1965 Debonair project BEGIN!

city hunter · **Posted:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:22 pm

Bought this today, picking it up tomorrow

Better pictures to come.

Cant believe I scored this car, Good story on it. I will post it a little later today. Wonder if ther eare any others in the united states. I'm picking it up tomorrow. Will get better pics

All the trim is there and in boxes. To say the least, I will be getting serious on this car. Gonna do a complete frame up restore. Has the ke64 nptune inline 6 105hp!

city hunter · **Posted:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:25 pm

I think this suits the thread.

71ColtGalant · **Posted:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:34 pm

awesome find!! :tu:

city hunter · **Posted:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:37 pm

been doing a littler research. I know it's a a30 chassis code. Not sure on the end letter. I'm guessing a30a maybe. I found a parts list on yja I should try and buy. It's been stored for almost 30 years I guess. Hopefully all the trim pieces are in good condition.

I need to start collecting good pictures of the a30 interior so I can get something put together down the road. If anyone has decent interior pics post em up.

fuel · **Posted:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:46 pm

What the?? How on earth did that end up in the States? OMG I hate you right now haha

city hunter · **Posted:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:59 pm

yeah thats what I was thinking.

Short version of the story. Some top executive from japan had it when it was new over there. He retired and loved the car so much he brought it with im. He retired in the states. I believe washington. He died and another guy bought it who was a friend of the guy I got it from. He drove it back I believe in the early 80s then the brake master went out and he couldnt find a part to replace it with. It sat for a bit then he donated it to a museum. thats when the guy I bought ti from started loking for it. Took him 8 years to track it down. The museum decided not to restore it so they auctioned it off, and it wasnt even listed but he decided to check the auction. He bought it then it has sat in one of his storage units for the last 10 years. I guess the guy I bought it from has 40 cars, and quite a few very rare euro imports.

Anyhow I will be gtting pictures of the car from the 1970s when it was first coming off the ship when the old japanese guy brought it onto us shores. Cant wait

Seems like this early model si quite rare even in japan. ost debonair pictures you find are a33 which would be the 70s model I believe with the g54b.

This is what this model should look like, or very very close to what I have. It's a a30e. So tht ails are quite different from the 70s model.

Natedog · **Posted:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 3:18 pm

AMAZING! There is a little part of me that hates you right now

There is a bigger part that wants to see the build on this thing!!!

city hunter · **Posted:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 3:21 pm

I should have a good turbine season this fall so, should be plenty of money to get what needs to be done, done right. I'm going to try to keep the interior original. I'll probably have to source a few parts from other cars. I'm glad tos ee the bumpers look to be in awesome condition.

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:34 pm

This is completely awesome! Got a great back story too!
Can't wait to see you start tearing into it.
Definitely keep us updated!

Garant · **Posted:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 8:25 pm

man! wasn't that gto mr from wa state too??

city hunter · **Posted:** Sat Sep 11, 2010 3:31 am

Nakazoto wrote:

This is completely awesome! Got a great back story too!
Can't wait to see you start tearing into it.
Definitely keep us updated!

Since you are over there. I dont know how auto parts work, but if there are auto parts vendors like in the states. Any chance if you can find out in your spare time if you can get a intake/exhaust manifold gasket for the ke64 65 debonair? I'm gonna have a hell of a time sourcing parts. The intake/exhaust gasket is the only one I am worried about needing to buy as I should be able to make the rest.

city hunter · **Posted:** Sat Sep 11, 2010 3:32 am

matt wrote:

man! wasn't that gto mr from wa state too??

There was a gto is wa state? Man I woulda killed for that.

btw anyone notice the second hand crank on the door for the front little window? lol That doesnt seem to be on the later models.

check out this power house!

I need to figure out if the paint on mine is the original configuration.

kev · **Posted:** Sat Sep 11, 2010 5:44 am

What a find!! ...keeping an eye on this thread fo sho

crown69 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 11, 2010 7:16 am

How did you find THAT? and in RHD?
You've got a mammoth task ahead of you;and I admire you for being undaunted about it! Good luck :tu:

Komeuppance · **Posted:** Sat Sep 11, 2010 8:51 am

I only got one hour of sleep last night, but I'm going with Shaun on the four hour drive (one way) to pick this bad boy up...

Mitsubishi Inline 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Robert

fuel · **Posted:** Sat Sep 11, 2010 6:47 pm

it's the very early model, I would absolutely love a Debonair but I would get the one with the 6G34 'Saturn 6' OHC engine. They are really expensive in Japan though.

city hunter · **Posted:** Sun Sep 12, 2010 12:30 am

Well, robert and me got back pretty late. long day with little sleep. Picked up the car. I'm very happy with it. Definately tons of work ahead of me, but I think it will be worth it.

It's a little over 15ft long, and apparently was the biggest car built in the year.

There are a few spots so far I have found that are nasty and some bondo here and there.

The car was originall black, so I believe thats a lv-43. So far all the parts seem to be there except for the radio and debonair badges. I'm sure there are a few misc pieces missing, but it's pretty complete. I do have the deluxe badging for the back pillar though

.

