KIDNEY, ANYONE? Beautifully mint Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste

Today’s Kidney Car post is unique because we’re not really trying to draw anyone’s attention to an actual ad. In fact, we think it’s probably a scam. But what’s not a scam is how unbelievably beautiful this Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste is.

A criminally unloved model, we rarely see them in any condition, whether in Japan or the US (where it was sold as the Plymouth Arrow). So when a prime example comes along, we take notice. The color on this example is absolutely perfect for the era, and we even love the subtle stripe running the length of its sides. Inside, a gorgeous two-tone ivory and brown, with a matching check pattern on the seating surfaces.

It certainly looks like it has only the 17,000 km (10,500 miles) on the odometer as claimed in the ad. Unfortunately, the rest of the ad is so riddled with errors both grammatical an factual that it’s hard to take seriously. The name Celica GT is peppered throughout even though it’s clearly not a Toyota. The year is noted as 1987 when they probably meant 1977. It’s also located in Poland though the ad is listed on a UK website (is that a common thing over there?).

Perhaps its unfair to judge an ad by its errors, but for an asking price of £11,850 (US $15,100) you’ll want to be careful. In any case, we’re just shocked — and happy! — to see that a Lancer Celeste of this caliber exists somewhere in the world.

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25 Responses to KIDNEY, ANYONE? Beautifully mint Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste

  1. jamal says:

    I am sure that this Selecte not a 1987,it should be a late 70’s or a very early 80’s.
    Tones of them in the Middle east market.

  2. Kiran says:

    Ah yes the father of my little rare gem would gladly buy one here if a nice one pops up for a decent price

  3. Falco says:

    When I was in college in the 80s the local Dodge dealer had a ’77 Plymouth Fire Arrow on the lot. But every time I asked about it, they told me it wasn’t for sale because it was part of the owner’s “collection”. It sat in the back lot unloved, unlocked and unwashed until that dealer went under. Pity.

  4. Randy says:

    GORGEOUS car!

    Nice that it can share showroom space with a classic Ferrari (328 GTB, I think…).

    Price is probably higher than it should be, but are there ANY comps available?
    (If I hit the lottery, however, I wouldn’t care; I like it THAT much!)

    I’m pretty sure that anything, anywhere in Europe, gets advertised/sold anywhere across Europe. I’d assume it’s like “Australasia.” Anyone with accurate info, feel free to correct me on that.

    Question: Why were they “criminally unloved?” Was there such a performance deficit compared to the Celicas of the period? There weren’t that many Japanese Sport Coupes around the U.S. back then, as I recall…

    • Ben Hsu says:

      Mitsubishi didn’t have the dealer network and sold them as Plymouths. Traditional Mopar buyers probably didn’t get them.

      • Randy says:

        Mitsu’s still pretty thin on the dealership front around here. I think there’s something like TWO dealers within about 20 miles.

        You’re right about the Mopar people not going for the imports; the biggest “offense” was the “Challenger.” If they’d gone with another name, they may have had better luck – although “Lancer” would NOT have worked either, as Dodge had THAT name in the ’60s as well, though not as well-remembered, and Dodge used it again in the ’80s… Thinking about it, the Mopar-Mitsubishi connection made more sense than I used to think – overlapping names! Too bad both were so small/hurting.

        At one time, I knew someone who had a Sapporo. Not exactly what I’d call a fast car, but it WAS nice. It was that cream-tan color.

        I only remember seeing a couple of the Plymouth Arrows, even into the ’80s, and I honestly don’t think I’ve EVER seen an Arrow truck (“Arrow Sport?”).

    • Ant says:

      You’re more or less correct on the advert, Randy – people from other European Union countries often cross-post adverts on websites from other countries. Makes sense, since registration is usually simple and there are no import duties.

      Suspect the language barrier may be responsible for some of the word weirdness too, though I’d still be slightly wary of the advert.

