Mitsubishi literature invites you to “Take the high road, the low road, or no road at all with the 1988 SPX 4WD, the most versatile, most luxurious vehicle in Mitsubishi’s truck lineup.” With a regular cab or extended cab, which they called the MacroCab, as seen here. This 1988 Mitsubishi Mighty Max 4×4 SPX MacroCab is posted here on craigslist in the Kissimmee, Florida area, and they’re asking $7,995. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Tony P. for the tip!
The Florence Beige paint has seen better days, but the seller says this is an Arizona truck and it’s now in Florida; not exactly the two easiest climates for vehicles. Salty roads and winter snow and ice most likely aren’t an issue, but the desert sun and salty air in parts of Florida can be pretty harsh. I always get worried when I see those big fender flares, thinking that they may be covering up a rust issue. Having grown up in the upper Midwest, that was the usual thing to do. But I believe these came from the factory.
The wheels didn’t come from the factory, unfortunately, but someone liked them, and that’s all that matters. I’m super boring, wheel-wise, as you know. I would want to redo this one, at least repaint it back to the factory beige paint. I’d also replace the giant front bumper and rear bumper, the aftermarket roll bar, and try to find a smaller factory one, and…zzzzzz.. sorry, there I go again. Who cares what I like? We don’t see any underside photos, but here’s what the bed looks like inside.
As with a lot of desert and southern vehicles, the interior is a little burnt in spots after almost four decades. The SPX trim added a few luxuries, like bucket seats, carpet, a cloth headliner, an adjustable steering wheel, and power steering, and more. This one has the optional air-conditioning, and the seller says they just went through the system and put in a new compressor and dryer, and it works great. This truck has a 5-speed manual and a 2-speed transfer case, and the area behind the bucket seats would make me love my truck rather than just liking it.
The engine looks familiar; I have the same one, including the replacement Weber carb, in my 1980 Dodge (Mitsubishi) D-50 Sport pickup. This one is much nicer, though, with power steering and air-conditioning. This is Mitsubishi’s 4G54, a 2.6-liter SOHC inline-four with around 108 horsepower and 143 lb-ft of torque when new. Passing through the 2-speed transfer case and 5-speed manual, it sends power to all four wheels as needed. The seller says this truck runs and drives great, and it has a new radiator, fuel pump, carb, starter, a new cylinder head (?), and new tires. Any thoughts on this 4×4 Mitsubishi Mighty Max?
It was an ’88 Mitsubishi Mighty Max, regular cab short bed 2WD this engine and a 5 speed in this exact color and same interior too that my Dads friend bought for himself as a retirement gift, that got me hooked on wanting one of these. Problem is, I still want one. A lot of fun to drive too. This one looks very solid. I’d tend to agree with Scotty on the bumpers, etc. If stock ones could be sources, rims too. I actually like the plain argent silver steel rims on the 2WD models. Hope this goes to a good new home. Thanks for jogging some good memories Scotty.
Those tire store wheels take away from what is a really neat looking truck. Shame it’s not a V6. I like the stock rims too. The 4WD was even better. They were a little wider with funky, matching, kind of cone shaped hubcaps. A set of period correct Centerline style rims would look really wicked too.
Great find! Had one in Alaska and they are…unstoppable! If I needed one I’d be all over this. Not a Toyota BUT they were a great little vehicle and you can still find them every once in awhile at auto auctions like Mecum in the corral area.
If this was a Toyota of similar vintage and also 4×4 it would cost an additional $5,000 out here in Northern California. The Mitsubishi is likely comparable, but rare. I wonder if the aftermarket Weber would pass the smog test?
The Weber carb here runs clean but won’t pass Cali smog inspections that require all original intake/exhaust equipment. Only way to do that is with an OE-spec Mikuni carb and all its vacuum hoses, electronic-feedback gizmos including an ECU and control box, not to mention the EGR valve I notice is also deleted here, so reverting this one to a stock intake would be a challenge.
The Weber carb conversion is otherwise very desirable and practically routine practice, as the stock Mikuni setup can become trouble-prone after all these years, and also a challenging carb for DIY’ers to rebuild. That said, this appears to have a Chinese “licensed” Weber clone, which can sometimes be hard to get/keep in tune, as they only licensed the general design and name/logo, but weren’t made to the same uniform and exacting tolerances as the genuine Webers made in Spain.
I’ve got an ’87 RWD longbed and can vouch these are great little trucks, robust yet refined to drive, and the 2.6L is a great engine with balance shafts that make it eerily smooth, almost hydraulic or turbine-like in sound and power delivery.
You might wonder why this MacroCab is missing rear jump seats, but there weren’t any to begin with. They mounted the shortbed on the longbed chassis, then filled the resulting gap with more cab, but that cab extension wasn’t big enough for any seats, so it’s just more interior storage space.
The NISSAN version of this, the King Cab, actualy does have two jump seats in the back of the extended cab.
RAR, I was wondering if there would have been anything back there or if it was just storage. Here’s the Nissan version from a month and a half ago:
https://barnfinds.com/1995-nissan-xe-king-cab-4×4-v6-5-speed/
what an awesome truck! Agreed about the bumpers, but that roll bar is fire. can’t find em like that any more