One cool feature I found out this car had. There are radio controls built into the back of the front bench for the vip's to change the radio station.

This car originally had a/c It seems to be missing the compressor and a/c lines that go from the condensor to the compressor and etc.. but there are lines inside the car. I have no idea if it is factory or not, but I think it may be.

The engine so far looks very good, very simple and easy to work on. The headers look nice.

I have changed my plans for how to attack this car. I decided I will be getting the body done first. It needs it, and I want to know what I am dealing with. This will work better for me as it will take some time for all the body work and what not to be done, and I have 3 cars that i need to finish in the garage. In the meantime I will take all the small trinkets and what not off and recondition them by sand blasting re-chroming, or painting etc... I will also go through the engine, and install new trans seals etc...

Some cool things I got witht he car. Many old parts lists and diagrams from japan with exploded views and part numbers for the carbs rear end, starter, dizzy, and I believe some other misc stuff. I also have a original I elieve euro debonair pamphlet. I will scan all of this stuff in. I think I wil start a site dedicated to collecting and sharing debonair information and pictures, as there just isnt enough information.

The car weighs in at 1330kg so it actually isnt a real heavy car. The starion actually weighs about 40kg more. I suppose it's quite heavy for the day,

Tons of the trim is made out of metal, quite a beutiful thing

From what I read from the pamhlet there are 2 versions of the debonair. The st And then the Deluxe. I have the deluxe, which weighs more, but I havent found out what the difference is.

I have to say, this is quite a project ahead of me,. I will try and document it as best I can. I'm taking this car very seriously as it is such a rare piece of mitsubishi history.

I will try to restore the car as stock as possible except for possibly 2 things. I may lower it a few inches and I may run a true twin exhaust with h pipe off the stock headers like I had in my old 240z as I loved the sound of it. I am going to aim for getting the interior as original as possible.

I will need help trying to find some engine parts from japan like gaskets so if anyone has connections I would appreciate the ALL the help I can get, as this will be a very tough car to restore.

One thing I am worried about and maybe someone can chime in. I need to get the front and rear windows removed, without breaking the, I think I should try and hire some glass person who has done it before to remove them, as there is no freaken way I will find replacement glass for it. Luckily the glass is in amazing condition.

city hunter · **Posted:** Sun Sep 12, 2010 1:45 am

I just hought about it, but I think im missing the headlight trims.

I need to buy a set of those too for an a30e

city hunter · **Posted:** Sun Sep 12, 2010 1:59 am

Ironically I just foubnd a in depth back story on my car, and also found a old picture.

It did havve a f'n jaf emblem on it like I suspected.

This picture is from 1979

Hey Dave, Yeah I did own that car. Here's the story. Back in 1979 I was in ninth grade but was lucky enough to already own my first car a 1963 Austin Mini, I had it for while but eventually put it up for sale. The person I sold it to was Penny N______ and her father Chet owned the Debonair. That photo was taken the day they came over to pick up the Mini and that was in front of my mother's house.

I ended up becoming good friends with Penny and that's how eventually I got the Debonair. The story on the car is, The N_____ family lived in Japan in the 60s and early 70s and just before moving back to the states Chet bought the Debonair. It was originally black and I was told this was a really rare car even in Japan and that only company CEOs and high up government people had a Debonair. When they moved back to the states it was the family car. Over the years I would see it being driven on occasion.

In the the late 80s I stopped by for a visit and the Debonair was sitting up on blocks and was told the carburetor needed to be rebuilt but they were quoted around $900 to rebuild them! It's a dual carb setup. It also needed a clutch master cylinder and while one of the daughters was still living in Japan, she wasn't having much luck finding any parts for it. I just happen to mention that if he ever wanted to sell it, I was interested. A couple of years later he was in his early 90s and decided it was time to let it go. I was more or less given the car for free. I towed it home behind my Peugeot Station wagon on the freeway with the brakes just barely working.

It sat around my house for a year or so, I went as far as even buying a Toyota Corona mk2 with a straight six engine that I was going to put in the Debonair, but decided I kind of like driving the Toyota and even with a good running engine, the Debonair just needed way more work than I was willing to do. I'm the one that donated the car to Harold LeMay a local businessman who had a collection of over 2,000 cars. When Harold died, they started auctioning off the low end parts cars and cars they knew that would never get restored and that's where Paul who now has the car got it, from one of the LeMay auctions. Paul and I have been friends for several years. I gave him a 1985 Skoda 130 Rapid that I got out of Canada and was my daily driver for almost 10 years

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Sun Sep 12, 2010 5:12 am

This is gonna be awesome!
I'm more than happy to help find you some parts, but a fair bit of warning (aside from the fact that I'm lazy and slightly forgetful), I haven't been able to hunt down anything for my little Mitsubishi short of a used side window, and I imagine it was a far cry more common than the Debonair, haha. I've done what I can bringing old bits back to life and everything else had to be modified or made from scratch (for example, my motor mounts are made using the rubber from the stabilizer bushings off of my AE86, haha)!

I'll keep an eye out and good luck with the build!

1965 Debonair project BEGIN!

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