      • Randy says:

        The language barrier can be interesting, for sure! On youtube, I’ve popped over to some Russian videos; set the translation to English. WOW! Sometimes it makes more sense WITHOUT the translation!

        It looks like a dealer, but yeah – who knows about honesty/ethics? Hard enough to trust a LOCAL seller – dealer OR private…

        Still looks WAY good, though…

        Funnily enough, when I did the requisite G-search for them, there was a site that had one in their “Lottery Garage.” This was AFTER I said that. Nice to know I’m not the only crazy SOB who likes something other than Ferrari/Lambo to spend lottery winnings on! Now, if I can just win that lottery…
        (Though I’d get that Ferrari 2+2 hatchback coupe thing, if I were to go that route. Something different.)

  5. Noel says:

    I think it’s good idea to still continue the Mitsubishi Lancer and never let it go at all. because it does deserve still be continue as a Mitsubishi Lancer and use it once again for the fia wrc or fia world rallycross champion. Please Mitsubishi return back to motorsport once again.

  6. daniel says:

    well…in Cordoba, Argentina (I live here) on sale
    https://m.olx.com.ar/suzuki-swift-1-3-1992-iid-944525221
    I make a call, U$$ 10.000. all original 1 owner 17.000 km. maybe the gti version for that money

    • Randy says:

      Looks nice!

      It’s a 25 year old 1 year old car!

      Apparently, things don’t really rust there. There are pix online of cars and trucks that by design should NOT have survived this long.

  7. Brett says:

    Sold in Australia as the Chrysler Lancer Hatchhback; I had one, until my younger brother wrote it off. They come up for sale only occasionally here, and most are chronically unloved. I would love to have another, but I haven’t seen a good one in many years.

    We get the Poland sellers advertising here as well; the consensus seems to be that they are scams, although I don’t know that for a fact.

  8. Jose says:

    We got them as Plymouth Arrow as well as Dodge Celeste. We even got the Arrow truck and the Dodge D50.

  9. Randy says:

    Found a junkyard one by accident via AutoBlog (Phoenix, AZ):

    http://www.autoblog.com/2017/04/19/junkyard-gem-1976-plymouth-arrow-200-gt/

    It’s probably more in the restomod category than restore, but it better than having 12 parts sold off and the rest going to the crusher…

    Doubt the engine would be rebuildable from being open, but there are a number of 4-cyl’s that could be transplanted, I’m thinking… Could an Evo engine be worked into a RWD car? Any Starion crate engines available?

  10. SleepyBear says:

    Nice condition! It was great to find this post! We have a 1977 Plymouth Arrow GT (always garages; 36k miles, but not started up in years) that we are trying to find a fair value for, and it is really tough with very few comparables out there. The closest finds I’ve seen have been Celestes, but they were not in the USA; so, again, very hard to compare values. The Arrow must not have been a car many people stored away for decades like we did. I’ll keep searching!

  11. SleepyBear says:

    Hi, Ben, My husband put tires on her Saturday, so we will finally be able to move her out to wash her. She’s been sitting there since the day we moved in 1996, patiently waiting for some attention. We drove her very little after 1982, when we got a company car. I’m looking forward to seeing how well she will clean up after all this time! The pictures attached are with her old tires.
    IMG_9853.JPG
    IMG_9536.JPG
    IMG_9690.JPG
    IMG_9590.JPG
    IMG_9870.JPG
    IMG_9868.JPG
    I have no idea if these photos actually attached, but I tried!

    Thanks for your note!

    • Ben Hsu says:

      I can’t see the photos. You need to upload them to a photo sharing site like Flickr and post a link here.

      • SleepyBear says:

        Ahhhh!!! Really??? I was about 19 when my boyfriend (now husband) bought that car, and now I’m close to retirement. You expect me to try to learn how to use Flickr?? LOL

        I’ll see what I can do . . . .

  12. SleepyBear says:

    OK, Ben, try this link to see if the Arrow photos show up here:

    https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipNG0xLTMor-au28lsrdN-sG86v74y95E3A0GuQn

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