We’ve talked about it before, and here’s a first-hand account of the infamous speed warning chime on our 1989 Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon (L300).

As you can hear in the video, the chime goes off when the speedometer shows 100 km/h. Since we have the larger Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 tires (30×9.50 vs. the original 215/80R15), our actual speed in which the chime is triggered is about 66 mph or 106 km/h. The odd thing about this chime is that it sounds like it might be an actual bell behind the dash somewhere. And in fact, we found a video showing what believe is a similar mechanism.

I’ve been told it’s easy to disable this annoying little chime—it’s like two wires—which we’ll inevitably do. While the Delica, aka the Space Tractor, isn’t fast, it will still easily cruise at 66 mph (106 km/h), and it’s really irritating when this little bell won’t shut the hell up.

So why is there a warning anyhow?

In Japan, highway speeds are as fast as 100 km/h, so apparently Mitsubishi didn’t want its Delica buyers to get tickets, so it reminds you to slow your 4WD van down, son! No need to be driving all crazy and shit!

Now granted, the 4D56 engine redlines at about 4,500  RPM, and at 65 mph, we’re spinning about 3,100 on our larger tires. So there isn’t much room to go too fast. We did take it up to 70 mph, and it still felt fine. But that speed chime has got to go.