They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. But where does imitation stop and where does caricature begin? Probably in Japan. If you’ve ever seen a Mitsuoka, you’ll know what I mean. If you haven’t, take a good look at this Galue. Were the guys who designed this taking the piss? Well, they were definitely taking something.
Mitsuoka’s 350 employees have been making very weird cars for two decades in the Western Japanese city of Toyama. It could be said that they are a coachbuilder, as nearly all their cars have been based on other cars, whether it be Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Mazda or even the Ford Mustang. The feature that all Mitsuokas share is gaudy retro styling and high quality craftsmanship. That and the strangest logo ever.
And there are quite a few Mitsuoka models to choose from, both large and small. One I snapped a few weeks ago was this Nissan March-based Viewt saloon. This one is obviously trying to look like a ‘60s Jaguar MkII with some sort of genetic affliction (or possibly hydrocephaly).
Mitsuoka also do sports cars, electric vehicles (based on the Mitsubishi i-MiEV) and microcars. But they have always excelled, if that’s the term I want (it isn’t), in making their bigger cars look the silliest. This third generation Galue I found this week is a case in point. The Galue range has been a mainstay of Mitsuoka’s production since they officially registered as an automaker in 1996.
Previous generations were based on the Nissan Crew (1996-2001, as above) and the Y34 Cedric. This third generation was based on the 2005 Nissan Y50 Fuga (a.k.a. Infiniti M35/45), so it’s a RWD affair powered by a choice of a 2.5 and 3.5 litre V6 with a 5-speed auto.
Even the badges on this car are outlandish. At first, I thought it spelled “Galut”. Not that “Galue” is any better… I’m not sure whether it means anything in Japanese. It certainly sounds as strange as the car looks though.
It’s difficult to find a good angle on this thing. The rear clip has a definite Cadillac look, but in a comedic way. The trunk’s bizarre shape makes the Caddy-like fins stand out more, though it can’t be too good for luggage space.
The front end is dominated by a massive chromed grille straight out of a Bentley designer’s nightmare. The round headlights, set deep within chromed bezels and well inboard, looking a bit like a 1935 Hupmobile with a thyroid problem. The rounded front fenders envelop the whole thing like an obese man’s belly sticking out of a pair of jeans. This is the Japanese automotive equivalent of Jeremy Clarkson.
How about that hood ornament? Again, we venture into Cadillac territory, albeit with a dose of Mercedes-Benz, just to err on the side of bad taste. Mitsuokas are not common even in their home country, but I have seen a few there, as well as in Bangkok, Hong Kong and here in Yangon. I understand they have a following in Malaysia and Indonesia as well, so it seems they strike a chord with Asian tastes. I wonder if any ever get shipped to the Middle-East. After all, they used to buy Stutzes and other over-the-top vehicles in that part of the world. Have any reached the shores of Australia, New Zealand or even Europe? It seems the Mitsuoka Himiko roadster, which looks like a fugly Morgan, is imported in the UK…
Perhaps the least jarring viewpoint is the side. Here, the Mitsuoka’s Nissan roots really come out clearly. At least, that’s what one feels until the eye hits the left of the photo and the bulging fender / vertical grille combo. Not exactly blending in with the rest of the car.
This car had dark glass, so I could not photograph the interior. Here’s a shot I found on the web from a 2005 model. Not too shabby. And the one really good thing about being a passenger inside a Mitsuoka, of course, is that you don’t have to suffer its exterior.
The MkIII Galue seems to have been made from 2005 to 2009 and Mitsuoka is now on the fifth generation. (As I do not know what year this one was, I just picked the middle of the production run.) There is also a two-door convertible, and in 2009 Mitsuoka proudly unveiled a stretched limo version. I’ve even seen a Galue hearse while researching this post. Beware, Toyota Century! Your days are numbered…
It’s one thing to bemoan the blandness of today’s automobiles, but it’s another thing to dip a Nissan in chrome, stick fins and googly eyes on it and call it a luxury car. Sayonara, then, Mitsuoka Galue. We hardly knew ye, and we wish to keep it that way.
