Austarion

Happily driving down the road i was when i saw this car again, gave myself some whiplash i turned my head around so fast. Shot home and grabbed my camera, and here are the results.





1985???? must be one of the first actual widebodies ever made.


It was about here that the owner came out to talk to me, we had a bit of a chat, he was a really nice guy. He imported the car from japan just before it was due to be crushed, about 10 years ago. Its a pre-production test of a proposed 4WS model. It has the GTO rear end under the back, that means diff and everything. The owner told me he had to replace the crown wheel a while back. He had to purchase one for a GTO as mitsubishi couldn't figure out what the hell this was. There were apparently a couple of others made and imported at the same time, but they have since been written off. He wasent sure if it's 4 or 5 stud, but i *suspect* it would be 4.

This car was full of supprises, the dash is one of the 2nd generation digital ones:


He popped the bonnet for me to have a squiz, some interesting bit under here aswell.












The remote oil filter housing is an addition the owner made,.


and now the most interesting pics of all!










The owner commented on the 4WS as being "Like someone has put a trolley jack under the rear end". Its an active system, so it only operates when there are a some g's stacked up going round a corner or round-about.

Yes, i asked. No, he's not keen to sell it at the moment, even though i promised to sink money into it to really tidy it up, heh. I was going to offer a trade of my MX5, but well, i thought that a bit rude, and he alreay had another roadster.
This has to be a genuine piece of mitsubishi motoring history i rekon. Very cool.

ProZac ,
mate that's priceless info and pics. How did that car come to be in NZ? What is the history of the car?

He heard it was going to be crushed, and thought "well, thats the car to import then". It was back in the day where you had to import cars as a wreck without and engine. The engine was removed, the car imported, put back together and re-registered. This was some 10 years ago. It had 4000k's on it when he took onwership, and it's been his daily driver mode of transport since then :). The owner is an elderly fellow, but he was really cool. He took my info, and i pointed him to this website aswell :). Ive got his info aswell, so i can pester him about selling it every weekend, lol. He said he was more than happy to show me the car anytime.

:pimp

very nice, in a widebody as well... :drool: give me his number, i want to pester him too! hehe

:drool: :drool: :drool: I've always wanted to see that car, what street is it on?
Whats with the bumps next to the struts?
Damn that thing is cool, minus the wheels and the dent. Someone needs to get that off him and restore it, I don't think you're pestering him enough Zac :)

thats just awesome... :D

Is that a VR4 diff?

mrb1 wrote:Is that a VR4 diff?

GTO

Nice stuff ProZac, almost like that car should be in a museum! Keep in touch with that guy, when he decides to sell, it needs to go in the hands of a real Starion enthusiast.

Dude, maximum kudos for running home to get your camera, its great to see this car that has been mentioned from time to time.

Now where's the monkey who claimed that this car didn't exist?

Bloody interesting. Thanks for taking the pics.

Things I noted - the rectangular indicators instead of round, and the UK/Euro spec front bumper/numberplate surround.

Makes me wonder if the 3000gt rear diff can be bolted in?

I think you had told me about this car, and I promptly told you that you were full of S**T. My most sincere apologies, and thank you very much for the pictures :).

Heh, thats cool, i knew i was for real ;)

I still think you're full of shit.

Cookiemonster wrote:I still think you're full of shit.

Given.

what was the front steering in it? rack or box?