L300 in old Jackie Chan Movie (Wheels on Meals)

[bob]

YouTube clip including the L300's uber-Japanese style change into a "chip wagon". (The clip begins with some guy looking at a piece of paper).

Mitsubishi has sponsored Jackie Chan for a very long time - remember Cannon Ball Run from 1981? Yeah they sponsored that, even though as I recall it makes fun of them.

[sasquatch-hunter]

I think that in Cannon Ball Run, Jackie was driving a Subaru turbo.

[bob]

I think that in Cannon Ball Run, Jackie was driving a Subaru turbo.

You are right. It was in Cannonball Run II that he was Mitsubishi sponsored.

I should have checked in the Internet Movies Cars Database:
Cannonball Run Subaru
Cannonball Run II Starion

(BTW that db uses L-300 not L300)

[mararmeisto]

Now THOSE are fender flares! And I love the wing on the roof... 'course I'd have to take the roof rack off in order to appreciate a wing like that, but...

[bob]

Someone made a replica of the movie car. More body work than meets the eye. Even the panel van models have indents where the windows would be.

[mararmeisto]

Now THAT is a sweet L300!

[loki]

the replica looks like an l300 but the one in the movie doesn't, it doesn't have the dip in the side windows, they are straight across. I don't know enough about Delis to declare one way or the other though. I just remembered that same feature used to say that the tracked van wasn't an l300.

[bob]

the replica looks like an l300 but the one in the movie doesn't, it doesn't have the dip in the side windows

It is a "mid-sized" Mitsubishi van so it has to be an L300 - only model they've made for decades . I can only guess back in 1984, when "Wheels on Meals" was made, that the "dip" in the window hadn't been added.

[BadgeStar]

...... I can only guess back in 1984, when "Wheels on Meals" was made, that the "dip" in the window hadn't been added.

Quite right Bob..... About 17 years ago I owned an 1981 L300 2WD van and that had no 'dips' in the side windows.

Barry.

[loki]

...... I can only guess back in 1984, when "Wheels on Meals" was made, that the "dip" in the window hadn't been added.

Quite right Bob..... About 17 years ago I owned an 1981 L300 2WD van and that had no 'dips' in the side windows.

Barry.

ah, cool.

[mararmeisto]

Did some digging and found that the 1980-1986 L300s had 'flat' window bottoms--no dips at the front of the window opening. Also, found other images of L300s from that time period and they are dead ringers for the one in the movie. Looks like the second generation D:3 (the L300 from 1986-1994) were the one to get a bit of a redraw on the drafting board, adding the 'dip', pushing the windscreen a bit further back at the top edge, take some of the slope out the sides of the van, redo the front bumper and couple of other things that I don't have time to type out at this point.

What I want to find is video of these as support vehicles on the Dakar or some other rally, as has been suggested by some on this forum as a role they fulfill.