Berkeley Street Sighting - 1982 Plymouth Sapporo

It's been a few years since we last looked at a Plymouth Sapporo, a butterscotch 1979 model in San Francisco. These coupes are getting to be very rare, so it's pretty special to me when I find one that runs. This '82 Sapporo, found by chance on a quiet street in Berkeley, is a later example. The Sapporo and its Dodge Challenger twin were rebadged versions of the Mitsubishi Galant Lambda coupe, and sold in the U.S. from 1978 to 1983. They were something of a midsize sport/luxury coupe and were decently equipped and sporty for their own time. Propulsion came from a 2.6 liter Mitsubishi four designed to operate on lean-burn settings until real power was needed. Transmissions were a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1979 Plymouth Sapporo

If this car looks and sounds Japanese it's because it is. It's a 1979 Plymouth Sapporo, one of Chrysler's "captive imports" that resulted from a deal with Mitsubishi. Many smaller Chryslers, Dodges and Plymouths of the late 1970s and 1980s were badge-engineered Mitsubishi products. The Sapporo and its Dodge twin, the perhaps ironically named Challenger, were based on the Mitsubishi Galant Lambda and marketed as a "personal luxury" car. The model lasted from 1976 to 1983.