A73 (LA) GSR in Retro Car Mag

[Nath76LA]

Was flicking through Retro Car Mag and came across an artical on a bloke in America with a red LA GSR with a black bonnet. Some of you may have seen pics of it on the net.

[DanTurboLancer]

This one?

[Torana68]

nice but dont forget its an A73 not an LA

[A112H]

Whats the difference? it looks exactly the same as my old LA Coupe except mine was white

[Torana68]

outside australia there are no LAs LB's GB etc these are all Chrysler Australia designation for Australian made/assembled cars, there are no A73's ( 1600 Lancers of which some are GSR's) that are LA's, JDM cars differ in detail as do Dodge (USA) and Valiant (OZ) cars etc

[DanTurboLancer]

Wow Thanks Torana!!

So why do they still have A72 or A73 on our compliance plates?
Is that how they are badged in Japan and then we in Aus rebadged them as LA LB GA etc?



BTW last i heard that Lancer pictured above was for sale!!

[Nath76LA]

Yes that's the one. And yes I should of said A73. Thank you for correcting me.

[Nath76LA]

Yeah that's correct Dan. The 72 meant it was a 1430cc and 73 meant it was a 1598cc

[Nath76LA]

From what I read in the mag the current owner had just bought it. Could be wrong as I was flicking though it quickly.

[Torana68]

Wow Thanks Torana!!

So why do they still have A72 or A73 on our compliance plates?
Is that how they are badged in Japan and then we in Aus rebadged them as LA LB GA etc?
BTW last i heard that Lancer pictured above was for sale!!

yeah it was for sale, its nice, but not at the price he wanted .There are no complaince paltes with A72 or A73 as a model

[DanTurboLancer]

Sorry, not on the compliance plate, but embossed into the Firewall, and on stickers near the drivers side inner gaurd?

[Torana68]

thats the original Jap chassis number and sticker but your rego papers have the chrysler chassis number as its an LA Chrysler Lancer

[DanTurboLancer]

ahh cool, thanks for that

[A112H]

Okay, so I am still lost. That car is identical in looks to my LA Coupe. I get the difference between a TP Magna and a 1988 Galant, while they look the same they are very different cars.
But that is a LA Coupe, maybe with a different engine but thats it. Same grill, same panels, same bonnet, same tail lights, same bumpers, same badges (except the GSR badges), same door handles and so on.
My Galant is a GC but that doesn't mean it isn't a A112H

[Torana68]

so all the people out there who want JDM cars should just stick to the australian one cause the panels are the same?
dash is diferent, trim is different (seats etc), bars should have rubber inserts, grille is the same cept for the holes for the driving (?) lights that go in the holes, different engine , suspension settings, etc etc.....

[Nath76LA]

It's a bit like a 1600 and a 510 sedan.

[A112H]

Well mine was the same, it didn't have driving lights in the grill but it had the exact same holes but they had a stylised cross with bullet point in the hole, same bumpers and tail lights. It had a 1400 in it with a cat converter type thing bolted directly to the exhaust manifold.

[Torana68]

your bumpers had rubber inserts? your missing the point here badly a JDM car is a different thing and sort after everywhere, a GSR is not a 1400 LA , its about the same as saying a 4 cylinder Torana is the same as an XU-1 , same bumpers and tail lights! same grille , different car

[A112H]

I think I have a fair understanding of imports, but appreciate the sarcasm.
The 4cly LC,LJ and TA Torana's were very different cars to GTR Torana's with different chassis, front panels, wheel base and many other parts. Would you say a 4cyl VC Commodore is not the same as a VC HDT?? Yes they are different models but they are both VC's
I think what you are trying to suggest, if I may, is that a Roadmaster is not a HQ

[DanTurboLancer]

Yeah sorry, i missunderstood what you were saying also.

So My Australian model does have the A72 (Did Aus actually get A73?).
And The Australian dealers changed that naming tittle of the vehicle to LA/LB
But due to small differences it means its not actually the same car as what the Japanese AND Americans received?
is that based just on the differences as you described earlier...

dash is diferent, trim is different (seats etc), bars should have rubber inserts, grille is the same cept for the holes for the driving (?) lights that go in the holes, different engine , suspension settings, etc etc.....

