Mitsubishi does not build many cars like the Mitsubishi Colt 1000: a 4-door sedan / 2-door wagon (Van) with 977 , built from 1963 to 1966 in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar.
How it came about
The Mitsubishi Colt (A20) was one of their first series of passenger cars produced by Shin Mitsubishi Heavy-Industries, Ltd, one of the companies which would become Mitsubishi Motors. Built from 1963 until 1970, they were available in four body styles (2-dr/4-dr sedan, 2-dr van, and 4-dr wagon) and on two different wheelbases, with gradually increasing engine displacements 1000, 1100, 1200, and 1500. After a May 1968 facelift, they were marketed as the "New Colt".
Along with the smaller, fastback Colts they formed the mainstay of Mitsubishi's passenger car lineup in the 1960s. With the late 1969 introduction of the new, larger Colt Galant, the outmoded Colt-series soon faded away, eventually replaced by the smaller Mitsubishi Lancer as well. The dimensions were kept small so as to provide Japanese buyers the ability to purchase a car that complied with the Japanese Government compact car dimension regulations and to keep the annual road tax obligation affordable.
The hardware
Under the skin sits 977 . Kerb weight is 865 -. The gearbox is a 4-speed manual / 3-speed SCAT semi-automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2285 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in Mitsubishi's history is not in doubt: it was built at Okazaki, Aichi (Nagoya Plant), Japan. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Aston Martin DB5, the Buick Riviera, the Pontiac GTO. Its Mitsubishi stablemates include the Mitsubishi Lancer and the Mitsubishi 360.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Mitsubishi Colt 1000 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.