It’s unusual that we’ve only seen about a half-dozen Mitsubishi pickups here on Barn Finds over the last decade or more, out of the thousands of vehicles that have rolled through the cyber doors here. Maybe it isn’t that unusual, but a few hundred (thousand?) of us are interested in these little things. This 31,000-mile 1991 Mitsubishi Mighty Max is listed here on eBay in beautiful Temecula, California, there is no reserve, and the current bid price is $3,250.
Speaking of the company founded over 100 years ago, our own Aaron Toth showed us a nice 1990 Mitsubishi pickup a week ago here on Barn Finds. I was surprised to see another one sneak onto the tips list, thanks to whoever sent in this tip! I’ve mentioned too many times that I have a rebadged first-generation Mitsubishi Forte in the form of a bright orange 1980 Dodge D-50 Sport pickup and I like it so much, that it’s one of the very few vehicles I’ve kept over the last few years.
The second-generation Mitsubishi pickup was known as the Mighty Max in North America, and Dodge also rebadged a version for its Ram 50 line of small trucks. They were made for this market from 1986 through 1996 and this is the standard cab version. Mitsubishi also offered a super cab-type version that they called the Macrocab, along with a beefy one-ton version, perfect for a chassis-mount camper. Although, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one on anything but a Toyota.
As nice as the exterior looks, the interior looks even nicer in this small pickup. And this one has the all-important five-speed manual. A four-speed automatic was available (as seen in the truck Aaron showed us) and they’re handy for just gettin’ in and goin’, but unless you sit at stop lights on steep streets in San Francisco or Seattle several times a day, a five-speed is nice for wringing all of the power out of these trucks. The seat looks like new (other than some cracked vinyl on the driver’s side bottom) and I don’t see any California cracking in the dash or other interior plastics so that’s nice. The underside appears solid as does the coated truck bed, which is more than big enough to haul a couple of oddball Japanese market motorcycles to a show.
The engine is Mitsubishi’s 2.4-liter SOHC fuel-injected inline-four with 116 horsepower and 136 lb-ft of torque when new. Backed by the five-speed manual sending power to the rear wheels, the seller says this truck starts, runs, and drives great and even the air-conditioning works as it should. Have any of you owned a Mitsubishi pickup?
What the heck is going on here??? I never see Mitsubishi Mighty Max pickups hardly ever, and now we have 2 recent very nice clean examples. I love this one. As a young guy who desperately wanted to buy one of these, I think its safe to say I would’ve jumped on this one in a heartbeat. Love the color and the rims and the interior, absolutely fabulous. This is just a great find!! I really hope that this goes to a good home and is kept in a garage.
And I forgot to mention. Totally agree with Scotty on the stick. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
Driveinstile, another sweet driving little import🇯🇵 was the stick shift Mazda B2200.
It was . . . I have a B2200 stick (with a PERKINS DIESEL motorvating it) quietly converting to Japanese rust in my backyard. Frame rotted out.
Absolutely yes, you’re right, those were great trucks too!!!
My favorite…. Mazda REPU
I look at this truck and i see all the reasons i am so dissatisfied w/today’s truck market. No 18″ sat/nav infotainment screen to keep you distracted from how you are no longer engaged in the actual truck you are driving. No 5 ft bed that wont even hold a Stihl straight shaft trimmer diagonally. It lacks the FOUR 02 sensors some trucks have nowadays. No 18 inch wheels that require $220 a pop tires. No bed so tall you cant reach in and grab anything without climbing in over the tailgate. It doesnt even have an 8 or 10 speed tranny that costs $11K to replace or $3500 for a failed torque converter or cdf drum! Worst of all its too easy to get in and out of and parked in your garage would leave ya room aplenty for a full walk around when you have other things to get to. Psssh. WHO NEEDS IT? (heavy sarcasm)
Bought and drove one in ’91- I think it was my first new car (not 100% sure as Ihad already owned a hundred different cars at that point). Just ran across a photo and wish I could post it, even the same color but no rub strip. It was 100 percent trouble free, only sold it to get an extended cab Nissan in ’93
Tried to share this with a friend and the white one from last week came up?
Now that’s interesting
Different strokes for different folks.
Great find, and currently a steal with 4 days to go on bidding. Good to see something other than a Toyota. You won’t find one cleaner than this one or as rust free.
I worked for a guy who had a Plymouth Arrow Pickup, I believe based on this same platform. IIRC it had 100,000 plus miles back in the late 80s. He would let me use it if I needed. Used it one time to pick up a rebuilt V6 engine, hauled it just fine.
Yup, the Plymouth Arrow pickup (and Dodge D-50) was a rebadged version of the first-gen of these pickups, basically the same chassis and mechanicals with an earlier style of body and interior.
In hindsight, it’s a bit odd that they used the Plymouth Arrow name to rebadge two entirely different Mitsubishi models, one a pickup and the other a small sport coupe (a Lancer Celeste), which even overlapped for a couple years (’79-80). Maybe they meant to set up Arrow as a sort of submarque for captive-import Plymouth models before abandoning that idea?
Mitsubishi is the most overlooked underrated automotive brand on the planet.
I hope this new Honda/Nissan merger keeps the brand alive.
Wow, all of that, and it survived for 31K miles.
These are prolly the most obscure of the pre-millennial Japanese minitrucks sold here, just the ticket for those who prefer driving something distinctive, and are great, rugged, smooth-driving little pickups. I’ve had an ’87 Dodge Ram 50 version for several years now, well-maintained by the original owner and coming up on 175k miles now, proof these trucks can last a good long while if well maintained.
This ’91 model was the first year for the fuel injection system they used through the end of the run (replacing the one-year-only FI system for ’90), so parts availability and troubleshooting knowledge for that are fairly sound, tho’ I gather by now certain FI parts can take some hunting or cross-ref with other Mitsu models using the same system. The MightyRam50 forum is a great resource for “shop talk” about these trucks.
Auction update: this truck sold for $6,200.