Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Tag: cabin spirit

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

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?

1983 Motor Sports Meiju Saucer wheel ad
1983 Motor Sports Meiju Saucer wheel ad

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.

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Commercial time: Smoking the competition!

I found this video on a Japanese blog called KaZato RACING and thought I looked very familiar:

Remember the two Cabin Spirit advertisements I posted a year ago??

Thanks to that blogposting I now know who is the driver in that advertisement: Kazuyoshi Hoshino!
One of the comments (translated by Google) in that posting:
It’s nostalgic! Hoshino smoke the scene, and I remember vividly!!
I can’t agree more with that comment! :)

Source:
[KaZato RACING]

More cabin spirit with the Nissan R88 at Le Mans

I found some more Cabin Spirit:
This time it is the Nissan R88 #85 which was driven by Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Takao Wada and Aguri Suzuki. You can see Takao Wada smoking Cabin Spirits in the advertisement, would this also mean he got an ashtray mounted in that Nissan R88?

The #85 did not finish. Officially due to engine and gearbox problems, but of course we know better now: Takao Wada was lighting a cigarette Bunta style during the race and missed his shift point. Result: wasted engine and gearbox. ;)

Cabin spirit

Need concentration? Just take a Cabin Spirit!

Tobacco and racing… During the past decades, it sounded as if they were tied together strongly, however during the past few years the public opinion has changed. That makes this 1985 advertisement for Cabin cigarettes look like a bizarre combination! And then the brand name: Cabin Spirit! Inhaling smoke is just what you need in such a tight Formula 3 cabin!

Just imagine sport and smoking! What a great combination! Need concentration? Take a cigarette! Need stamina? Take another one! Sorry, but I can’t imagine this advertising would work nowadays!

However… I quit smoking 4 years ago now but after seeing this advertisement all of a sudden I am really tempted to start again! ;)

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