Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi there! Allow me to be perfectly transparent.

I don't own a Delica. :( But I do think they're some of the neatest vehicles on the planet. :)

My name is Brian Driggs and I've been playing with Mitsubishis since late 1996, when I bought a 97 Eagle Talon. I've since developed a love of going fast on dirt (read: rally racing) and traded my Talon for a Galant VR4. I then fell in love with the Galant VR4 rally car project and felt it will break my heart in two when I stuff it into a ditch during a rally, so I bought a second Galant VR4.

While I enjoy all kinds of cars, I am a Mitsubishi man through and through. I have decided that I would like to bring Mitsubishi owners together across model and country lines. We're all gearheads and we all love our Mitsubishis (which can be a sort of co-dependent love at times, I know), so why not come together?

Last month, Mitsubishi Gearbox Magazine was started online with one main goal - to show individual Mitsubishi enthusiasts how much they matter not only in their own forum communities, but in the greater scheme of the automotive industry. I interview a different Mitsubishi enthusiast every week and share their story on the site (it's technically an "e-zine").

From drag racing Eclipses to road racing Evos to rock crawling Monteros to the crazy awesome, four wheel drive Delicas I've been fortunate enough to witness on YouTube, I think that Mitsubishi owners are a special breed and deserve as much time in as big a spotlight as we can get. I'd really, REALLY love to interview someone with a Delica here before the end of the year.

Gearbox Magazine has no intentions of starting a forum or otherwise trying to lure members away from their home communities. Not in the slightest. We want to give Mitsubishi owners of all stripes and persuasions a chance to share their stories and positively represent those boards they call home. In the process, we hope that this sort of cross-pollination leads to new ideas coming to light and the growth of mutual respect among brothers (and sisters) under the diamonds.

So rather than register, lurk around, and PM members in the background about being interviewed, I wanted to do up this rather wordy introduction post to show that I'm not some stroke from a dark corner of the internet looking to make a quick buck. I'm here because I'm a Mitsubishi owner just like you and I because I hope to get the chance to get to know you folks better while sharing your stories with the rest of the world.

Closing with more transparency, you can find me all over the internet under this screen name, but particularly on my personal blog, my Galants' blog, and 2gnt.com.

I'm glad to see there's a Delica community just to the north. It gives me hope that I might one day own one myself! (If the wife will let me get a third Mitsubishi, right?)

Thanks!

EDIT: Notify checked. I get around, but I don't want to miss any replies.

Hi Brian Diggs, Welcome to our cult.

Your online Mitsubishi magazine looks great, and definitely needs a some Delica presence.

I volunteer my Delica, the TardisDeli, for an interview. Will hunt through my heaps of digital photos.

If you want to visit DelicaWonderLand, aka British Columbia, we can arrange a mini-meet for you.

Cheers, Christine.

TardisDeli wrote:Hi Brian Diggs, Welcome to our cult.

Your online Mitsubishi magazine looks great, and definitely needs a some Delica presence.

I volunteer my Delica, the TardisDeli, for an interview. Will hunt through my heaps of digital photos.

If you want to visit DelicaWonderLand, aka British Columbia, we can arrange a mini-meet for you.

Cheers, Christine.

Thank you for the warm welcome, Christine. You are right. Gearbox DEFINITELY needs some Delica presence. The good news is, there is officially a Delica interview in process RIGHT NOW! I have been talking to After Oil via PM and, as I'm sure everyone here knows, the WVO, Canada-to-Mexico Delica adventure is the stuff of legend. It's like the North American version of Paris-Dakar with a light, french fry aroma.

I now want a Delica really bad. Getting one into the States would be a bit tricky, but unless I have the dead Galant in the garage running and make some more room, I'd likely be living in my Delica (down by the river, no doubt) if I brought home another Mitsubishi.

Please DO look through your pictures. For future reference, we need images that are at least 1000 pixels in width. The higher quality, the better. We also have some freelance Mitsubishi owner photographers across the continent who might be able to pay a visit and provide a sweet photoshoot if needed. The After Oil interview is coming soon (I will post when it goes live, for sure), but it might be January or February before we run another Delica. Not that we don't want that much Deliii coverage, but because we want to showcase diversity and spread the love.

I haven't been to Canada in ages. I'd like to check out one of the CARS rally events up there some day. If I get up your way, I'll certainly let people know in advance. To me, Mitsubishis are like cowbell. NEEDS MORE COWBELL.

Thanks again!

Cheers!

glad to see a wider appreciation for the delica, but maybe as a suggestion, it would be best to come meet a wide variety of deliii at a meet sometime, where you could meet a wide variety of owners, trim levels, mods etc....definitely worth the visit to Canada, let alone the lower mainland or island, where the majority of these amazing vehicles first set foot on north american soil.....

Totally. I've seen some of the photo galleries here of caravans out in the boonies. We have a hard time getting that many ECLIPSE owners together for a BBQ here in Phoenix some times. I can only imagine what it must be like.

Just out of curiosity, how much can these things drag behind them? Sorry to dump the goofy, non-metric numbers on you guys, but would a Deli have any trouble dragging 4000lbs of Mitsubishi rally car and trailer up and over hills on the highway? What if I cranked up the boost? ;)

DR1665 wrote: Just out of curiosity, how much can these things drag behind them? Sorry to dump the goofy, non-metric numbers on you guys, but would a Deli have any trouble dragging 4000lbs of Mitsubishi rally car and trailer up and over hills on the highway? What if I cranked up the boost? ;)

the usual answer around here for a question like that from a noob is: "use the search function you stupid jerk " but since you have earned my respect i will forgo the usual protocal..

the answer to your question, i think, is that a Delica with the diesel can pull 3500lbs. but it doesnt like to. 3000lbs aint so bad and it'll be happy to pull 2500lbs. now, if you get a gasser, i think youll be all set to pull that rally car.

theres a project at coombs country auto turning a USA model mitsubishi vanwagon into a LHD 4X4 delica. the vanwagon is pretty much the same body as the L300s that we drive, but its a 2wd gasser...

DR1665 wrote:Totally. I've seen some of the photo galleries here of caravans out in the boonies. We have a hard time getting that many ECLIPSE owners together for a BBQ here in Phoenix some times. I can only imagine what it must be like.

Just out of curiosity, how much can these things drag behind them? Sorry to dump the goofy, non-metric numbers on you guys, but would a Deli have any trouble dragging 4000lbs of Mitsubishi rally car and trailer up and over hills on the highway? What if I cranked up the boost? ;)

An L300 might not like 4000lbs but I think an L400 wouldn't have too much trouble with that.

Interesting. You guys suggest that a regular old gas Delica could pull that much? Hmmm... My wife's Isuzu V6 is rated to pull 3400lbs and it managed to drag the car across two states, but it was not very happy. I've seen a lot of gassers unable to get out of their own way with a load out back, whereas the time I drove a Ford van with the 7.3L Powerstroke climbed up and over the mountains with 5000lbs of Mitsubishi and trailer out back. Guess it's where the torque vs power comes into play.

Maybe I should look into a Mitsubishi vanwagon. The thought of being on the "wrong" side of the car is odd. Not as scary transitioning the opposite way you guys would when you drive down here, but takes some getting used to. :P

Appreciate the answers. I use the search! Promise!

If you're thinking of converting a US van it leaves you open to whatever engine you would like, a 4m40 would go in without too much of a headeache. That, with a few mods, would give you enough oomph to tow your vr-4.