Endangered species

[Mash]

Or quite possibly extinct.

 

Following my musings on the possibilty that all the Honda Quintets have disappeared, I started to think of some other cars that I haven't seen for years, even on eBay. I now want want of these just so that I can say I have one

 

 

Doesn't have to be a Turbo, in fact the 1400 would be better cos it's shiter.

[Ratdat]

Even the galant of that age seems to now be extinct. Shame as i used to have one and I'd love another.

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'm sure Torsten spotted a Galant like that not so long ago! I saw one in Romania last time I was there, thats the first I have seen for years though.

[pogweasel]

I was thinking about Tredia's just yesterday. Lovely ugly things!!!As for that shape of Galant, I have not seen one in decades. My dad's mate had one new (replacing a Bluebird (U11?)), fantastically bland. That's the same basic shape as the Sapporo that is exciting, n'est pas?

[Guest]

Tredia is one of the cars on mine and SLs imaginary "List", meaning if we ever see one again there will be cake. I'd love a Tredia Turbo in brown.

 

Also what about the Cordia - same as a Tredia, just a different body style. Seen any of those lately? There was one on French eBay a bit ago.

 

 

With regards to the E11 Galant, it's very confusing. The one Pog mentions is the Galant Sapporo which was a luxury version, with a 2.4L non-turbo. The exciting version is the Galant Turbo, which was a 2.0L turbo, but isn't particularly nice inside.

 

Also have a super chintzy Japanese high spec one, Exceed Extra with a 2.0L V6!!:

 

But I will leave you to ponder this one:

[wuvvum]

A mate of mine had one of those Galants in his garden a couple of years ago. Not sure what he did with it in the end. It was a 2 litre petrol though - never seen a turbo diesel on in the flesh, but I've got an old copy of Autocar & Motor somewhere where they road tested it against the Renault 21 and something else. I saw a Honda Quntet the week before last. It seems the chap drives it to work pretty much every day, but he leaves off later than I do so I only see it if I'm late leaving or if I stop to do some shopping on the way home.

[michiel]

Quintet you say? Went for a refreshing walk today, 2 minutes later I had to stop to drool over this, I almost chained myself to it. Shame about the rear bumper.

 

[Mash]

Right that's it - I'm moving!

[reallyloud]

Not seen a Mazda Montrose/626 for a while neither.

 

 

I actually saw one of those Galants in Brighton in August.

 

[bigstraight6]

Me to! its amazing, every time Michiel goes for a walk he happens to come across some very rare tat, and always at least one Citreon DS

[bigstraight6]

Saw these two beauties back in the summer....

[michiel]

Yummy yummy! I want a 626 Hardtop!Actually took some pics of a DS ex-ambulance too today, but I've run out of upload space...

[reallyloud]

 

I think this is a Galant Sapporo. They got the Galant body, and rammed loads of hi-tech fast bits in it, and renamed it Sapporo to confuse future shite-car forums. Love one.

[mk2_craig]

Couple from earlier this year:

 

Sapporo 1

 

Sapporo 2

 

The first one was certainly still there a few days ago, couldn't say whether it's been mobile at all this year tho.

[Guest]

What's the interior like on that first Sapporo? If it's a nice one I could be interested in some parts taking if the owner is up for it.

[michiel]

Lovely lights on those Sapporos!

[Mash]

It seems to me that Mitsubishis have the lowest survival rate of all 70s and 80s Japmobiles. I only know of one B-reg Colt in this area and a 1980 Lancer which doesn't count because I see it at shows.Were they less popular, more expensive, more crap???

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I saw a two-tone Charmant LGX in manchester last weekend.

[Ratdat]

I wonder how much of it has to do with market share at the time. Nissan and Toyota would have been a fair way ahead of the other Japanese importers in that respect.

[reallyloud]

Market share has a lot to do with it, combined with the fact most if not all variants were turbocharged which meant many would have ended up in ditches - maybe standard versions might have been broken up as donor cars. They also had a worse than avergae rust record - I remember being surprised by seeing a 4 year old Galant in a scrappy in 1988.

