Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Category: dots (Page 6 of 21)

Down on the Street: Hungarian Honda Civic Mk3

Time to start going again with the blog and what would be more suitable than sharing one of my holiday finds:
Down on the Street: Hungarian Honda Civic Mk3 AJ
This four door Honda Civic Mk3 (AJ I think) sedan was parked regularly next to the swimming pool of Mesteri (the village I spent my holiday at) and I suspect it is owned by one of the employees of the pool and the car itself was in great condition if you consider it is almost thirty years old by now…

The Honda Civic Mk3 sedan was designed together with British Leyland to replace the Triumph Acclaim. The car was destined to be sold under the Rover brand as this was the brand BL was pushing forward as their main brand. The Rover 200 was identical to the Civic with the exception of a difference in the nose part that looked more posh: BL clearly wished to prevent the mistake they made with the Acclaim.

This particular car is the Civic counterpart that was sold less regular in Europe thanks to Rover owning the right to sell the 200 for the first years exclusively to countries where they were present. So this Civic is actually quite a rarity on the European soil! ;)

All this is something I recently learned from an 80s Honda/Toyota history book so I was unaware of this during my holiday. Actually the reason why I took the picture of the car was a nice detail on the boot lid spoiler: Continue reading

Down on the Street: Prestine Honda Civic Mk1

It is just a joy to bring my son to school everyday. For almost two years now I’ve been passing either a Honda Accord Mk2 or a Honda Civic S Mk2 (or both!) at the same parking lot. Of course I was very thrilled to see another nostalgic Honda appearing in that very same parking lot:
Down on the Street: Honda Civic Mk1
Yes, a little red Honda Civic Mk1! A 1200 automatic to be a bit more precise. ;)

A bit more up close you can really make out it is in excellent condition: Continue reading

DOTS: 1990 Nissan 200SX drifter


It doesn’t happen very often anymore that I encounter interesting cars down on the streets. Finding a interesting Japanese sportscar like this Nissan 200SX RS13 is quite rare and what is even rarer: it is used as a grassroots drift car!
Nissan 180SX RS13 drifter
Nissan 180SX RS13 drifter

Judging from the side this car has seen some action already. And what was more surprising: the 200SX passed me a couple of days later and the driver turned out to be a girl.

The rear of the car was empty and a strutbrace was placed between the two rear towers to give the body more stiffness.
Nissan 180SX RS13 drifter
Nissan 180SX RS13 drifter

Extra gauges are placed in the A pilar:
Nissan 180SX RS13 drifter
Nissan 180SX RS13 drifter

The body had a matte respray not too long ago and I must admit the matte finish makes this car stand out even more!

DOTS: Fungilicious Nissan Cherry N12


Some time ago I was cycling around my hometown and passing some buildings with a huge fence around it and I took this picture:
What is that behind all that bokeh?
What is that behind all that bokeh?

Now what is hiding behind all that bokeh?

It is a fungilicious Sunny B11Cherry N12:
Nissan Cherry N12 covered in fungus!
Nissan Cherry N12 covered in fungus!

Now that was a nice surprise!

Nissan Cherry N12 covered in fungus!
Nissan Cherry N12 covered in fungus!

I had to climb all the way up here to take a picture of that car. From the road the car was hardly visible.

Nissan Cherry N12 covered in fungus!
Nissan Cherry N12 covered in fungus!

Apparently I was cycling on a road behind some wrecking yards and the one specialized in Mercedes Benz delivery vans did not really have the use for a Nissan Cherry N12 and just put it on top of a pile of rusty old vans. The car must have been there for ages now since it is gathering all this fungus… I hardly wish to know how much of that stuff is actually inside as well. :(

DOTS: Miata hunting! (part eightteen)

No I’m not dead…yet. I’m just in holiday mode so a bit less postings will be made in the upcoming weeks.

Not to refrain you from your daily dose of JDMness I’ll give you the photo of this Miata I spotted earlier this week:
Down on the Street: Black 1994 Mazda Miata
Down on the Street: Black 1994 Mazda Miata

As you can see it rained heavily meaning a topless Miata would have been no fun at all!
You don’t see too many black Miatas, so I guess this one really is an exception to the rule. :)

DOTS: 1984 Brown Nissan Laurel C31

No it’s color is not brown because of the rust on it. Even though it does have some rusty spots, this Laurel is still in a fairly good condition. Only on the left side it does need some attention to its doors.
1984 Brown Nissan Laurel C31
1984 Brown Nissan Laurel C31

I spotted it around the corner from where I work. Never saw it before at that spot but I did spot the Laurel a few times around town.

This particular Laurel is one of the last C31s sold in the Netherlands (replaced by the C32 in 1984) and it features the trusty 2.4 liter L24 propelling the brown Apollo to amazing speeds with 130ps.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2024 Banpei.net

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