A Japanese with American lines in the Netherlands. Yes, this Mitsubishi Celeste is a true citizen of the world. Nice that it still makes our roads a bit more beautiful.
We thank Techzle reader Erwin Verweij very much for sending us the photos of this Mitsubishi Celeste. He spotted it in Steyl, near Venlo. Connoisseurs of Japanese classics will know the Celeste, but we can imagine that it needs some clarification for many. The Celeste was also known in other markets as Lancer Celeste and that immediately betrays its origins; it is a derivative of the Lancer. You saw the first generation of the Lancer quite often here at the time, but this extra sporty lined version was a bit rarer.
Not only in the Netherlands people were eager to get hold of a sporty lined Japanese car.
Like many Japanese of the time, the design was quite American. There was clearly looked at the larger muscle cars from the country where Japanese brands were gaining a foothold at that time. This Celeste (and various other Mitsubishi’s) not only seemed quite American because the designers liked it, because the Celeste was actually sold in the US. As a Plymouth Arrow, it was in the showroom in the US, albeit with a number of external changes. Especially the back was nicely overhauled. In Canada you could buy it as a Dodge Arrow and in Australia you had it as a Chrysler Lancer.
Okay, back to the ‘Dutch’ Celeste. In this case it is a 1600. Of course that stands for the cylinder capacity. It was not a crack monster, but for its time it was a nice sporty thing. The 2000 GT was, however, even smoother. We can well imagine that many copies have been kicked off, but not this one. This Celeste, colored in a wonderfully typical for that time, looks like a tight string. The owner is also faithful (and vice versa) because the car has been with the same owner for 13 years. Given the state, we understand why. Hopefully this interesting piece of history on wheels can still provide a lot of driving pleasure!