Restoring Matcha, a 1995 Mitsubishi Delica L300

I bought this vehicle shortly after moving to Denver, CO with the intent of using it to explore Colorado and the surrounding areas (see Fig. 1).

What started as an effort to fix a couple of small holes in the roof turned into a nine-month restoration project. I couldn’t help myself. I also bought this van as the COVID pandemic was just starting and none of us really understood what was about to come with lock downs etc. Restoring a vehicle had been on my bucket list since I was a kid. It was perfect timing.

What follows is a high-level summary of the project

When beginning to address the small holes in the roof, a much larger problem was uncovered. There were many holes that had rusted through and had been covered up with a massive amount of body filler. I decided to cut out the whole center section, address the hard-to-reach rust in the sub-frame, and weld in new sheet metal (see Fig. 2 & Fig. 3).

A MIG welder and a technique called stitch welding to weld the panels back in. This technique limits the heat input and reduces the risk of warping when working with sheet metal (see Fig. 4).

Several other areas of the body that had rusted through were repaired requiring some creative reconstruction techniques leveraging modern materials and methods. The van was then primed, sanded, primed again, then painted with color and clearcoat before being reassembled.

I rebuilt the front-end axles and suspension, upgraded the brakes with dual piston calipers, and replaced the auto locking hubs with manual locking hubs for increased reliability. I also maxed out the tire size and wheel configuration within the constraints of the stock frame, body, and suspension.

What resulted was one of the cleanest versions of these vans in North America (see Fig. 11). Matcha garners a lot of attention and love wherever “she” goes. I sold her to a couple in Bend, Oregon when we left Colorado for our sailing adventure in 2024, she has since been sold to another couple in Colorado. I’ve maintained contact with both sets of owners and continue to support the community.