Author: banpei (Page 28 of 318)

Datsun Cherry E10 on KN Jupiter rims inside an office building

Down on the Street: Datsun Cherry E10 in office building!

July 10, 2020 / banpei / 0 Comments

This Datsun Cherry 100A E10 on a set of KN Jupiter rims just happened to be somewhere in the background of a Dutch news clip. It happened in a flash and I had to replay the video twice to confirm it was indeed a 100A Cherry E10. It took me 5 minutes to figure out where it actually was located…

The news clip featured a meeting room sign with the name The Louis. I googled for it and came across a shared office building called B. Building in the south-west of Amsterdam that featured a bookable meeting room with that name.

On that very same site I also found some photos of the foyer featuring the Datsun 100A standing on top of the entrance. That’s actually the photo I featured above. There is actually a link with the Datsun: the building used to be the Nissan European headquarters in Amsterdam and was later used by the clothing brand MEXX as it’s headquarters.

I found a video from 2017 about the office building with a couple of shots featuring the Datsun Cherry:
Continue reading

Manga Car Spotting - You're Under Arrest manga 6 of 8

Manga Car Spotting – Subaru Rex Combi 4WD – Nissan Skyline GTS-R R31 – You’re Under Arrest part 6

March 5, 2020 / banpei / 0 Comments

Manga Cars

What do a Subaru Rex Combi 4WD, Nissan Skyline GTS-R R31 and a 1989 RUF CTR 3.4 have in common? They are all featured in today’s You’re Under Arrest manga! Yes it’s another Manga Car Spotting video and we will continue the You’re Under Arrest series with this sixth manga by Dark Horse. It will be a longer video today as we will have to cover 15 cars and two mystery cars.

You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima

The young petrolhead Kosuke Fujishima started out as an editor and assistant of, back then not so famous, Tatsuya Egawa mangaka. This inspired him to create his own manga and the first successful manga series drawn by him was You’re Under Arrest! (逮捕しちゃうぞ) which revolves around a Tokyo police station in the business district Sumida. The two protagonists are two female police offices called Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa and both of them are petrolheads. Natsuki is the more blunt one who catches thiefs, thugs and tramps singlehanded while Miyuki is the more intelligent one who loves tinkering with cars, engines and motorcylces.

In today’s manga we will spot more than 15 cars and various motorcycles. The Honda Today police special is the main car as the duo patrols the Sumida area in this car. The Honda Today is no longer bone stock and is specially tuned to keep up with the sports cars owned by the businessmen of Sumida. Some examples of these cars are the Nissan Skyline GTS-R R31, Mazda Savanna RX-7 FC3S and RUF CTR 3.4 than can be spotted in this manga. Also a bit more luxurious cars like a Toyota Mark II Grande GX71 can be spotted. Or even the high performance pocket rocket Subaru Rex Combi 4WD!

Initially created as a spin-off of You’re Under Arrest! manga, Ah! My Goddess surpassed it in fame. Belldandy turned up in one of the manga of You’re Under Arrest and this inspired it’s creator Kosuke Fujishima to create the Ah! My Goddess manga. In this a goddess, Belldandy, meets a lowly student Keiichi Morrisato and this series ran from 1988 till 2014. I have also created a Manga Car Spotting episode for this series some time ago. As Ah! My Goddess surpassed You’re Under Arrest! in popularity, the final manga of You’re Under Arrest was released in 1992.

You can find the video and the high resolution scans of the panels containing manga cars below: Continue reading

Manga Car Spotting - Honda Today - You're Under Arrest part 5

Manga Car Spotting: Honda Today police car – Nissan Skyline R30 – You’re Under Arrest part 5

February 19, 2020 / banpei / 0 Comments

Manga Cars

What do a Honda Today police car, Nissan Skyline R30 and Nissan Homy have in common? They are all driven by the police in You’re Under Arrest! And what do they use them for? To catch yakuza and young thugs walking waving their (paintball) guns around like it’s a featherduster! In this video I’ll spot all the cars and some motorcycles in the fifth part of this Dark Horse publication.

You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima

You’re Under Arrest was one of the first manga the young Kosuke Fujishima started to draw. As he was obsessed with cars and motorcycles this became the cornerstone of this manga series. The manga mainly involves the fictional Bokuto Police Station in Sumida, Tokyo. Two female police officers, Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa, are the main characters and both are clearly petrolheads. Miyuki is the more intelligent of the two girls and, next to her police officer job, she’s also a vivid (amateur) mechanic. She loves tinkering with cars, engines and motorcycles. Natsuki on the other hand is the brute of the duo and favors motorcycles over cars.

In this manga you can spot five cars and various motorcycles. The Honda Today police car is their daily patrol car and also received some love and attention from Miyuki. Yes it can keep up easily with a Lancia Delta Integrale. Another police car can be spotted: a Nissan Skyline R30. As this is supposed to be a high speed patrol car its origins were probably with the highway patrol units and later on this car trickled down to the local police station. Another interesting car to be spotted is a Nissan Violet T11 (also knowns as the Stanza or Auster).

The Ah! My Goddess manga may have made Kosuke Fujishima (world) famous, but it’s origins lie within the You’re Under Arrest manga. In one episode Natsuki and Miyuki encounter a goddess and this story inspired Kosuke Fujishima to create the Ah! My Goddess manga where the goddess Belldandy meets the student Keiichi Morrisato. I have also created a Manga Car Spotting episode for this series some time ago.

