Out of the box

Back when Top Siders were cool and a band inexplicably called "The Cars" implored fans wearing tight jeans (including male fans) to "shake it up", the "box-type" Mitsubishi Lancer was one of the few choices the average Juan could buy. Well-built, simple and predictable to operate, and inexpensive to maintain, the car was as popular in the 80’s here as the Honda Civic is today. Get a copy of Buy and Sell and you’ll even find a few with an asking price equal to the box-type Nissan Sentra, which first came out a generation after the Lancer first bowed in the early 1980s.

As telling as that might be with regard to long-term value, only the most die-hard Lancer owners will say that the car was exciting. With only 80-plus bhp from the carbureted, 8-valve, 1.4 liter "Orion" engine (there’s also the marginally more powerful 1.6 liter "Saturn"), the standard LX model toodled along to owners’ content. No wonder everyone was blown over by the first generation, 16-valve Toyota Corolla.

During the last few years of the box-type Lancer, though, some inspired souls at Mitsubishi decided to have a little fun with the car and put in either a 1.8-liter or 2.0-liter, 8-valve engine with electronic injection, a turbocharger, and an intercooler. While the Europeans were having fun with "hot hatch" Peugeots and Renaults at the time, the Japanese had the 160-plus bhp Lancer EX 1800/2000 Turbo.

Built to spearhead Mitsubishi’s international rally efforts, the blown Lancer with the 2.0 was claimed to have a top speed of 125 mph, or approximately 200 kph. The car was also claimed to demolish the quarter mile in 15.5 seconds, which at the time was brilliant for its class of car. The owner of this particular 1.8 Turbo – one of only a handful ever to enter the country – claims to have exceeded the double century mark on the speedometer by 10 or 20 kph.

Converted to left-hand drive for civilian duty, the car pictured here was entered from Japan in the late 80’s and used only once for a local rally. It was then stored in a warehouse, dusted off, and revitalized in 1998 by owner Danby Yaptinchay. A director of Club Mitsu, Danby uses the car three times a week to the tune of 4-5 kilometers per liter of gasoline. It used to grace the local car show circuit until the Club and Danby decided to enter some other cars for a change.

Purchased for only P150,000, total restoration expenses amounted to another 300,000. He’s gotten offers for the car for as much (maybe even more), but he’s not selling. This is one Lancer you won’t see in the classified ads, although you might have seen it at local rallycrosses and other wholesome events as Danby’s entry.

Spec’d for rally driving, the body is reinforced with seam welds, wears the original Advan rally tires, still has the original Recaros, and still uses the original gearbox with close ratios for the first 3 gears and a wide ratio between 4th and 5th. Later generations of the wild version of the Lancer would have the benefit of all-wheel drive, but this one had to make do with good old rear-wheel drive, although it’s been augmented with a limited-slip differential. The engine also breathes through a DIY filter, an HKS blow-off valve, and terminates with a 2-inch exhaust pipe with no resonator. A Ralliart computer box controls all this heavy breathing.

The car has been dyno’d by esteemed tuner AutoPlus to produce more than 130 horsepower at the rear wheels; about 30 more than a modern 1.6 liter car produces at the front wheels. Translation? Don’t diss Danby at the stoplight.

With its polar white paint job, plain black ducktail spoiler, 65-series 14-inch tires, and remarkably tasteful airdams, the car can look innocently harmless to people weaned on modern engine technology, ultra low-profile wheels and boy racer bodywork. See that mirror "Turbo Intercooler" decal on the front airdam? Unlike other Lancers with faux Evo kits and other wishful add-ons, this is one box-type Lancer that speaks the truth.