Or is there more to it than that?


Toranas aside
An Example i guess,
Japan got the Starion
America got the Conquest,
Australia got the Povo pack Starion.

Each had a different engine (Japan and America got both the Turbo 4g63T and 4G54T
Australia only got 4G63T),
each had different interior trim, and perhaps different Exterior bits...

So going by what people are chasing, and what is popular and in demand, Only the Japanese version is sought after?

Is that the equivilant of the Japanese version of the A73, and the Australian LA GSR?

----------------------------------------------

Mine is the LA with A72 (1400), is that also different to the Japanese A72 (1400)?

Or is it only the A73 (1600), and our GSR 1600 that have differences?



Thanks for your patience and infomation Torana!

[A112H]

I think what Dan is saying is what I was trying to say.

In my case, although my car is a GC Galant, it is fully inported from Japan and has no difference to the A112H, 1600 GL (besides badging) released in Japan. I figured the LA Coupe would have been the same as a 1400 A72 or A73 in Japan??

[Nath76LA]

Your LA 2 door would have came of the same line for the shell and panels, but when it came to the trim and some mechanicals we got all the pov stuff fitted to ours where Japan all the good stuff. The dash in the A73 is the same as what we got in the LB's or the LC ( I can't remember which one it was), their seats had adjustable head rests and things like thesethat differentiated their A72/A73 form our LA's.

If you go to Coltspeed Japans website, there is a section on there that has all the Japanese brocheres and you might be able to see the differences. I will have a look for the site and post the link to it soon.

[Nath76LA]

Sorry the site is Web Galant
http://webgalant.hp.infoseek.co.jp/cat_02/catlog.html

Heree is something else I found that might interest some of you
http://webgalant.hp.infoseek.co.jp/skit/mittoy.html

And another one
http://webgalant.hp.infoseek.co.jp/skit/c2_01.html

[75wagon]

Those links are gold

Thanks for those. I love the first one the best, I love seeing all the old brochures, and so, many of them

Dave...

[A112H]

Cheers for that Nath, those links are great

[Nath76LA]

If you like I 'll post a link to Web galants site. I think they're a car club in Japan for early Mitsubishi, same as what we're all here for.
They have some really interesting stuff on there, just wish I could read Japanese.

[Nath76LA]

I couldn't get the home page for some reason, but if you click on index on the page the link I posted below it will take you the home page.

http://webgalant.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ca_top.html

[A112H]

If you right click on the page you will get an option down the bottom of the pop up task bar to translate to English. It is a good read

[Nath76LA]

Thanks for that Galant_GTO. Now I don't have to try and understand Japanese.

[davetrees]

I reckon people get WAY too carried away over this model designation stuff !

They were never sold as a "Lancer A73" even in Japan ... A73 just means "Lancer with 1600 engine" - no more or less. It's just a Mitsubishi series designation. A base-spec 1600cc Lancer and a Lancer 1600GSR are still both an "A73" in Mitsubishi-speak .... whether they are what we know as the "LA" shape or "LB" shape or something in between. (It was just a facelift without a change in model designation, and occurred in different years in different markets ... same as the change from single square to twin round headlights in the Galant).

Of course cars from various manufacturers were badged differently in different markets and had differences in interior/exterior trim, etc ... so what !!

The Lancer, for example, was sold as both a Dodge Colt & a Plymouth Arrow in the USA - depending which dealer network it was sold through. Still the same car for all intents & purposes ... they are mechanically identical (or close to it). Similarly with the first series Galants .... whether they are badged as a AI, AII, 16L, Valiant, Dodge, Colt, Galant, GA, GB or whatever is pretty irrelevant. A51/A52/A53/A54 just indicates what size motor it was fitted with.

It's like the Datsun 1600 vs. Datsun 510 vs. Datsun Bluebird (depending what country you were in). They were badged as a 1600 in Australia, a 510 in the USA, and a Bluebird in Japan ... but they are all a 510 series car and the differences between them are miniscule, really.

What name a car was marketed under in a particular country (or the internal model designation used by a local manufacturer under licence) is pretty meaningless other than for "bragging rights", in my opinion.