Category: picture of the week (Page 1 of 6)

Isuzu R6 spider by Takashi Jufuku – Cutaway Drawings

April 4, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

This Isuzu R6 Spider is one of those racing cars from the late-1960s and early-1970s that punched well above its weight! Let’s honour it with this cutaway drawing by Takashi Jufuku!

Isuzu R6 Spider cutaway drawing by Takashi Jufuku

Powered by the same DOHC inline-4 that powered the Isuzu Bellet, it wasn’t a promising combo. The engine featured Solex PHH carburettors and had an output of 180hp in the R6 spider. Magic happened and it managed to qualify as second on the Suzuka 500km and managed to finish 4th.

The spider shouldn't be confused with the 1969 Isuzu R6 coupé — The spider shouldn’t be confused with the 1969 Isuzu R6 coupé

Even though the R6 Spider featured the same engine, it shouldn’t be confused with the 1969 Isuzu R6 coupé. The Spider was an open top development of the coupé.

The R6 Spider did compete in most other Gran Championship races in 1970 before being succeeded by the Isuzu R7 which was powered by a Chevrolet V8. The arm of GM was apparently longer than the Pacific Ocean and it’s a shame the Isuzu inline-4 was ditched in favour of the Chevy V8.

Nissan Skyline GT-ES C210 Japan – Picture of the Week

December 27, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

After an extra long Christmas weekend, all we can do is just sit down and be a couch potato. So why not just stare at this beautiful cutaway drawing of a hardtop Nissan Skyline C210?

Nissan Skyline GT-ES C210 hardtop cutaway drawing

The fifth generation Skyline was also better known as the Skyline Japan. It received this nickname due to the Nissan TV ads emphasizing the Japanese origins of the Skyline by ending the ad with an American voice-over saying “Skyline…Japan”. A collection of ads can be found below:

The 1973 Nissan ESV had one thing in common with a sub: the periscope! — 1973 Nissan ESV with a periscope

Cutaway drawing of the 1973 Nissan ESV – Picture of the Week

December 21, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

I had never heard of the 1973 Nissan ESV before, but I accidentally bumped into a couple of photos on the Nissan Newsroom website. In the early 1970s, the Japanese government forced automakers to invest money and time into vehicle safety and Nissan announced in 1971 it would create the ESV. Apparently not only Volvo was doing experimental safety vehicles, but the whole of Japan. The result of that push can be seen in the two ESVs Nissan created.

The E2 was aimed more towards absorbing impact energy:

This cutaway drawing gives me more questions than answers. What is the deal with that Pedestrian Safety Device? Is that a bull bar to ensure pedestrians are flipped into the air over the car to ensure they don’t hit the windshield?

Cutaway photo of the first generation Toyota Estima

Toyota Previa dissected in a cutaway drawing – Picture of the Week

December 14, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

Earlier this week, I posted a Toyota Estima L Aeras G Limited ACR30 in Down on the Street. Today I will feature the non-JDM sister car the Toyota Previa in Picture of the Week. As it involves the first and second generations, I should have named that Pictures of the Week.

It’s funny how much you can actually observe from a cutaway drawing. Last week I already posted my amazement over the Galant GTO’s rear leaf springs. In the cutaway drawing of the Previa, I was also able to deduce a lot of things!

Cutaway drawing of the first generation Toyota Previa TCR20L

The first cutaway drawing above depicts the first-generation Previa. I’ve narrowed it down to a TCR20L as it is a seven-seater (eight-seater has the code TCR10L) and is a left-hand-drive example.

Was the Galant GTO still on leafsprings?

Cutaway Mitsubishi Galant GTO MR – Picture of the Week

December 7, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

Even though I have a soft spot for Mitsubishi, I post far too little content involving that brand. So to make up for that, here is a cutaway drawing of one of my all time favorite Mitsubishi cars: the Galant GTO MR.

Mitsubishi Galant GTO MR cutaway drawing

The drawing is attributed to Takashi Jufuku and this is definitely one of his earlier works. I would personally say this was drawn when the Galant GTO was still new.

What I love about this cutaway drawing, is that you can actually see how the Galant GTO is built. One of the things I wasn’t aware of is that, despite being the high end performance model, it was still on leaf springs! Another detail that brings up more questions is what is that center pod on the roof supposed to be? Pilot lights?

And finally, the exhaust third muffler is mounted vertically. A single exhaust pipe enters this muffler, but two pipes exit, make a twist and then are sticking out of the back horizontally again. What a waste of resources to make this car look more sporty with two exhaust pipes. At least they were “functional” and not some cosmetically added pipes.

What's the story of the BRE Hino Samurai?

Cutaway BRE Hino Samurai – Picture of the Week

November 30, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

If you never heard from the BRE Hino Samurai, you’re not alone! I did read about it years ago, but I forgot about it until I spotted this awesome cutaway drawing by Takashi Jufuku!

Cutaway drawing of the BRE Hino Samurai by Takashi Jufuku

You may be familiar with Brock Racing Enterprises (BRE) with the Datsun connection. However, before Peter Brock joined forces with Nissan on that endeavour, he first created the Samurai for Hino Motors. This is completely unrelated to the Hino DSL RSB race car!

Hino History in a nutshell

Back in the 1960s, Hino Motors was still a passenger car manufacturer and they were churning out Hino Contessas by the masses. In my opinion, the Hino Contessa is one of the most beautiful cars ever to be made in Japan. My opinion doesn’t just limit itself to the beautifully styled Contessa Sprint and Contessa Coupe, also the basic four-door Contessa’s are almost equally beautiful! I really must create a blog post about the Contessa soon. But I digress…