Author: banpei (Page 50 of 318)

Commercial Time: Nissan Sunny and Stanza ad goof up

December 11, 2014 / banpei / 1 Comment

This 1983 Nissan Sunny B11 ad is a real gem: 30-ish female person is tied up on a half sunken boat and almost gets eaten by an inflatable rubber alligator while two bad guys in white suits and white hats (both a Panama) watch it happen and cheer on the inflatable rubber alligator:

Then she shouts for help from Sunny and a Nissan Sunny B11 Turbo sedan rushes in and the guy saves the day.

This obviously would make a fine commercial in Japan in the early 80s and would make a horrible vintage cult classic nowadays. However keep in mind that in the very same year Nissan promoted the Nissan Stanza T11 in Japan with the following family in a Stanza:

Yes, both father and son are wearing the very same white suits and very same white hats (also both a Panama).

You can watch both videos below: Continue reading

Carina Sightings: Yokosuka’s Toyota Carina AA63 for sale

December 8, 2014 / banpei / 0 Comments

Occasionally I browse Goo-Net to see if there are any interesting Toyota Carinas for sale, like a Carina Jeune or a 20v Carina. So when I spotted Yokosuka’s deep blue Toyota Carina AA63 for sale earlier today I really felt a strong pain in my heart:

Why? It is one of the nicest Carinas around and he put so much time and effort in the car!
Yes it really is the same…

On the positive side, this allows us to have a peek on all the internals of this beauty: Continue reading

Commercial Time: Nissan Leopard TR-X America

December 6, 2014 / banpei / 0 Comments

When the Nissan Leopard TR-X (pronounced Tri-X) F30 was launched it clearly was aimed to fight off the Toyota Chaser GX61 (sedan and hatchback) and Toyota Soarer MZ10 (coupe) with this all new technology platform from Nissan. This Nissan Leopard TR-X coupe really was promoted as an American highway capable grand tourer coupe.

The first (and second) generation Toyota Celica Supra was sold as the Toyota Celica XX in Japan, so the Tri-X could be a taunt by Nissan towards Toyota. BTW: Tri(ple)-X would nowadays imply something else. ;)

Why they branded it as being an American highway car is a mystery to me: they never sold the Leopard abroad. Perhaps they had the intention to do so, but that didn’t happen until the launch of the Infinity brand in 1990 and selling the four year old F31 as the Infiniti M30.

You can watch the full commercial below: Continue reading

Japanese Rustoseums: Kyusha Kai Toyota Mark II GX71 wagon

December 5, 2014 / banpei / 0 Comments

Seeing a custom car end up in a junkyard is a real shame, especially if it is a nice kyusha kai Toyota Mark II GX71 wagon like this example:

The blue color with its pearlescent paint kind of gives it away as a real show car and when BANKAKUEMIKO moves around the car the tiny details make it more and more obvious: the flushed wagon hatch, the wire wheels on the rear seat, the custom vinyl wrapped trim, the xenon lights and most obvious the lengthened bonnet which fits it right into the kyusha kai, shakotan and/or kaido racer scene. (mixes them a bit)

You can watch the full video below: Continue reading

Brilliant: longest car name on a Nissan Leopard GF31

November 18, 2014 / banpei / 0 Comments

Previously I thought the Nissan Cedric Y30 V3.0 Turbo Brougham VIP was supposed to be the longest name given to a car ever, but I stand corrected with this Nissan Leopard 870 Ultima GF31 3.0 V6 Twin Cam (intelligent adult coupe):

The Nissan Leopard GF31 is a typical mid 80s luxurious grand tourer and continuously improved with the latest and greatest technical gadgets like any Japanese car manufacturer did by the end of the 80s. Oh I love the 80s and Japanese cars from the bubble era!

The question is: what is an intelligent adult coupe?

Found at: High-Top-Fade

WTF: Mini emerging from a Daihatsu Mira Gino

November 17, 2014 / banpei / 0 Comments

When the Daihatsu Mira Gino (also known as the Trevis abroad) arrived the car world immediately spotted the similarities between the Mira Gino and the original 60s Mini. It was like Daihatsu made the missing link between the original Mini and the new (BMW) Mini. Now with a little bit of dressing up you can actually make the Mira Gino look like the original Mini:

Winged Mini inspired logo, walnut veneer all over the place, Mini slated grille and those round indicator lights at the front make it look like 00s meets 60s.

Even the Rallye Monte Carlo lookalike roof-rack and plate look convincing: