With black bumpers and iron wheels, the low-grade Lancer is in amazing condition
In 2024, we checked out a vehicle of interest at the Kanazawa Classic Car Meeting held at the Japan Automobile Museum in Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture on Sunday, July 28. This time we will introduce a 1981 2nd generation A170 series Mitsubishi “Lancer EX” with a square design. What is the reason why it remains beautiful and fully original inside and out, despite being a low-grade vehicle that is rarely cherished as an old car?
One of the cars displayed the license plate number when it was new, which was given to us by an elderly lady in the neighborhood
Walking around the venue of the Kanazawa Classic Car Meeting, we spotted a second-generation A170 series Mitsubishi “Lancer”. Usually, the most popular Lancer of this type is the so-called “Lantabo” with a 1.8L turbo engine, but this car was clearly of a lower grade, with black bumpers, steel wheels, and fender mirrors still in black resin. The vehicle, however, is surprisingly clean.
When we spoke to the owner, Mr. Yamamoto, he told us that the car, a 1981 Lancer EX 1400GL, was acquired through a local auto shop by an elderly lady he knew who had purchased the car new when she quit driving. Since they lived in the same area, they were able to take over the “Kobe 58” license plate number from the new car.
Original body and interior!
The simple white body was kept as it was when the car was new, in other words, the original paint. The pale blue fabric interior is also all original. As expected, the resin parts are slightly faded, but the car is in remarkable condition, basically keeping its original condition.
Of course, the first owner, a woman, took good care of the car, but it is evident that even after Yamamoto-san took it over in 2009, she continued to ride it with great care.
By the way, Lantavos are well known to the public as hobby cars, but very few low-grade Lancers are still in existence as old car hobby cars like this. While it would not be a problem if the parts were common to Lantabo, parts specifically for low-grade cars are rarely distributed and should be extremely difficult to obtain.
How dare he take Lantabo for parts to drive it for the rest of his life
Compared to brands such as Toyota and Nissan, which have many popular vehicles in the old car hobby, Mitsubishi has only a few units in existence, and they are low-grade 2nd generation Lancer models. It is said that collecting parts is still quite difficult, and even obtaining a single odd-shaped headlight is extremely difficult. They are always on the lookout for the various parts and consumables needed to keep the car alive.
“In the end, to maintain this car, I now own one Lantavo as a parts collector (laughs). I can get by with this for basic body parts, but I try to get as many other parts as I can find. These days I don’t drive it very far because I mainly go on expeditions to events, but I plan to drive this car to my grave, so I will continue to take good care of it.”
translated by DeepL