2004 Mitz Lancer Ralliart Edition 5-speed Manual Trans Low Reserve Salvage Title on 2040-cars

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What to expect from the Japanese trial of Nissan and Greg Kelly

TOKYO — The criminal trial against Japanese automaker Nissan and its former executive Greg Kelly will open in Tokyo District Court on Tuesday. ItÂ’s the latest chapter in the unfolding scandal of Carlos Ghosn, a superstar at Nissan until he and Kelly were arrested in late 2018. Five questions and answers about the trial: Q: WHAT ARE THE ALLEGATIONS? A: The charges center around KellyÂ’s role in alleged under-reporting of GhosnÂ’s future compensation by about 9 billion yen ($85 million), a violation of financial laws. Kelly says he is innocent. Nissan, which is also similarly charged, has already acknowledged guilt, made corrections to the compensation documents submitted to the authorities, and has started paying a 2.4 billion yen ($22.6 million) fine. Q: WHAT HAPPENS TO GHOSN? A: Probably nothing. He skipped bail late last year and is now in Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan. Two Americans, Michael Taylor and his son Peter Taylor are being held in Massachusetts without bail, suspected of having helped Ghosn escape by hiding in a box on a private jet. A U.S. judge recently approved their extradition to Japan. The case is now before the U.S. State Department. Q: HOW DO CRIMINAL TRIALS PROCEED IN JAPAN? A: The trial, before a panel of three judges, is expected to take about a year. There is no jury. Juries are selected only for extremely serious cases in Japan, such as murder. In principle, there are no plea bargains although backroom deals are made all the time. Closed pre-trial sessions are held ahead of the trialÂ’s opening, often for months before the real trial begins. Japan's legal system has come under fire from both within and outside the country as “hostage justice” because suspects often are held for months and interrogated without a lawyer present, often leading to false confessions, according to critics. Q: WHAT ARE KELLYÂ’S CHANCES? A: More than 99% of criminal trials in Japan result in a conviction. Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori, in an online presentation in English hosted by the Japanese Embassy in the U.S., argued the conviction rate is so high because Japan prosecutes only about a third of the cases that come up, choosing only those that “result in guilty verdicts.” She insisted there is a “presumption of innocence.” She declined comment on KellyÂ’s case.

Look what West Coast Customs did to a 100-year-old Mitsubishi Model A

A hundred years ago, Mitsubishi made its first car, called the Model A. Back in April of this year, the automaker said it would update an example of that original model, electrifying it with the help of West Coast Customs. The result is the Mitsubishi Re-Model A, which combines old-school looks with the automaker's plug-in hybrid powertrain borrowed from the Outlander PHEV. To make room for the Outlander PHEV's chassis, West Coast Customs had to stretch the body of the Model A, while attempting to retain as much of its original form as possible. Once that was completed, they gave the car new door panels and modern steering wheel and parking brake. With two drive motors, the Re-Model A gets Mitsubishi's Super All-Wheel Control. The resulting car is a little funky looking. It's got wide, modern wheels and tires that look out of place. The front end takes on a new shape that looks odd from certain angles. On the plus side, it's probably faster and better to drive (depending on your perspective) than the original, which had a 2.8-liter four-cylinder engine producing 35 horsepower. We drove the 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV that the Re-Model A gets its chassis from, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Still, watching the mechanics tear down a 100-year-old vehicle — which will never be the same again — makes us cringe. Mitsubishi has a microsite devoted to the Re-Model A if you'd like to learn more. Related Video:

Junkyard Gem: 1986 Mitsubishi Cordia L

New Mitsubishi cars first showed up in the United States with Dodge Colt badging in the 1971 model year, and a broad range of Dodge- and Plymouth-badged Mitsubishis followed them across the Pacific in subsequent years. For the 1983 model year, cars bearing Mitsubishi badges finally appeared here, and there were four models available to start with: the Starion, Mighty Max, Tredia and Cordia. The sporty Starion and the sibling-to-the-Ram-50 Mighty Max pickup remain well-known to this day, but the Tredia and its Cordia platform-mate have all but disappeared from streets, junkyards and — for most of us — memories. I thought I'd never see another discarded Cordia again after spotting a first-year example nearly a decade ago, but then this '86 showed up in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service car graveyard recently. The Cordia and Tredia were the same car, mechanically speaking. The Tredia was a subcompact sedan priced to compete with the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, while the Cordia was a slick-looking liftback coupe that sought to lure potential buyers away from the likes of the Datsun 200SX, Toyota Celica and Isuzu Impulse. Both the Cordia and Tredia sold very well in Australia and New Zealand, but North Americans mostly ignored the Cordia and laughed at the Tredia. The last model year for both models in America was 1988. The Cordia was a cousin to the Galant and had the same front-wheel-drive layout. In 1986, Cordia engine choices were a naturally-aspirated 2.0-liter 4G63 straight-four rated at 88 horsepower and 108 pound feet and a turbocharged 1.8-liter 4G62T straight-four with 116 horsepower and 129 pound-feet. This car has the 2.0. A five-speed manual transmission was base Cordia equipment, but the original purchaser of this car opted for the 380-buck automatic (that's 1,067 of today's bucks). The emissions sticker tells us that this is a California-market car rather than a "49-state" version. Surprisingly for a car like this in the middle 1980s, an AM/FM stereo radio was base equipment. That worked out well for those who enjoyed the great music of the era. However, if you wanted to play cassettes you had to pay extra. This setup with separate cassette deck was fairly common during the decade; the cost for the 1986 Cordia was $133 (about $374 in 2023 dollars). The paint is faded but the interior doesn't look terribly thrashed.