If you want to see the classics in the winter months, it’s better to try your luck in parking garages. Forum user Elco found a Japanese pair in such a place that, despite the similarities – blue, 1970s – are very different.
Elco gets off to a good start in the famous What-did-you-saw-for-special-today topic on the AutoWeek Forum. In his post he hints that this is the first contribution to this topic, but it ends immediately on the homepage of AutoWeek.nl. You’re more than welcome, Elco, because this double spot can be there. The Honda Civic dates from 1977 and is certainly charming, but a Civic of the first generation has passed here before. It is a fairly late copy, but as a pre-1978’er it still has the separate direction indicators that are mounted on instead of in the front bumper.
However, the Japanese standing next to it is undeniably rarer. The Mitsubishi Lancer is not exactly the most cherished classic in the world, and this is a very first generation example. Although the car has changed hands many times since then, it was with its first Dutch owner from 1979 to 1998. That’s a good start and may have contributed to the long life of this car.
Rectangular taillights
As a 79-year-old, this is one of the very last Lancers of this generation. It is therefore also a copy from after the facelift, recognizable by the large, rectangular rear lights. Lancers prior to 1976 had L-shaped taillights, similar to those seen on the Celeste featured earlier in this section.
The Lancer still looks completely original and also quite neat, with bonus points for the mud flaps. He is dirty. That’s not a disaster, but we do hope for the owners of these Japanese (and the Volvos in the background) that the garage in question is not always so damp. After all, all that wetness is good news for the only serious enemy of old Japanese: rust.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl