I just heard a collective, “WTF is that thing, McTaggart?!” That, friends, is a Mitsubishi Delica van. While Mitsubishi did sell a van in the 1980s in the U.S. market, this generation never made it. However, go abroad and the Delica, under many names (L400, Starwagon, Space Gear, for example) will be found with ease. But I promise you, finding one like the one we were tipped off to by CarThrottle will be damn near impossible, because there aren’t many four-wheel-drive, V8-powered Mitsu cubes running around on planet Earth. There are even less people on the planet who could’ve dreamt this concoction up.
Oddly enough, I have driven one of these vans before…they are somewhat common in Iraq. The power isn’t overwhelming…find a base-model Dodge Ram 50 or Mitsubishi P’up and you’ll get the idea of what you’ll expect. It’ll move fast enough to not be unsafe, but it isn’t going to light your hair on fire. They did come with four-wheel-drive, which was raided from the Pajero, which offers up locking differentials and a low-range, but the inline-fours, diesels and one V6 just aren’t that eye-opening. One Brit apparently sees things our way, because he managed to shoehorn in a Ford 302 and an automatic into the little breadbox.
Why this swap happened, we don’t care. How this swap was performed would be interesting, but unless you live in the UK, have a screw loose and don’t mind a monstrosity that has passed it’s MOT test, we will just have to sit back and check out the pictures…at least until 2021, when it’ll finally be legal to import into the States, anyways.
eBay UK Link: 1996 Mitsubishi Delica Chamonix Edition
Yes – we don’t like Chevys or their engines at all in the UK and this is a well done transplant that has made what is in my opinion a quite interesting car a hell of a lot more interesting!
Now I’ll just wait for howls of abuse from the UK branch of Chevy Lovers R Us…
There are a few getting around Australia and New Zealand with Toyota 1UZ transplants. The best bit about the 1UZ is they use the same transmission as the Delica, just need to change the input shaft to suit the Toyota engine.