"roflcopter" (roflroflroflcopter)
11/15/2015 at 13:35 • Filed to: None
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"roflcopter" (roflroflroflcopter)
11/15/2015 at 13:35 • Filed to: None | 4
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When talking in automotive circles, one topic that seems to come up quite often is how we get shafted in the US of A when it comes to vehicle availability. The latest, greatest sporty cars seem to always be across a pond in one direction or the other. This fact of life might soon be changing with the imminent release of the Civic Type-R and a few other modern cars but the fact remains that we typically wind up on the short end of the stick. But what if I told you that there was a time in our not so distant past where we got blessed with models that put the JDM versions to shame? One of them was the Mitsubishi Starion.
Box-flares. Did you know that the iconic flared body on the Starion wasn’t available until later years because of Japanese regulations on vehicle sizing? America didn’t care about none of that. Luckily this example is a later year that came from the factory with one of the most 80’s bodies around. These hips really can’t lie when it comes to what’s under the hood either. The box-flared American cars also came with a 2.6L intercooled turbo inline four that was NEVER available in the Japanese market. How’s that for sticking it to the man?
For more pictures and the rest of the article, go check out !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , thanks!
Roflcopter is a contributor and photographer over at his pet project FeaturedGarage and would love it if you checked this article and others out over on the website. Whatever you’ve heard about him is probably true, even that one thing about the bear. If you think he should just post the full articles here instead of linking to his own site, you can blame Nibbles for chewing through some of the formatting he keeps trying to get right.
MultiplaOrgasms
> roflcopter
11/15/2015 at 14:44 |
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Considering the narrow-body is both lighter and more aerodynamic, as well as the fact that said 2.0 was the first incarnation of the legendary 4G63T and that said 2.6 was taken out of a truck I’d say it wasn’t as superior as you make it out to be.
forgeryfade
> MultiplaOrgasms
11/15/2015 at 15:18 |
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In 86 they had an intercooled narrow body distinguished by thick black side trim. It really is the one to have in America but not many know of it. Also it is looked down on for no other reason than not being as aggressive looking as the wide body.
Nauraushaun
> roflcopter
11/16/2015 at 05:34 |
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I think this is due to two separate problems with America.
America doesn’t get a lot of cars because they have ridiculous requirements for cars sold there. So they lose cars.
America is fixated on big engines with horsepower, like in this case. So they sometimes get a bigger engine option than the rest of the world. Same story with the 240SX, known as the 200SX/180SX to the rest of the world.
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roflcopter
> Nauraushaun
11/16/2015 at 09:05 |
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Thanks for reading! And that is very true, regulations are everywhere and these days it's definitely America that sets the bar, I found it interesting that Japan used to regulate cars based on their overall width for different registration brackets, which turned into the reason for the narrow body. Quite the opposite of the US where you can register a Duece and a Half with little to no hassle(just need an air brake endorsement in some states).
StndIbnz, Drives a MSRT8
> roflcopter
11/16/2015 at 10:51 |
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Dat forklift motor though!
Awesome cars though, they are fun.
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Nauraushaun
> roflcopter
11/16/2015 at 16:29 |
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I wouldn’t call it a bar, it sounds like it’s something for others to aspire to. Things like banning moving headlights or non-amber-colored indicators is something other countries wouldn’t and shouldn’t pick up.
That’s a good point, Japan does have their own set of strict (but different) regulations. I think they’re more founded in logic than just banning things for fun, though. Japan doesn’t really have room for a Duece and a Half.