This is the Mitsubishi Pajero. Except in Spanish-speaking countries, where it’s definitely not.
Nor is it in TLCB’s home nation, where ‘Pajero’ isn’t an exceptionally rude word, but where ‘Shogun’ just sounds cooler.
Anyway, whatever it’s called, this Lego recreation of the ’90s Pajero/Shogun/Montero by regular bloggee SP_LINEUP is rather excellent, and there’s more of it to see at his photostream.
Click the link above to take a look. Unless you’re Spanish.
This is the Mitsubishi Pajero. Or not, depending on where you live. Mitsubishi’s toughest 4×4 was originally named after the pampas cat (Leopardus Pajeros), but the word means something entirely different in many Spanish-speaking countries…
TLCB Towers are not situated in a Spanish-speaking country, but nevertheless the big 4×4 is called something different here too. The Shogun, as it’s known in our market, was one of the founders of the modern SUV craze, but has long since been left behind by more car-like rivals. In fact we can’t remember the last time we saw a new-ish Shogun on the road.
We do still occasionally see early ones though, as they keep going forever. This lovely 6-wide mini-figure scale model of a late ’80s Shogun comes from previous bloggee Pixel Fox, adding to his already impressive line-up of Lego 4x4s. Take a look via the link above.
This little red box is a 1980s 3-door Mitsubishi Pajero, and we want one. Launched long before the SUV/crossover craze arrived, the humble Pajero came from a time when Japanese off-roaders ruled, and they really could go off-road. This made them horrible to drive on-road of course, but back in the ’80s if you bought a Pajero there was probably a good chance that you did actually want to take it away from the black stuff.
This brilliant Technic recreation of one of the finest ’80s 4x4s comes from Kevin Moo of Eurobricks, and not only does it look absolutely spot-on it’s packing some neat functionality too, with remote control drive and steering, LED head and tail lights, working suspension, and an opening hood, doors and tailgate. There’s lots more to see of Kevin’s remote controlled Mitsubishi Pajero model at the Eurobricks discussion forum – Click the link above to make a jump to 1982.
If there’s one defining characteristic of Japanese cars from the 1990s it’s Black Plastic. Lots of Black Plastic. Despite this affliction the ’90s were something of a golden age for Japanese manufacturers, when Toyota, Mitsubishi and Subaru all ruled the WRC, Mazda won at Le Mans, and Honda were Formula 1 World Champions.
However, unlike today’s other ’90s Japanese post, this car isn’t one of the era’s highlights. The Mitsubishi Shogun / Pajero was quite a successful 4×4 (long before the term ‘SUV’ came into being), but it came from a time when all 4x4s were, frankly, a bit crap. This one is the three-door Pajero, which makes it particularly pointless. Oddly though, with the rise of the increasingly unnecessary small-SUV, it’d probably be quite popular these days.
This excellent Model Team replica of the Mitsubishi Pajero has been built by TLCB regular Senator Chinchilla, and he’s absolutely nailed the ’90s Black Plastic. There’s more to see at his photostream – click the link above to make the trip.
Back in the ’90s before SUVs became fashionable hatchbacks and every manufacturer added several to their line-up, the Japanese had a monopoly on compact 4x4s. Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi led the way with proper body-on-frame vehicles with genuine off-road ability.
One of the smallest was a three door version of Mitsubishi’s Pajero, known as the ‘Pinin’. Except we won’t call it the Pajero because here in the UK it had a far cooler name: the Shogun. Previous TLCB bloggee piterx has recreated the ’90s Shogun he owns in real life in Technic form, and it’s got some serious Lego engineering under its minimalist bodywork.
Squeezed into the tiny Pinin wheelbase is a proper all-wheel-drive system, remote controlled drive, steering, 4 speed sequential gearbox with reverse and an automated clutch. It doesn’t stop there either, as working brakes (with brake lights), MacPherson front suspension, live axle rear suspension and opening doors, hood and tailgate all feature too.
You can view all the photos of this brilliant engineering via Eurobricks at the link above, plus you can see the Shogun in action on YouTube – just click play below!