On this era of content creation, it’s easy to fall victim to the algorithm overlord – the little thing that rewards us for posting more continuously after which punishes any image uploaded in landscape format.
Shorts and Reels are a must because all of us have terrible attention spans, yet the monetisation of long-form content now means even basic videos require quarter-hour of chat beforehand.
Social media is usually a confusing place. Because not one of the above issues consider that little thing called actual life. No algorithm aspects in delays or issues. It doesn’t care when you are skint, nor does it worry about your motivation or mental well-being – unless it’s attempting to sell you a Higher Health advert.
The more it engulfs you, the more you realise the actual winners of social media aren’t those boasting hundreds of thousands of followers. It’s the individuals who can dip out and in each time they please, posting whatever they need with no plan or agenda.
Now there’s a fitting summary before I jump into this Speedhunters Garage post – my first in the perfect a part of two years. There is no such thing as a algorithm on the planet I can blame for that.
I could blame becoming a father for the second time and embarking on too many long-term project cars, that are still months (if not years) away from completion. Dare I say, my garage has been a bit dull recently, although I even have also began watching cow hooves being trimmed on YouTube, so perhaps I’m not the perfect indicator of what is definitely interesting.
I’m also closer to being 40 than I’m 30 now. I remember paying £6,500 (roughly US$8,000 in today’s money) for an R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R – that’s how old I’m. But it surely may also explain why, within the last 12 months, I’ve developed a little bit of an obsession for more practical cars, specifically older Japanese 4x4s…
Unlike other avenues of Japanese automobile culture, I’ve never really dived into the world of 4x4s, which is why all of it feels latest and exciting. But more importantly, it’s still possible to search out and buy decent examples while not having the backing of a personal hedge fund. Something otherwise unattainable with anything JDM and interesting from the ’90s.
The trigger for this began early last 12 months during an innocent but routine browsing of Facebook Marketplace.
Now not is it simply a case of browsing whatever Facebook suggests; I search every city, territory, and vehicle term inside a 400km radius. This can be a bit silly because a 400km radius also includes cars from Ireland, France and Belgium – destinations that require a ferry trip to succeed in.
Buried deep inside the search results was a 1989 Mk1 Mitsubishi Shogun Wagon. It was low cost and looked quite cool, but inevitably needed work – the trifecta of red flags. Up until this point, I knew little or no about Shoguns, aside from they appear to be favoured by individuals who ram-raid money machines at 3:00am. So, was this early Mk1 low cost by accident, or is that just the going rate for ‘em?
I can’t speak for the remainder of the world, but within the UK no less than, this era of Japanese 4×4 remains to be relatively low cost. They were sold in fairly decent numbers because of their rural, rugged nature, and identical to early Land Rover Defenders, it was this functionality that made them so popular long before they became fashionable.
The identical could possibly be said for Toyota’s Land Cruiser. There are still plenty of high-priced ones around – particularly those 60 and 70 Series variants – but an 80 Series from the early ’90s? Yours for just a few thousand kilos, and it’s going to (mostly) work exactly as intended, hence their popularity all around the world.
Seeing as I’d bought this Mk1 Shogun somewhat impulsively, I felt obliged to pledge my allegiance to the world of Mitsubishi 4x4s somewhat than those from Toyota or Nissan. And while this particular example is a bit crusty with an interior stuffed with fungi, I’m secretly glad I did. Since the Mk1 Pajero (referred to as Shogun within the UK) can be the genesis for among the finest 4x4s ever made.
To this present day, the Mitsubishi Pajero stays essentially the most successful automobile ever to compete within the gruelling Dakar race, taking the general top spot 12 times, together with 150 stage wins. I do know that may be a barely skewed fact – a bit like how Lancia stays essentially the most successful WRC manufacturer thus far – but don’t forget those early Dakar racers weren’t exactly space-framed, million-dollar monsters either. They were toughened-up production road cars.
Nevertheless, while the Pajero stays essentially the most successful automobile at Dakar, it might seem its best challenge thus far can be surviving rural England for just a few years. After I bought this automobile, I knew it might fail its MOT (roadworthiness inspection) the moment a rubber wiper blade disintegrated like an ancient Egyptian curse had been placed on it. But what I didn’t expect was two pages of failures, which included the words ‘corrosion’, ‘rust’ and ‘structural integrity’.
By this point, I had heavily invested myself into Pajero ownership, because what’s a little bit of rust between friends? It was low cost in any case. And that is where the slippery slope of obsession starts once more…
Suddenly, every aspect of your automobile’s history and production becomes a subject of research. You join the relevant Facebook sale groups, you begin following other owners on Instagram, and your hunger for more knowledge becomes a tad all-encompassing. I’m not entirely sure if this can be a healthy approach, nevertheless it is massively fun.
The issue with talking about Pajeros is there’s one specific model that everybody knows and can reference, no matter what other variant you own. Yes, I’m talking in regards to the Pajero Evolution. How a lot of us have thought it might be quite cool to own one? Their proportions are ludicrous; the three.5-litre V6 seems quite punchy with 276hp, and any model built specifically for homologation just oozes cool.
