Someone found an old factory-made screen window for the first-gen Mitsubishi Montero and shared it to the Mitsubishi Monteros USA Facebook group recently. Naturally, I think it’s cool as hell. Why didn’t these catch on?
The concept seems real simple: It looks like it’s just a metal and plastic insert you can pop into your Montero’s window frame while the glass is rolled down. The benefit is fresh air with a touch of sun, dust, and wind protection.
But the biggest advantage of screens, I’d imagine, would be as a line of defence against insects.
Anyone who’s ever done much low-speed wheeling through swampy areas knows the misery of being attacked by mosquitos while trying to pick a line. Gross. This would be a premium accessory for deep jungle safaris where you want to go slow to avoid crashing or scaring animals, want some air circulation, and but would rather not be bitten by bugs.
Australia’s deserts, also, can be lousy with flies so desperate for moisture that they’re liable to clog your ears and eyes if you’re moving slowly. I’ll never forget my first time across the Simpson Desert, man, a couple of dudes in the group I was riding with brought these embarrassing fly-net hats. They sure looked dumb. For the first 30 seconds. Then the rest of us, helplessly flapping our arms against an onslaught of buzzy bugs, were the dumb ones.
Moral of the story: Don’t forget to bring your bug nets!
That’s a pretty specific scenario though, which I’m guessing is why this feature never really caught on as a popular dealer accessory in the United States. Still, it’s a super cool factory piece to find so many years later.
Here are a few more pictures of one of these inserts, shared with permission, as found in its new old stock packaging. Sweet!
Feel free to hit up a Mitsubishi store and see if you can still order one of these. I didn’t have any luck.
You can see it in-box and in-action.
