By Antti Kautonen
At Tour & Taxis on Brussels’ Havenlaan, Brussels Oldtimer Market is held indoors. It’s a huge venue, for people to bring their classics and assorted belongings for sale. This 1982 Mitsubishi Sapporo was photographed by a friend, Koenraad R, on his walk through the offerings.
The car is also being offered online, and the asking price is a piffling 600 euros. Someone close enough to Brussels should really sprout there and snap it up.
Finished in a somewhat demanding beetroot hue, the car isn’t perfect but should polish up nicely with a bit of weekend work put into it. Koenraad says the interior was a bit dirty, but complete and not ripped up.
The paint and bodywork has some light damage, but that blemish does look like it could be buffed off. I also detect a rusty bonnet corner, which probably means there are crusty edges elsewhere as well – but the car doesn’t look too dog-eared.
The paintwork seems to have a certain amount of orange peel, which would mean a dodgy respray at some point. Luckily the car seems to have all its badges present, except for the triple diamond on the front.
The glasswork on the car appears intact, and that’s a very good thing. Sourcing glass for any Sapporo is a total pain, and that curving rear screen isn’t easy to come by. The bumpers have a few knocks, but should straighten alright. The wheels appear to be original, but possibly resprayed to this darker grey hue.
According to the ad, the Sapporo’s odo reading is somewhere around 140 000 – 160 000 km. It should provide effortless weekend motoring for minimal initial outlay for a good while, and the mechanicals should be relatively easy to maintain.
[Photos: Koenraad R]
Jeff Glucker
A vintage Mercedes coupe, a Sapporo and a 2CV all in a row? This olelongrooffan is obviously hanging in the wrong garages.
Yeah. I saw the Merc before I saw the Sapporo. The 2CV was icing on the cake.
The w123 and the 2CV are, relatively, common in Europe. I've seen more than one example of both last weekend, in traffic. Granted, last weekend was one of the first weekends with nice weather this season so the car lovers took their vehicles out of hibernation. 3 decades old Japanese cars are much less common here, probably because nobody cares about them at all.
Huh, I thought the bubble rear window was unique to the '77-9 full size Chevy coupes. Neat!
I would buy it just for the rear wheel drive fun factor. (then beat on it like a red headed stepchild)
mmmmmm…. sapporo
<img src="http://gourmetgetaways.com.au/files/2012/09/Sapporo-Beer.jpg" width="500">
The brew that taught me to enjoy beers that didn't taste like candy.
And the Mitsu Sapporo? Yes, please.
I don't think I've seen a car that nice of any stripe for $780 dollars. Ever.
I just bought/stole it for 500 euro…… Drove it from from Kortrijk (sellers city ) to Antwerp ( my place ) 100 km on the highway at 120 km/h and then went another +: 100 km to different places nearby showing off. It is 32 degrees Celsius in Belgium at the moment and she coped perfectly. No leaks, oil pressure and temp right in the middle.Brakes, suspension steering like in a new car… All in all she is mechanically perfect. But its not a GSR… it is a 1600 cc GSL with a GSR badge. She spins like a Singer sewing machine, so i don't care. Bodywork and floor are still solid, but if i want to keep her for more then a few years i will need to invest in a complete anti rust treatment and new paintjob, which will be rather expensive. Rust bubbles are showing near window wirpers, rear and back window, door handles and locks…. But for 500 euro it is still a real steal.