If you’re reading this and happen to live in the UK, I have wonderful news for you. A whole bunch of cool old Mitsubishis are going up for auction on April 1 as the brand exits the country. It’ll supposedly live on in Europe as a home for rebadged Renaults, though only in left-hand drive markets.
That means Mitsubishi UK has to divest itself of all the old things it’s amassed over the years. Everything from its headquarters to a 2001 Lancer Evolution VI Tommi Mäkinen Edition signed by the man himself must go. And that’s not all!
You can check out the whole list over at Auto Auctions, but here’s a snapshot of the 15 vehicles up for grabs:
- 2001 Lancer Evolution VI Tommi Mäkinen Edition
- 2007 Lancer Evolution IX Group N Rally Car
- 2008 Lancer Evolution IX MR FQ-360 HKS
- 2015 Lancer Evolution X FQ-440 MR
- 1974 Colt Lancer 1.4
- 1974 Colt Galant 2.0
- 1988 Starion
- 1989 Galant GTI Rally Replica
- 1992 3000GT
- 1983 Mitsubishi Jeep CJ-3B
- 1984 Shogun MK1 SWB
- 2000 Shogun MK2 SWB 3.0 V6
- 2015 Outlander PHEV GX4hs
- 2017 L200 Desert Warrior
- 1917 Model A 7/10 Scale Replica
That’s quite a collection. Perhaps not as robust or comprehensive as the one belonging to Tilo and Anja Macht in Germany, but still not too shabby.
There’s also a story behind every one! That Colt Lancer 1.4, for example, was the first Mitsubishi ever registered in the U.K. That Jeep CJ-3B was actually built by Mitsubishi in 1979 for sale in Japan, as the automaker had a licensing agreement with Willys. It’s one of eight that importer Colt Car Company brought to the UK.
I have to give a shout out to that 2015 Outlander plug-in hybrid, the unfortunate outlier in a group of extraordinary enthusiast cars. The listing says it “was added to the heritage fleet for preservation because of its significance to the company but had not yet reached the age where it would be in demand as a heritage vehicle,” which is tragic, really. I hope it finds a good home, though whoever claims it probably shouldn’t connect it to Wi-Fi.
And how about that Model A scale replica? It actually runs! It’s fitted with a single-cylinder engine from a lawnmower, the listing says, and was built according to the model’s original plans because none of the 30 original examples survived. Why it was constructed at a size ever so slightly smaller than the actual vehicle I’m not sure, but I find it more amusing without explanation. If I owned it, I’d drive it with a mustache and a monocle.