4-wheel Drive Van

By Lloyd Kahn on September 30, 2014

Not sure what make this is. On the side it said “Intercooler Turbo 2800.” Have never seen one of these in the U.S.

Note: See all the comments; it’s a Mitsubishi Delica.

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:

8 Responses to 4-wheel Drive Van

  1. Probably a Delica or something similar. Those are all the rage here in interior BC in Nelson.

    I understand most of these right hand drive vehicles come from Japan since after 15 years they no longer allow the vehicles on the road for emissions reasons. Many of them are shippped to west coast of canada. My friend bought a old diesel Land Cruiser that way through a broker.
    Last year we drove to Red Rocks NV for climbing outside Vegas. The looks / comments we got from people when they saw a driver on the 'wrong' side were priceless..

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  3. Yeah its a Mitsi delica. Based on the L200 truck, so its a fully capable of road vehicle. A great van for travelling.

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  5. A Delica! Dream surf-mobile. We see these a lot with BC plates just across the border in Bellingham, WA. Openly covet these rigs.

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  6. I have one of these 4×4 mystery machines, which I converted into a discrete camper. They are incredible vehicles if juicy by European standards, usually set up as a people carrier, but the seats unbolt and I fitted a rock and roll bed from a VW camper. Its ideal if you want to camp on a side street without being noticed, shift a load of junk or crawl through shallow streams and over rocks 🙂

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  7. Im in the UK, also in 4WD Power mode (warp speed setting) with the mighty 2.8 Turbo diesel and reduced mass it will beat a hot hatch from the lights with beer chilling in the coolbox and 4' futon mattress and 2 burner hob. Newer ones like mine, and the one pictured are based on an L400 – available for around £1000 – 5000 usually in the UK, so often I think of selling it for something saner, but even though it drinks fuel it feels like driving around in a gnarly giant metal slipper.

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  8. Plenty of theses mitsubitshi delica in New Zealand , a friend of mine took his on a off road excursion that was no walk in the park but it did well over all . Also known as bits of mitsi !!!

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