The Mitsubishi Colt 800 is the first of a series of passenger cars with a fastback/hatchback design produced by

Mitsubishi Motors is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was introduced as a two-door

fastback A fastback is an automotive styling feature, defined by the rear of the car having a single slope from the roof to the tail. The kammback is a type of fastback style. Some models, such as the Ford Mustang, have been specifically marketed as ...

sedan, the first such design in the Japanese market. The series was discontinued in 1971, after the introduction of the company's

Galant The galant style was an 18th-century movement in music, visual arts and literature. In Germany a closely related style was called the '' empfindsamer Stil'' (sensitive style). Another close relative is rococo style. The galant style was drawn in ...

sedan but without a real replacement.

Colt 800

The 800 was powered by a three-cylinder

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of ...

engine of 843 cc capacity producing . This made it more powerful than the projected competitor, Toyota's 700 cc

Publica VEB Typoart was the only type foundry of East Germany. It was a state-owned enterprise (" Volkseigener Betrieb") located in Dresden. The foundry's most influential art directors were Herbert Thannhäuser (until 1963) and Albert Kapr (until 1987) ...

. Equipped with a four-speed manual gearbox and weighing a scant 750 kg, top speed was . While it may have looked like a hatchback, the 800 was never available with a rear hatch. However, both a

coupe utility A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

version (" ute" in Australia, where many of these were sold) and a wagon ("Van" in Japanese parlance) were marketed. The Van was clearly based on the ute, with a horizontally split rear tailgate and workmanlike interior. Mitsubishi gave up on the two-stroke engine in 1968, pushing the new four-stroke Colt 1000F instead. Customers across the world were beginning to steer away from cars with these types of engines and new stricter emissions standards were looming. The similarly sized and-engined

Suzuki Fronte 800 The Suzuki Fronte 800 was subcompact car with a two-stroke engine built by the Suzuki Motor Corporation in the latter half of the 1960s. History Introduced in August 1965 (and on sale by December), the Fronte 800 was an attempt at competing in ...

was discontinued without replacement around the same time; these were the last Japanese two-strokes bigger than a

Kei car Kei car (or , kanji: , "light automobile", ), known variously outside Japan as Japanese city car or Japanese microcar, is the Japanese vehicle category for the smallest highway-legal passenger cars with restricted dimensions and engine capaci ...

. In general, the 700-800 cc class was dying away in Japan at this time, being replaced by 1000 cc cars.

Colt 1000F

In September 1966 the two-stroke 800 engine was complemented by the larger four-stroke 977 cc pushrod powerplant (KE43) from the more traditional Colt 1000. 800 production ended in the last months of 1968, shortly after the introduction of the 1100. The engine in the Colt 1000F, "F" for "Fastback" to set it apart from its stodgier sedan counterpart, produced . In August 1967, the 1000F finally received the lifting tailgate that the car's design had always promised. The hatchback also had the added benefit of a larger rear window, as such a design would no longer encroach on the boot opening. There was also a Colt 1000F Van model, with round taillights and the same engine specifications as the sedan. The 1000F remained in production until May 1969, after which only 1.1-liter models were available. File:Mitsubishi-Colt1000F.JPG, Mitsubishi Colt 1000F File:Mitsubishi-Colt1000Frear.JPG, Mitsubishi Colt 1000F

Competition

The Colt 1000F became Mitsubishi's first ever

rally car Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

. The company which would go on to score multiple

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

s and

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...

wins began with an unexpected class victory, and fourth place overall, in the 1967

Southern Cross Rally The Southern Cross Rally was a major international rally mainly held in the Port Macquarie region of New South Wales, Australia, between 1966 and 1980. The rally attracted many of the world's leading rally drivers and factory teams. The inaugura ...

in Australia with a 1000F fastback.

Colt 1100F

In August 1968, the Colt F received the engine from the Colt 1100 sedan and became the Colt 1100F. This also marked the introduction of a four-door version with a fastback styled rear but again without a tailgate. This four-door bodywork was only ever available with the 1.1-litre engine. Top speed was while the 400-meter sprint took 19.7 seconds. A , , twin-carb "Super Sport" version also appeared in October 1968. The Super Sport was able to go one better than its Colt 1000 sibling: 1100Fs finished third overall (and first and second in class) at the 1968

. In 1968 a Colt 1100F two-door was brought over to the United Kingdom for evaluation, and was also tested by ''

Car Magazine ''Car'' is a British automotive enthusiast magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. International editions are published by Bauer Automotive in Republic of Korea (since March 2016), Brazil, China, Greece, India, Italy (through 201 ...

''. They praised the revvy engine and the sturdy suspension, but considered the car cramped and said that the ride was bouncy and inclined to pitch. The Colt also had a very quiet engine, with very little road and wind noise. In the end nothing came of it, and Mitsubishi (as the Colt Car Company) stayed out of the UK until 1974.

Colt 11-F (A82)

In May 1969 the lineup was revamped and renamed the Colt 11-F (chassis code A82), as the one-litre models were dropped. The 11-F lost the peculiar top-hinged rear side windows, instead getting a single, large piece which opened by swinging out. The grille was also new. The "cooking" versions (Standard, DeLuxe, Super DeLuxe) came with a version of the pushrod KE44 engine, and was available with all five different bodystyles. The 11-F Super Sports (shortened to 11-F SS in October for the 1970 model year, a version which also gained front disc brakes) received the same 73 hp engine as the previous Super Sports, and was available only in the two-door body. There was also a Sports version, featuring most Super Sports options but with the less powerful engine. Top speed of the SS was , with the 400-meter sprint time being knocked down to 17.7 seconds. The Colt had drum brakes all around, with the fronts being of the twin-leading design. The vans and pickups continued in production and received similar updates as did the sedans, albeit usually a couple of months later. The working vehicles did not have the "F" in their name, since they were not fastbacks, and were instead called Colt 11-Van and Colt Truck. The price of the updated Colt 11 Van actually dropped by around one percent, while the pickup's price remained stationary.'' The Motor Monthly'' (August 1969), p. 121 The commercial models had the same 62 PS engine as did the regular Colts. Production of the Colt 11-F ended in March 1971 (with sales continuing into October) without any true replacement, although the compact Galant FTO can be said to have taken up the Super Sports' mantle. Rallying duties had in any case already been passed to the Colt 1500 Super Sports.

References

{{Mitsubishi cars 1960-79 Colt 800 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 1965 1970s cars