Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Author: banpei (Page 42 of 318)

Not dead yet…

It has been a while since the last posting on the blog. To be more precise: 37 days and the posting before that another 24 days. It is a miracle nobody called 911 yet! ;)
The past three months have been quite difficult and stressful for me in terms of personal life so I haven’t had the time nor the feeling to blog about anything. I have the feeling everything I’m getting back on my feet again so whenever I have time and feel to post I won’t hesitate. (I know… promises…)
I’m also going to attend the JapFest event at Zandvoort this weekend, which used to be called Japanse Autosport Festival in the past. Looking forward going there and shooting many many many photos and videos!

Anyway, to keep you satisfied in the meanwhile how about reposting some deep dished SSR rims by Zeppann?
Deep dished SSR rims
Is that deep enough?

In case you are wondering which model rims they are: Continue reading

What if: the Saint would drive a Nissan Silvia CSP311?

I had an interesting thought when I watched BANKAKUEMIKO’s video on a white Nissan Silvia CSP311: what if Roger Moore would have driven a Nissan Silvia CSP311 in the original Saint TV series? The white Silvia looked so classy, elegant and exciting that the Saint certainly would have bought one if he could have.
Nissan Silvia CSP311
A little bit of background: The Saint (played by Roger Moore) drove a white Volvo P1800 coupe in the TV series where both the director and Roger Moore both owned one and used it for the TV series. They had to choose between the Jaguar E-type and the Volvo P1800 as they were brand new cars that got revealed at the Geneva Motor Show and chose for the latter. The Volvo P1800 initially was a hand built car by Jensen using a Volvo engine and suspension. Enter the Nissan Silvia CSP311: it was a hand built car using the Nissan Fairlady engine and suspension.

Now I know it could not have been the Nissan Silvia CSP311 as the original Saint TV series was aired from 1962 onwards (so filming started early 1962) and the Nissan Silvia CSP311 was revealed in September 1964 at the Tokyo Motor Show. So there was a gap of two and a half years. Also the main reason for featuring a foreign car on an English TV show was that it actually was built in the UK by Jensen so featuring an exotic car like the Silvia would have been out of the question. Still I would have loved the idea and therefore I made a terrible Photoshop of Roger Moore and the Silvia: Continue reading

Brilliant: Nissan Leopard F31 digital dashboard

Okay I admit that I love digital dashboards and I surely do love this Nissan Leopard F31 dashboard!
Nissan Leopard F31 digital dashboard
If you look at the complexity of it Nissan must have spent a fortune on getting these LCD displays fault free. ;)

The boot-up test sequence shows about everything the display can show you:

Not much more than the most necessary gauges but sufficient enough for a Gran Turismo like the Nissan Leopard F31

Direct link to video: デジパネ 日産 レパード F31 デジタルメーター UF31 NISSAN LEOPARD digital dash

Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA

On the very same day that I encountered the snowy Subaru Impreza WRX I also made photos of a snowy Mazda MX-5 NA:
Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA
This red Mazda MX-5 originates from November 1990 and was imported 14 years ago into the Netherlands.

As you can see a lot of things have changed on this MX-5 in the past 24 years:
Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA
First if all the double exhaust pipes look brilliant on it. I have no idea if they are functional or not but they don’t look fake or something.

Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA
Then there is also a boot rack (trunk rack for the US) mounted on the boot/trunk which should increase luggage capacity for long weekend trips.

Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA
The wheels are dished Rota RB rims (Minilite/Watanabe copies) but I’m unsure about the size as I did not make a clear picture of that.

Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA
Last but not least: the snowy Mazda MX-5 NA reminded me of the Miatas from Cars in this photo. I tried to add eyes and eyelids but I simply couldn’t post it here, so you will have to do the same by squinting your eyes and see for yourself. ;)

Verdict: I really love to see this Miata every morning when I bring my son to school! It hardly ever moves but I hope the owner just suspended his/her daily commute in it during wintertime.

Carina Sightings: Toyota Carina ST at Paris-Dakar

Almost seven years ago I posted about Masaru Kubota’s and Masahiro Uchida’s Toyota Carina ST joining the Paris-Dakar rally in 1982 and 1983 and today I stumbled upon this amazing photo of the very same Carina:
Carina Sightings: Masaru Kubota Toyota Carina ST AA60 Paris Dakar
To be honest: I’m speechless here. So much awesomeness being pushed out of that boxy four door sedan by team ACP!

I think the photo is part of an unknown Toyota and/or Carina brochure as it states “…across the burning sands of the Sahara…” and underneath that “turn to center pages”. This indicates there are some center pages (brochures?) with more of this. I hope I will somehow uncover this in the future.

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