You can find the video and the high resolution scans of the panels containing manga cars below:

Manga Car Spotting - You're Under Arrest - Subaru R-2 SS

Manga Car Spotting: Subaru R-2 SS – Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32 – You’re Under Arrest part 1 to 4

February 18, 2020 / banpei / 0 Comments

Manga Cars

What do a Subaru R-2 SS, a Toyota Sports 800, a Honda Motocompo and a Honda Today have in common? They are all driven by the police in You’re Under Arrest! And what do they use them for? Naturally to chase down fast cars like Toyota Supra A70s and Nissan Skyline GT-Rs in the early 90s! In this video I’ll spot all the cars and some motorcycles in the first four parts of this Dark Horse publication.

You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima

You’re Under Arrest was one of the original series the young Kosuke Fujishima started to draw. As he was obsesses with cars and motorcycles this naturally became part of the manga series. The series revolve around the fictional Bokuto Police Station in Sumida, Tokyo. The two protagonists are the female police officers Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa who share a healthy petrolhead mentality. Natsumi prefers motorbikes over cars and is the more physical of the duo. Miyuki on the other hand loves cars and loves to wrench on them whenever she can. She is also the brains of the duo.

In this manga various (in)famous cars and motorbikes can be spotted. The duo drives around in a Honda Today police special, which has been blessed by Miyuki’s wrenching skills and can easily keep up with Toyota Supras and Lancia Delta Integrales. Another frequent visitor is the foldable Honda Motocompo that resides in the trunk of the Honda Today for, whatever reason possible, Natsuki to chase some bad guys downtown Tokyo. Also the Subaru R-2 SS mentioned in the introduction plays a big role on one of the story: the owner of the Subaru R-2 SS gets this car nicked and Natsuki ends up buying it. That just screams for a motorcycle engine swap!

You can find the video and the high resolution scans of the panels containing manga cars below: Continue reading

Happy New Year!

January 2, 2020 / banpei / 2 Comments

Happy New year! I wish you all the best for 2020 and I hope this year will bring me more (free) time to spend on my hobbies!

Youtube and Car Mashups website

Talking about spending time on my hobbies: as you may have heard through one of my youtube videos: in 2019 I created a website called Car Mashups and this ate up about all spare time that I have left in my busy life. I have only posted three videos to the Youtube channel in 2019, while I posted 20 in the year prior to that. My three year old daughter skips her afternoon naps, so no more spare time during my daddy-days. All that is left is my commute to work time and all that got dedicated to the Car Mashups website this year.

Car Mashups website basically is a website publishing car mashups. I’ve created a generator that will mash up two different cars into a new one. An example of such craftsmanship can be seen below with this mashup of a Nissan Skyline GTX-E C110 and a Nissan Cherry X-1R KE10:

Yes I travel by public transport and this means I can spend about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours a day to whatever I like. Since the Car Mashups site required many cars to be added I dedicated my commute time to this project. I’ve now entered a equilibrium where I think sufficient cars are present to mashup to new cars. I will add new ones, but at a much lower pace than before.

Downloadable coloring books

I’ve also made a couple of downloadable coloring books available through the AEU86 shop: the Bosozoku Style Coloring Book in downloadable format, the first Car Mashups Mazbaru SA60 Coloring Book (Mazda Savanna RX7 + Subaru 360) and the second Car Mashups Mitsuota Garina AMG Surf Coloring Book. An example of such a coloring book would be:

New years resolution

That means I can spend more time on the other hobbies of mine, including creating Youtube videos and content for this site. Or at least, that’s basically my New Years resolution for 2020! So if you read this posting January 2021 and this is the top post on my blog, something went horribly wrong. ;)

What if Toyota sold Kaido Racers?

May 11, 2018 / banpei / 0 Comments

What if Toyota sold kaido racers?

Today I’ll try to answer the question “what if Toyota actually sold zokusha”. Zokusha, also better known as Kaido racers or bosozoku style cars, are cars that have been modified to the extreme. The style varies from race car inspired modifications, like enormous fender flares and super wide wheels, to bizarrely shaped objects, like sharknosed frontends and oddly shaped exhaust pipes.

This car styling started somewhere in the early 1970s and became extremely popular near the end of that decade and remained popular throughout the 1980s. Now why would Toyota ever sell these oddly modified cars? Would there be demand for such a car? In this new video series I’ll try to answer questions like this using a thought experiment, imagining what could happen.

Author: banpei (Page 28 of 318)

Down on the Street: Datsun Cherry E10 in office building!

Manga Car Spotting – Subaru Rex Combi 4WD – Nissan Skyline GTS-R R31 – You’re Under Arrest part 6

Manga Cars

You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima

Manga Car Spotting: Honda Today police car – Nissan Skyline R30 – You’re Under Arrest part 5

Manga Cars

You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima

Manga Car Spotting: Subaru R-2 SS – Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32 – You’re Under Arrest part 1 to 4

Manga Cars

You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima

Happy New Year!

Youtube and Car Mashups website

Downloadable coloring books

New years resolution

What if Toyota sold Kaido Racers?

What if Toyota sold kaido racers?

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