Hello

[Louisiana88]

Hello to all here. I am the owner of a 1988 Mitsubishi vanwagon. I am interested in finding out more information about this vehicle as it seems to be pretty unique. I've had it for about 17 years. I do have problems with mechanics working on this as they seem to just "hate" this mid-engine. Am I in the right place? Seems that many folks here have that really cool Delica.

[Green1]

You're in the right place... mostly.

The vanwagon is what we refer to as an L300, of which many of the delicas are in the same family, unfortunately though there are many differences between what most of the Delicas are, and you vanwagon:

- you likely have a gasoline engine, most of the delicas are diesel (there are a couple gasoline ones around, but I don't know if it's the same engine)
- you likely have a Left Hand Drive (LHD) vehicle, the delicas are mostly Right Hand Drive (RHD) (a couple of LHD ones do however exist)
- you likely have a two wheel drive vehicle, the delicas are four wheel drive (not aware of any 2wd L300 delicas, but there may be some, I think we'll start to see some in the L400 though)

Much of the rest is trim levels, the Delicas came with many "toys" available, so all sorts of options are there, whereas the vanwagon was a relatively basic vehicle in comparison.

Feel free though to post any questions you have about your vehicle, or any tips you've found keeping the above in mind, they are related, and it's always nice to find more people able to help out!

[Louisiana88]

Thanks Green1! Your comments are right on, yes, yes, yes to each point made.

I am agonizing over whether to fix it up (I don't think it would need much mechanically) or just e-bay it or something. Like I mentioned, the mechanics here just don't want to see it coming. I don't need the extra vehicle but I really don't want to just let it go for 'cheap'. The exterior is real nice, and the interior just needs a little pick me up and elbow grease.

I really appreciate any comments, advice or suggestions.....

[Green1]

Like I mentioned, the mechanics here just don't want to see it coming.

This is something I'm quite familiar with. most mechanics have a deathly fear of "different"
Once you find someone willing to get over that irrational fear, they usually love it. When I needed some major engine work on my L300 the mechanic said it was great, he could do all the work sitting in the vehicle, never had to get out! he said in most vehicles the engine would have had to come out, but in the L300 it was easy to work on.

[mararmeisto]

Hello to all here. I am the owner of a 1988 Mitsubishi vanwagon. I am interested in finding out more information about this vehicle as it seems to be pretty unique. I've had it for about 17 years. I do have problems with mechanics working on this as they seem to just "hate" this mid-engine. Am I in the right place? Seems that many folks here have that really cool Delica.

You do indeed have a unique vehicle, and judging by your alias, especially in the States. Mitsubishi only sold the VanWagon for 2 (maybe three years) in America, only the gasoline 2WD model, mostly the cargo/passenger model. As Green1 indicated, it's the strip-down version of what was sold pretty much everywhere else (something like 13 different trim levels/models). It was probably 'allowed' in the market as a test run, but selling cargo vans in a growing RV/SUV market (such as the times a-were), it's little wonder Mitsubishi stopped sending the boat across the Pacific. The Montero, however, did VERY well in your market, and continued to for many years (we are getting the Pajeros up here, which is the diesel version).

That being said, you've had this van for 17 years so you must like it quite well. Obviously it's been dependable for you, reasonable on fuel I would presume, and you're not one to run out and purchase a new vehicle every time one of the manufactures comes up with some new 'gimmick' to market.

I would speculate your children (if you had any) are probably older and if not already moved out of the house, you're standing there with the door open. Point is: this is the perfect time to turn your van into a camper van. Plenty of advice on this site for that sort of thing, or you could keyboard-on-over to expeditionportal.com for some information/ideas.

Thanks for dropping by and introducing yourself, and welcome to Delica.ca! Be sure to post a picture of your ride when you have chance.