Hey ladies, do any of you want a ride in my diesel Mitsubishi van? That might not sound like the best pick up line ever used, but once you see today’s Kidney Car, you might change your mind. Browsing through my Facebook wall of endless “my Honda got stolen” and “look at this pho I’m eating” posts when a link to this 1989 Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon Turbo-D Chamonix hit me in the face.
The 80s were an era of unbelievably long car names. It was also an era of the best graphics ever, case in point being the two-tone paint adorned by vinyl stripes and “Chamonix” badging with a poorly translated paragraph describing the van on the door. The best part is the fact that every factory indentifier, all 5,000 of them, are in pristine condition.
Located in Pennsylvania, it was imported from Southern Japan, as evident from the distinct lack of rust on the chassis. Looking at places that generally breed rust it looks amazingly clean.
How often do you see a van with roughly the footprint of a Honda CRX? Even more so one available with 4 Wheel Drive, seven inches of ground clearance and a turbodiesel engine? The motor is in show quality condition as well, with not even a leak of oil on the valve cover and every hose looking like it just came out of a fresh bag. It’s even mated to a 5-speed transmission with 4WD.
The interior, or rather mobile studio apartment, looks fresh as well and overall is the best part of this van. There are no rips or dirt caked into the carpet, which I should mention also bears a “Chamonix” pattern. But that’s not even the coolest part of the interior. Without a doubt, that honor goes to the factory-installed ice box with heating, cooling and ice-making capabilities. Beyond that you will find rear climate control, rotatable middle seats and yet even more Chamonix badging on the seats.
If you are interested in this van it’s auction, linked here, is ending on Wednesday and currently stands a $7,800, so go to bid on it right now!
I imported my 89 last year and it’s in maybe the same or better condition. Not much fanfare when I posted about it on the forum. My van has a lot less miles and is every bit as cool. Maybe not as optioned as this chamonix, but I love it.
Oh yeah the rear seats don’t rotate, but rather the seat back flip flops from front to rear facing position. My van has the same seating arrangement. The captain seat equipped vans had rotating middle row seats though.
That is what I was getting at, I might rewrite that section to specify the middle seats.
Sold for $13k. Good deal, and makes me happy that I got mine for a lot less.
am interested in star wagon delica mitsubishi MT. mode 1986-9 diesel