Category: WTF (Page 1 of 18)

Morris Minor with AE86 pizzacutter wheels? What's the story behind that?

Celestial Morris Minor on AE86 pizza cutter wheels – WTF?!

May 9, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

Wait, what? A Morris Minor on a Japanese car-oriented blog? That’s right, but this Celestial Minor is very special as it carries a secret in its underpinnings and these AE86 pizzacutter wheels should give you a hint in the correct direction.

A Celestial 1970 Morris Minor with AE86 pizzacutter wheels

The Morris Minor was a car that was manufactured between 1948 and 1971. If you’re less familiar with the history of the British car industry, Morris merged with Austin in 1952 and became the British Motor Company, also known as BMC. In 1968 BMC merged with Leyland Motors (Triumph and Rover) and became British Leyland. Why is this important? Well, because the Minor in question was produced under British Leyland in 1970, this could have been one of the very last Minors produced.

Is this Honda Prelude full of Excess? Or is it just More Collage?

More Collage Excess Prelude by First Molding – WTF?!

May 5, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

I’m sure that the phrase More Collage Excess Prelude by First Molding will be identified as being written by AI if you pass it through an AI checker! These random words aren’t as random as you might think!

More Collage Excess Prelude by First Molding isn't an AI generated sentence! — More Collage Excess Prelude by First Molding isn’t an AI-generated sentence!

First Molding company

The company in question is called First Molding. No, that’s not a spelling error, it’s the American spelling of the word moulding. The name has been derived from the company’s origins.

What does this Quatrelle has to do with a Lapin?

Happy Easter with the Suzuki Lapin!

March 31, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

I wish you a happy Easter with one of the cutest cars by Suzuki: the Lapin! Lapin means rabbit or bunny in French, so now you know the connection with the Easter bunny!

Lapin history

The Suzuki Lapin was launched in 2002 as a cubical kei car based on the underpinnings of the Suzuki Alto. It also got sold as the Mazda Spanio under the Autozam flag, but that car is less interesting as it’s just a rebadged version of the Lapin.

Rabbit accents everywhere!

Is the Sangyo Carol a love child of the Ronal Turbo and the Work Equip 01?

What’s up with this Suzuka Carol Levin AE86 wheels? – Commercial Time – WTF?!

March 14, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

I’m sure you must have a couple of WTFs in your head by now: a Suzuka Carol Levin AE86? Isn’t that supposed to be a Mazda Carol or a Toyota Corolla Levin AE86? No, it isn’t in this advertisement:

Suzuka Sangyo Carol wheels advertisement with a Corolla Levin AE86

Whacky advertisement text

The Japanese writing reads:
You might call it a space technology
but this wheel holds the
“romance of driving” of a new era.
Right, so these Suzuka Carol wheels are supposed to be space technology that holds the romance of driving in a new era?

What are Suzuka Sangyo Carol wheels?

When I searched for Suzuka wheels, I could only find cheap knock-off wheels that are called Suzuka. I found via Kyusha Shoes that Suzuka Sangyo is the brand that made the Carol wheel. What I also found out is that Suzuka Sangyo actually was the brand behind the Long Champ XR4 wheel and the wheel was manufactured by SSR. This really surprised me as I was under the impression it was SSR who manufactured and sold it. Anyway, I digress…

Is this the American Dream? A Pontiac Trans Am with Work Equip Excel Spinning wheels?

Rock’n Roll Works Equipped with the American Dream – WTF?!

March 7, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

This Work Equip advertisement is another wacky magazine advertisement from a random Japanese magazine. It’s just mindboggling what the designers must have thought when they composed this advertisement. Let’s go over all those texts in the advertisement!
City after dark is our stage!
You look so fine tonight!
Let our dreams run all through the night
I’m your heroin
May I sit next to you?
We’re the real Rock’n Rollers
Come with us, Equip!
You, get off!
American Dream, you are going to be us

Work Equip magazine advertisement featuring the band Serika with Dog

I’m quite puzzled by the I’m your heroin May I sit next to you? I could interpret this in various ways. Also, by the absence of a female person in this advertisement, the meaning of heroin makes me fear the worst!

Would you like some Meiju Saucer on your Honda City? – Commercial Time

February 27, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

This aero kit and Saucer wheels on the Honda City was developed in the early 1980s by a tuning shop called Motor Sports Meiju in the Kyoto prefecture in Japan. 40 years onwards, it looks strange and heavily dated. It looks crude and this is not how Aero evolved over the past 40 years. So what is it and who is this Keiji dude sitting with a wheel in his lap?

Motor Sports Meiju history

I guess I first have to explain what Motor Sports Meiju is. It all begins with the late racing driver Keiji Matsumoto (松本恵二). Matsumoto started his career in 1968 when he bought a used Toyota Corolla and, unbeknownst to his parents, he stripped off all unnecessary accessories and started practising on Suzuka Circuit and the Higashiyama route near his hometown of Kyoto. He debuted in 1969 in the T-1 class and worked his way up via FJ1300 to F2000, a precursor to the F2 class in 1976. In 1979 he managed to win the, by now renamed, F2 class. Shortly after this, he started his own tuning shop called Motor Sports Meiju. Matsumoto is a very well-known Japanese racing driver and featured in many Cabin Spirit ads.