and get them onside. I learnt a lesson recently, I was trying to get a pic of a beautiful early 70’s red V6 Cortina bakkie in Port Elizabeth outside a spare parts shop. I kept waiting for the Tannie [Auntie] sitting in the passenger seat to look the other way so I could take a pic, but she kept looking my way, “damn”. Eventually her husband came out, hopped in and they drove off. As they left she looked my way, gave me a big smile and a wave….bust! She knew exactly what I was up to. Why didnt I go over earlier, declare my appreciation, make a friend, and ask for a pic? lesson learnt…
Mitsubishi products are very reliable Down Here and in most places but Not in USA I wonder if it has something to do with the involvement of Fiat Chrysler?
I recently read Indonesia, Etc. by Elizabeth Pisani–very good if you like travel books. She says that in Indonesia, Mitsubishi L300’s are so widely used as minibuses that “L300” is shorthand for a minibus, no matter who made it.
These vans were sold in the US, but are very rare. I posit that of the early Japanese vans, the Toyota outsold this Mitsu and the Nissan Van and regardless has the healthiest survival rate. I even think the Hinden-van sold more units than the Mitsubishi but since they were almost all infamously bought back that leaves these the default second place winner.
Also, WHY were all three of these vans all stripped of their original JDM names!? They were all literally called the “Van” here and anything else such as the “Van-Wagon“(Toyota) was only used in advertising and quickly dropped. And this despite a variety of names they used in the JDM that were more creative.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those before. Been a long time since I’ve seen the more common Toyota version of the rolling toaster.
hmm… uploads not working from my iphone. trying the laptop…
I’m glad there are other people out there that can still appreciate (& drive) “old-style” vans. Someone else on the road even rolled down their window when we were at a red light, commenting on the bumper stickers that I’ve put on my vehicles (most recently the Astro) & asking me where they could get them (I got them off of eBay). They especially liked the one saying “BACK OFF, bumper humper! My brakes are good. How’s your insurance?” For anyone who never takes messages like this seriously, my trailer hitch(es) will give them a rude awakening to the fact that I’m not kidding. I gave them the warning; THEY’RE at fault if they don’t listen. Got a good picture of the Wells Cargo Trailer being towed by the Astro now that the sun’s coming out more. Still pulls great; only wish the Astro’s paint was white like with the Aerostar & Ranger (to match the trailer), but still a great setup nonetheless. And the Dutch Door design (exclusive to Astros & Safaris) lets you open the tailgate without hitting the trailer jack in the process–conventional minivan liftgates have a trouble spot here (found out with the Aerostar).