First Colt important to Mitsubishi’s early success…and it had two gear levers

Mitsubishi was one of the last Japanese car brands to enter the Dutch market, where Datsun, Honda, Mazda, Subaru and Toyota were already active at that time. In those years, the Netherlands still drove Kadett, Kever or Escort en masse and the Japanese car was viewed with skepticism. Just as we did – and rightly so – with the first Hyundai Pony (Korea) or the Yue Long Feeling (Taiwan). In England, Mitsubishi was initially sold under the brand name Colt. 1974 was also the debut year there. The type name Colt first appeared in 1962, when Mitsubishi introduced the Colt 600.

Mitsubishi Colt

We first became acquainted with the compact Mitsubishi that bears this name in 1978. There were quite a few small, front-wheel drive hatchbacks on the market, such as the Fiat 127, the Renault 5, the Ford Fiesta, the Volkswagen Polo and the Honda Civic. Reason for Mitsubishi to also try to get in on the action. The Colt came in three engine variants: the 1.2, the 1.4 and the 1.4 turbo. The latter version, with a 105 hp engine, is very rare. While the new model was already in the showroom in 1984, the old one was still delivered as a Colt Eterna until 1985.

The Mitsubishi Colt Turbo is very rare.

The second Mitsubishi Colt was also available as a Turbo, a 1.6.

Two gears: choose your final drive

The gray Colt is difficult to get going and requires a nimble right foot to keep alive. And look: two pokers! This Mitsubishi has a kind of eight-speed gearbox. With the lever marked ‘power’ and ‘economy’, the driver can select the final drive. A kind of high and low gearing, as we know from off-road vehicles. So in theory you could drive any gear in both transmissions and thus have an eight-speed gearbox, but of course you don’t do that. The best choice: power in the city or in the mountains, economy for the rest.

Clear dashboard

The dashboard is clearly laid out for a car of that time, with control switches for the lights and windshield wipers on the side of the part that houses the instrument panel. A solution that is somewhat reminiscent of the control satellites in a Citroën CX. The panel with sliders and dial for the climate control is nicely at eye level and just below it there is room for installing a radio, the speakers of which can be built at the top of the dashboard. Not much luxury, even if it is a GLX…

Grand Luxe in the Colt GL, but you don’t notice much of it

The five-door Colt is a few years younger and slightly simpler. It may go through life as a ‘Grand Luxe’, but much of that is not noticeable. It looks like the digital clock and rear wiper were retrofitted. It’s all black inside and it looks a lot more somber than the beige interior of the 1400. The rear doors make getting in there a lot easier and you can actually sit on the back seat. Whole families used to go on holiday here, but today the sweethearts can sit on the spacious seats of an SUV or MPV.

Yes, I too once sat with my tall body in the back seat of a Colt, with a school friend next to me and his parents in the front. And a trailer tent on the tow bar. To the Veluwe? No, the journey took us to Switzerland. I remember well that on the autobahn you had to switch back regularly to reach the top of a long climb. And yes, it was also hot in the summer and we had to make do with the minimal amount of lukewarm air that flowed in from the front ventilation grilles. And of course all the windows were half open.

Emergency lights and starter cable

The old gray one is indeed difficult to keep working, as we notice when we are on our way to a suitable photo location. The last meters before the traffic light I use the handbrake, so that the engine can be kept running via the accelerator pedal. However, a few kilometers later it seems completely over and over. As if the petrol has run out. There we are, with the hazard lights on on the side of the road.

After starting for a while, the Coltje starts again and we can continue. To turn off again once you have arrived at a parking lot of a recreational lake. Then he really doesn’t want it anymore. The battery has enough juice to keep starting indefinitely, but the four-cylinder engine gives up. Fortunately, the dealer from which we borrowed the two copies is not far away and ten minutes later the service van is ready. The mechanic gets the engine running, after which the machine quickly shuts down again. All right, bring on the tow rope. A Japanese car that cannot move forward on its own, it can’t get any crazier. However, its beige counterpart runs perfectly, that is the good news. We decide to use the large parking lot of a Zwolle football club as a photo location, so that the stubborn 1400 no longer has to be driven. Be forgiven him.

Colt was not a bargain

However, the twelve hundred wants to move forward. He is forty years old. The technical condition is still excellent and you notice that immediately. No rattling from the chassis and no noise from the drivetrain. The four-speed gearbox is easy and creak-free to operate with the long lever and it is noticeable that the third and fourth gears are quite long. This Colt does not have a tachometer, but you can hear that the engine runs quite quietly, even at 100 km/h. Of course everything works on board; we wouldn’t have expected anything less from a Japanese guy from that time. It is also striking how small this car actually is, especially compared to what we are used to today. The chairs are also of modest size, but still offer reasonable seating. The all-round visibility is, as in so many classics and youngtimers, very good. Slim window styles make it possible. Despite the compact exterior dimensions, the space in the back is not disappointing. In its time, the Colt was an excellent proposition, although with a price of around €7,000 it was not significantly cheaper than, for example, a Volkswagen Golf or Opel Kadett. At most it had slightly better standard equipment, but that is also marginal. The Colt eventually got something special for the Netherlands, as Nedcar built this Mitsubishi in Born from 2006 to 2012. That too is now history. And it got worse: today the Mitsubishi Colt is nothing more than a rebadged Renault Clio.

Here you will find the technical data of the Colt 1.2 from 1983 and here those of the Colt 1.4 from 1980