Rare Bosozoku cars: Mitsubishi Galant Lambda
This week we feature another rare Bosozoku styled car. This time I did find two Bosozoku styled examples of this car in contrary of the singular examples I previously posted.
This time we feature two Mitsubishi Galant Lambdas in different styles:
Mild Bosozoku styled Mitsubishi Galant Lambda
This Galant Lambda is a bit of a Kyusha styled car. Very nicely slammed to the ground with some phat rims and a nice oil cooler sticking under the bumper.
Wild Bosozoku styled Mitsubishi Galant Lambda
This wildly bosozoku styled Galant Lambda has it all: big overhanging lip at the front, big fenders, spoiler on the boot, 70s paint scheme, chromed mirrors and bumper, a hood ornament and let’s not forget the Astron 80 badge on the grille!
The Mitsubishi Galant Lambda was also known as the Mitsubishi Sapporo in the EU, Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Sapporo in the US, Chrysler Scorpion and the Mitsubishi Scorpion in Australia and the car was also known as the Colt Sapporo in the UK. That’s a lot of names!
Almost factory stock zenki (1976-1980) Galant Lambda
The Galant Lambda was marketed as a “personal luxury car” which meant it was not considered a coupe. It was supposed to be a two door luxury vehicle based on a car from the larger model lineup. Most likely to match the “hardtop” designation by Toyota for the Crown and Chaser which were immediate competitors.
The car had a facelift in 1980 which resulted in a new grille with fixed lights, B pilar going into the roof lining instead of being a seperate beam, new rear lights and a set of spoilers to get it into the 80s era.
Factory stock kouki (1980-1982) Galant Lambda
The Galant Lambda featured several engines but the 4 cylinder Astron 80 was the most favorable engine of them all: it featured the “silent shaft” system. The “silent shaft” system was an improved version of a single balance shaft which counter balanced the vibrations made by the inline piston engine design. This system was the first use of twin balance shafts which enabled Mitsubishi to improve stability in the Astron engine and enlarge the engine over 2 liters. The Galant Lambda Astron 80 featured a 2.6 liter engine, a figure which was in the 70s normally only obtainable by adding at least two extra cylinders!
The Galant Lambda featured a futuristic design both outside and inside. It features a single spoke steering wheel and a wild spaceage interior. This interiour looked just as good as the interior of a Citroen SM back in 1976!
Factory stock interior Galant Lambda
On one side I understand why the Galant Lambda is a rare Bosozoku car: it is already a very wild styled car, on the other hand I don’t understand it: it reads potential all over it.
Perhaps it has to do with the brand Mitsubishi: Mitsubishi focused primarily on smaller cars during the 60s and early 70s while Nissan and Toyota already sold the larger saloons. Resulting in Mitsubishi’s being the 5th largest car manufacturer in Japan. Also Mitsubishi focused on Rally and not on circuit racing so they missed the Granchan followers.
As an ex-Mitsubishi owner I always wanted to buy a good condition Sapporo, however an AE86 came in between. Who knows, maybe I’ll own one myself one day. One thing is for sure then: it won’t be Bosozoku styled! 😉
by banpei with 3 commentsMeeting monday
This meeting featuring in Meeting Monday is a bit long ago: 1986!
Of course there were meetings back then, but what we did not expect was that such modern cars already were used for modification!
The Celica XX is one of the most remarkable examples we ever saw! And some of the GX61 Mark IIs are done really well too! We also saw some second generation Honda Preludes, so the real Bosozoku style did not limit itself to mostly RWD cars back then.
You can see not much has changes since 1986: big exhaust pipes, deep dish wheels, fender extenders and big spoilers…
Last weeks poll results
Last week we asked you to give your opinion about the new image size. Everybody liked our new imagesize unanimously so we will keep it this way for sure!
This week we had a hard time thinking of the new poll. We could easily have asked something about another car style or some sort of modification. However we thought it may be more interesting to post more about the Bosozoku lifestyle like the Bosozoku music played on a bike we posted last Thursday.
We have some info on several topic like music, dress codes, etc, so would you like to read more about the in depth info?
Original footage of #23 Nissan Silvia Turbo Super Silhouette
I found this great video of the #23 Nissan Silvia Turbo Super Silhouette today. These Super Silhouette formula races were held as introduction to the Grand Championship races. During the 80s these cars inspired a lot of people to copy its style and created the Granchan style! According to sources this particular race was attended by 35600 people, so there should be at least a couple of these spectators who owned a Granchan car copy back then! 🙂
This particular footage is located at the Fuji Speedway Grand Championship and shows the victory of Kazuyoshi Hoshino: the driver of #23.
I really love that period music, 80s haircuts and those old original Impul Hoshino deep dished rims! 🙂
Exhaust of the week: Quad piped turbo
This weeks exhaust of the week features a quad piped Mark II GX71:
Quad piped turbo on Toyota Mark II GX71
The exhaust is sticking out of the hood at the place where the turbo should be on a 1GGTE… Guess what they did with that manifold?