Related CC Post:
Mitsuoka Le Seyde: The Compact Zimmer, by Paul Niedermeyer
That’s all I got.
+1
Pass the eye bleach please
I could never get used to these either.
They were made by well spirited people with a sense of humour.
Mitsouka seem to be dead serious about what they are doing.
Rolls-Royce front, Cadillac rear and Altima in the middle.
Sort of like those fiberglass nose and trunk kits you could get for Beetle’s in the ’70’s, except factory built.
Edit. twoeightythree beat me to it!
lol personally I love it.
Given that they have a reputation for high quality coachwork I wouldn’t mind driving a vehicle that was likely to make everyone smile/laugh as it goes by. Even if they are laughing AT you.
Agreed. In this day and age, humor is the only solution. 🙂
creative, perhaps interesting. My think is how much did t cost to do this?
Probably the price was close to a real entry level Rolls.
That’s a WTF-mobile, definitely. I’m with Principal Dan: I love it.
Makes me want to put whitewalls and a vinyl top on the ONION.
Not so bad. Current styling trends struggle with incongruous front ends; Bentley, Audi, Lexus and most pickups.
Are those actual 1998-ish Cadillac Deville tail lights from the GM parts bin?
I’ve seen photos of the Galue convertible. When it debuted, I immediately recognized the doors and the windshield, it was based off of the 2005-2009 Ford Mustang convertible. For about 1/2 a minute, I thought it would be really twisted and weird to have all the pieces imported from japan and convert my own Mustang ‘vert into a Galue. There wouldn’t have been anything like it in the US, that’s for sure.
And here’s the rear of the convertible.
Wow. And i’m sorry you didn’t; it would have made quite a COAL!
This is a slap in the face to Rolls Royce & Cadillac. It’s an abysmal fail.
Oh uh; not you and this again!
RR and Cadillac deserve all the slaps in the face that anyone can muster. More please! 🙂
Pardon me while I irrigate your fender, guv.
“Wow. And i’m sorry you didn’t; it would have made quite a COAL!”
Who knows.. maybe I will someday. 😉
Finally, a Mustang you won’t have to worry about driving into a crowd of people, as they’ll run away long before it nears them!
Horrendous! When will people realize that tacking the front and back ends of older cars onto newer ones does not work? The number of Corvettes with 57-59 Chevy parts or newer Mustangs made to look like older ones with 69 parts just look wrong. I don’t mind the retro theme of say, the Challenger/Camaro/Mustang as they are now but, to stick the old parts on a new one just looks wrong. The classic proportions are completely lost, making them look just like these Mitsuokas. But then, there were the aforementioned Beetles with Rolls like fronts or 40 Fordtype fronts that set a precedent…. and then there was this abomination….the 76 Silver Cloud, based on the then current Monte Carlo…
Forgot the pic…
I agree Jim
A waste of money to make this blob of metal..
Actually, the “restyled” Monte Carlo was called Custom Cloud, and the Miami-based company got sued by Rolls Royce. Here’s the tale – http://www.coindispenser.com/story.html
Well, this is my new thing for the day. I don’t think there is much else to say about it. Except that it is amazing that it can find a market large enough to keep the company alive.
I do remember this car, because, speaking of you Jeremy Clarkson comparison, this was tested on Top Gear. Granted, it was James May, but I still recognize the car.
I’ve liked some weird cars, I’ll admit it as much, especially for obvious facsimiles based off more ordinary platforms. Those big Stutz cars from the 70s? Love them. The Zimmer Quicksilver? I actually like it. But, I never understood what the point was to these cars, until I started thinking about it.
I’m sure that there are some people in Japan who would dream of owning a Cadillac or a Rolls Royce, or a Bentley. Those cars are a lifelong goal for them to call their own. But, that’s not going to be the case. What little I understand of Japan’s automotive culture, owning a car like that would be impossible for your average citizen. The cost of fuel is certainly one thing, but those cars are also too big and unwieldy for the normally cramped urban cities of most of the country. Add into the fact that, if I recall correctly, Japan has immense taxes on cars based on the litter size of the engine. Considering that the cars I mentioned all have big engines, I mean even their smaller engines are close to five litters in size, the costs are going to be astronomical. And let’s not even get into the headache of trying to get them imported into the country, let alone find a mechanic who knows how to work on them if and when they go wrong.
So, what do you do? Well, you hope there’s a car that can be homegrown that could give you the same experience for much cheaper. and the Galue is the answer. They’re still big, to be certain, but their not overly large like the cars they imitate. They have engines big for Japans standards, but they won’t have the same punishments as something like the 6.75 litter in a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, or the 472 engine in a 65 Coupe Deville. You won’t have to sell your children’s school funds every time you need to fill up, and you because they’re based off of boring passenger cars, their familiar to anyone who specializes in auto repair.
Of course, it’s not perfect, you can tell that it’s not an exclusive platform, the styling is a bit of a mish mash of general weirdness, and for people who are familiar with the source material, this imitation seems laughable at best, downright insulting at worst. But, for anyone in this car’s home market, this as close to the dream as they can get. It’s easy for people over here who can afford the genuine article to laugh at the parody, but for others, the parody is all they have and all they can afford to have. Some people don’t care, some people may even scratch the surface and realize what it truly is. But, for the people who would buy one, this is a dream realized. And for some people, having a cheap facsimile of a dream that you can have in your life, is better than just letting it go unrealized.
Of course, I could just be some crazy loon reading way too much into this, so what do I really know?
No, you’re not crazy, it all makes sense. But perhaps you’re looking at this from a rational standpoint, which may not be the most appropriate in this case.
The way I see it (from my very incomplete understanding of the culture), the Japanese are a nation of fetishists. The term used in the language is “otaku” — someone who is obsessed about something to the point of being weird. I’m sure most of us here at CC can identify with that.
Mitsuoka is (I think) catering to the classic British car otaku market. But it goes beyond the RR/Bentley otaku: see the Mitsuoka range in its entirety to get a grasp. The Nissan March-based Viewt is aimed at folks who lust after Jags; the Yuga (http://www.mitsuoka-motor.com/global/lineup/history/yuga/) for those who want something that looks like a London black cab; the Ryoga (http://www.mitsuoka-motor.com/global/lineup/history/ryoga/) is a Jaguar S-Type emulation; the Ray (http://www.mitsuoka-motor.com/global/lineup/history/ray/) is a Wolseley Hornet, etc.
And Mitsuoka aren’t alone: they just cornered the British car lookalike market, but just look at the Subaru Sambar VW or those guys who can turn a Daihatsu Lapin into a Renault 4…
It’s not a million miles away from Excaliburs, Stutzes and other replica / retrocars. There are small companies in Europe and the US specialized in this sort of thing too. But the Japanese take it to a different and much stranger level with that otaku attention to detail.
Well, that is an angle I never looked at it from. I mean, I’m not exactly ignorant of what Otaku is and what it entails. Most of my friends in high school were anime buffs, and Anime is the stereotypical obsession one thinks of when the word Otaku pops into their head. I also display characteristics like that myself, so I’m not really a stranger to what it means to be an otaku.
I will also admit, that outside of this car and the Jaguar emulation, the only other car that I’m familiar with Mitsuoka is the Orochi. The attempt they tried to do of a supercar a couple years back. It certainly doesn’t fit in with the styling themes of the company’s other efforts, and it’s styling is….interesting to say the least. So, I was also looking at unfamiliar with the other products of the company. I also remember another car they made called the Le-Syde, which was based off a Zimmer Golden Spirit. A car built on a normal car platform to look like a classic car, that directly copies another car built on a normal car to look like a classic car. Make of that brain twister how you will.
(Below is a picture of the aforementioned Orochi.)
I live in Japan, and I think you nailed it.
Please…I really WANT to unsee this ~
Some have made it to NZ though they cant be road registered as far as I know, they pop up for sale on trademe every now and then, that one built on a Laurel/ Cedric/ Skyline platform might be ok as a cruiser but most seem to be on very small car platforms.
Not sure about the Galue, but the other Mitsuokas are fine to register here – plenty of Viewts still around, plus a few of those Silvia-based 1930s wannabes.
Disgraceful! Love it. hehehehe
Thunderfalconcougarbird???
…and does it have the toaster/blender package? And just how many eagle feathers are standard?!
Tackier than an aluminum Christmas tree! I absolutely love it!
It reminds me of one of those vile “EasyRods” retro body kits, which its maker says bolt onto an unsuspecting ’90s Thunderbird or F-Body “in hours…not years”.
(Hope you haven’t just eaten.) http://www.easyrods.com
Fine, I’ll post a picture, since this Mitsuoka has desensitized us already.
I think it looks better than the front end that came with the T-Bird originally, MT.
Wow, i like it!
It looks like a 21st century 1949 Ford.
Paraphrasing H.L. Mencken: “No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the (Asian) public”.
Closer to the essence: There’s a seat for every butt…….”
On the one hand, the styling of these really is like a cricket bat to the shins, artistically speaking. But then again, whoever designed and built them clearly had a sense of fun, and the owners must like them, so keep on with the weirdness, I say. Uniqueness has a virtue all its own.
I wonder if any have been imported to Canada? we see a lot of Japanese cars here, mostly tiny trucks and skylines with the occasional Honda thrown in. one of these would make them swallow their bumpers!
…!
So tacky and overstated. The perfect vehicle for Kim Kardashian. Does it have a built-in selfie stick so she can upload`em to Snapchat every minute??
Shamefully, I must confess I really like this car. I know I’m supposed to have better discernment and taste than I did when I was 13, but sadly I don’t. Yes indeed the proportions are off, and it looks like Scotty had a transporter accident when he was beaming up a 94′ de Ville, 06′ Altima and 38′ Rolls, but what fun it is!
I can confirm at least one Viewt made to Austria, the owner takes it to car shows from time to time (I may a have a pic somewhere). I’m sure he does it on purpose just for the Responses.
It’s quite amazing Mitsuoka has kept the doors open for so long. You don’t see them that frequently here in Tokyo, though they’ll pop up on a used car lot every now and then. They’re considered “Boutique” cars here – for those brave Japanese that crave a little individuality.
This is the “Himiko” built off the Miata chassis – Mitsuoka’s take on the Morgan Plus 8.
A better use of those Cadillac taillights than GM came up with.
I am liking them all; the Galue, the Mustang-based convertible and the Himiko roadster. They look better in white though rather than darker colours. I agree with Dweezil – the Caddy-style tailights look better here than on any GM product.
There’s a Viewt (the Mk II Jag knock-off) living a few miles from us, just outside London. Always a smile when I drive past, at the conceit and the absurdity of the proportions. We still have plenty of Nissan Figaros cruising the streets locally, so I guess we like our Noddy cars.
Reminds me this one spotted in US.
So what is that one^ based off?
Good question, I saw it in a Brazilian blog, there is the link from a guy who found it https://youtu.be/xpDPwGgpHds
Yeah, it’s a weird one. Opinions on the web are divided as to the base. Some say MB, some say Bentley.
http://www.carscoops.com/2015/12/peculiar-one-of-kind-mercedes-royale.html
Nice to see some folks out there are still trying to do bespoke cars (even if this particular one is not especially good-looking IMHO).
The target market includes North Korean elite and anyone who owns a lighted bowtie. . . . the blinking ones of course.