[Spottedlaurel]

Yes, I suppose that even by the mid-80’s the smaller Japanese companies were realising they’d do better concentrating on niche/specialist vehicles rather than trying to compete in the bread-and-butter market.I think it was unusual that Datsun/Nissan ended up the biggest Japanese importer here (they became the biggest importer, full stop). Everywhere else they were second to Toyota and by rights, given that Toyota had got here first, that should have been true here too.I wonder if people get put off by spares prices, small dealer network etc and the impression they have a rare car, so it gets scrapped prematurely? Conversely, if there still seems to be a reasonable number of a given model left then people will keep them going?The Tredia and Cordia have their own charms, but the Galant does seem to be a genuinely interesting car – it has a certain lightness about its styling I like. The diesel doesn’t seem to be based on the most pov-spec version with black bumpers.

[Ratdat]

If import quotas hadn't been imposed in 1976 I think Datsun UK's market share would have been collosal by the 80's. Datsun UK didn't really get going until 1971 and by 1974 they were outselling Toyota by three to one, despite Toyota having been in the UK market since 1966. Even though the quota was frozen at 6% for Datsun, i think they still actually held a bigger share of the UK market than BL by the early 80's. I'd love to know the figures for sales of other manufacturers. I'd wager Mitusbishi were no larger than Honda in sales by the late 70's/early 80's. I know in 1978 Datsun sold over 100,000 cars here but Honda only sold 19,000 and I expect at that time Mitsubishi would have been less than Honda.

[Guest]

I saw a two-tone Charmant LGX in manchester last weekend.

Did you clean up after yourself? I swear, one day an LGX interior will be mine. Possibly the most chintzy seats the UK has ever received. If anyone ever finds a tan/brown LGX interior (for your info, the seats are buttoned), I will be your best friend forever. No, seriously, there is a reward of some description out there if anyone wishes to undertake this pointless quest.I must say I have wondered about Mitsubishi sale/survival rates, as if you bosh Mitsubishi (or Colt!) into eBay and do the familiar 1970-1989 search, all you tend to get back is Shoguns and the odd Starion. Ordinary stuff like Mirages and non-turbo Lancers are especially scarce.I'm wondering whether it could be down to parts sourcing issues? I've not tried my Mitsubishi dealer yet on account of it is in Barnsley and I haven't got a flat cap to wear. Are Mitsubishi parts particularly expensive or hard to get hold of? Do they have a Daihatsu-style policy of providing zero parts support for most pre-90s models? Even then, you'd expect some to get by on bodges or lack of use.Another point is that apart from a few select models, there doesn't seem to be an active old Mitsubishi scene outside of Starions/Lancer Turbos.

[Mash]

Now, you may disagree depending on which part of the country you live in but here's another for my list. I can quite categorically state that I personally have not seen one of these on the road anywhere for years and years and years and I do make a point of noticing stuff like that:

 

 

And I want one for my imaginary collection of stuff that time forgot.

[Milford Cubicle]

The local minister had one of those when I was at primary school.Most FIATs pre-Brava\Bravo are virtually extinct.

[Spottedlaurel]

Wasn't on the road, but Wuvvum and I saw a Regata only last week. It was sitting there in the mad timewarp Neasden showroom.

[michiel]

Spotted this one a few weeks ago, 1986 Weekend:

 

[reallyloud]

Spotted in glorious Didcot a few months ago.

 

 

I expect there would be more wagons rather than sedans due to the needs of the contracting construction worker on tight budget.

 

A closely related car would be the Seat Malaga:

 

 

Without going all too retro-rides on it, I reckon a hint of lowering, some deep rimmed steelies, roof rack and some random areas of exposed metal and you've got yourself a neat 'scene' VW wannabe.

[michiel]

Saw a Malaga on sunday, didn't take a pic. I know, I shouldn't expect anything in my stocking this christmas.

[andrewp]

I saw a two-tone Charmant LGX in manchester last weekend.

I've not seen a Charmant on the road for so long I had forgotten what a nice looking car they were, during my Google search I saw the photos of your gold one on the JNC website Hirst, a beautiful car especially on those equip alloys. It looks as if the drifterz are grabbing others that are left. Perhaps try a request for an interior on the Irish drift websites (if there is such a thing!).