Mitsubishi made 2,693 examples of the Pajero Evolution – 2,059 with an automatic gearbox and 634 with a 5-speed manual. I’m not entirely sure why you’ll need a manual version; they’re removed from a driver’s automobile, and if we’re getting super nerdy, all the Dakar winners were automatics anyway.
Fast-forward a 12 months into my newfound Pajero obsession and the want for an Evolution became a tad obsessive, not helped by fellow Speedhunter Chaydon, who had been having an analogous crisis too. Chaydon found one near his home that had been parked up for years and needed a serious overhaul. Unfortunately, its owner took the attitude of ‘I do know what I’ve got’ leading to the automobile being hugely overpriced and still sat rotting many months later.
My inability to tackle even basic mechanical work ruled out any sort of ‘Project Evolution’ – especially having taken the perfect a part of six months to get the Mk1 Wagon roadworthy again. A limited budget also meant a pristine example just like the one at 4 Star Classics can be out the window, too. The answer? Ignore every red flag once more and find the most affordable running Pajero Evolution on the market… on eBay. What could possibly go improper?
Once more, one other Pajero turned up with none prior viewing and – from the skin no less than – all the pieces seemed pretty good. The numberplate was broken and the bumper had been repainted, which unsurprisingly could possibly be connected. There have been various dents across the bodywork and the windscreen wiper arms were slightly rusty. However the underside? That seemed pretty solid. Its MOT history wasn’t terrifying either, even when the Pajero had been recently undersealed.
On the within is where things get slightly more bodged. Where the radio once was now lurks an enormous clip-in Android tablet, which is mounted so low it’s unattainable to see, and its start-up volume seems to default to ‘Air Raid Siren’. In every footwell lurks a mass of green neon lights, and the cigarette lighter has 4 items powered from it, including a rear-view screen that replaces the mirror. Albeit with Japanese writing in the course of it.
There are speakers wired in every corner and a small subwoofer (also powered by the cigarette lighter) hard-mounted under the passenger seat, which works brilliantly at rattling every panel inside. Not you can tell which vibration is from the speaker, because the rear shocks appear to have collapsed, meaning the smallest bump looks like you’re in an Impala from the Still Dre music video. Then there are the indications, which flicker at 160bpm.
But all of that’s fixable, and a little bit of wacky wiring looks as if a small win in comparison with chopping out and replacing entire sections of the sills. The query is, which issue to tackle first? Er, the wheels, in fact!
I already had a set of 16-inch OZ Racing wheels I had bought for the Mk1 Shogun earlier within the 12 months, and while they give the impression of being good on that, they were only a bit weak on the Evolution. An inch too big in size and an inch too narrow in width if we’re being incredibly geeky. You might argue that may be a small issue in comparison with say, the rear shocks just not working, and also you can be absolutely right. But I’m incredibly fickle with my priorities, somewhat backwards.
Because of a person called Stefan, who runs the Instagram page FoRRtune, sourcing the appropriate set of OZ Racing wheels turned out to be unusually easy. Stefan specialises in rare and hard-to-find wheels, but he can be a fountain of information on the subject of selecting sizes and corresponding tyre specs. That’s why – using his advice – I discovered a set of 15×8-inch OZ Racing Route Rally wheels with equally appropriate Toyo Mud Terrain tyres, and the fitment couldn’t be more perfect.
Rectifying the Evolution’s issues first may need been a more sensible approach than fitting jazzy wheels, but I’m going to exit on a limb now and say these classic OZ Racing wheels are the best-looking off-road wheels you’ll be able to get for a Pajero. They simply scream Dakar… in the course of rural Northamptonshire.
It has now been around a 12 months and a half since I purchased my first Shogun, and 6 months because the Evolution arrived. Each still work, and essentially the most I even have spent on actual maintenance is a substitute gear selector cable (let’s not mention the suspension issue). But what I believed can be a short-lived obsession has now entirely engulfed me. I still trawl Marketplace most evenings within the hope of uncovering more unusual and strange variants.
Like a really early Mk1 Wagon – a 1985 12 months – with the bubble/safari roof. I can’t show you any proper pictures of this yet because (out of sheer excitement and idiocy) I committed to the sale before realising where it was on the planet. So, if anyone fancies driving an old Pajero nearly 11,000km from Cape Town in South Africa to Kettering, England, hit me up. Although, the fuel alone would cost almost twice the worth of the automobile.
But that’s what makes this latest obsession all of the more entertaining. Bargains – and interesting cars – still exist on the market when you’re prepared to do the digging and shut out the noise of certain social media. And with so many oddities, limited models or general weirdness from over 40 years of production, I’m fairly sure my Pajero ‘phase’ is just just getting began.
Mark Riccioni
Instagram: mark_scenemedia
Twitter: markriccioni
mark@speedhunters.com
This Article First Appeared At www.speedhunters.com
