Remembering Japanese cars from the past
After last weeks puppy saving Carina with Sonny Chiba we have two other Carina videos featuring him:
The Sporty Special looks like a great car to me! Could it have been a special version of the Carina GT coupe TA45 or was it just the ordinary LX or XT?
How about Sonny Chiba driving the Swiss Alps then?
Lovely sight to see the Carina coupe driving through the mountains! Even the Swiss Rescue give their thumbs up!
Some time ago I already featured the Mitsubishi Galant Sigma seats in the Commercial time features. I found these 1985 Mitsubishi Galant Sigma Eterna (hardtop) commercials:
Judging from the shot featuring the woman at the rear seats they still loved to put in those fluffy seats. Also the song in the video goes on about You haven’t changed a bit while it is clear that the car actually has changed 99% over its previous generation! Just have a look at all its new features!
Not only did it introduce the new V6 6G71 Cyclone engine, it also introduced the switch from RWD to FWD to the Galant lineup.
I really love these commercials: the Japanese voice-over pronouncing the Galanto Siguma Hardutoppo and the totally misplaced Cyclone promo! (It actually looks like a Dyson commercial!)
So the You haven’t changed a bit part did not apply to the car itself, but to its fluffy seats?
Two days ago Nissan launched their new Kei car called the Roox. Basically it is the same old story of a shoebox size car on wheels. You may wonder how do they would actually sell such a thing! Well, this is the way to sell such a car in Japan:
Just show how big the car is by having a couple of kids (and a rabbit) dance inside it!
Damn catchy tune! I’ve already got it in my head after watching the commercial only three times! So if you still haven’t got enough of that tune and want to learn the dancing routine, watch this:
Both the car, the tune and the dancing reminds me a bit of all those daikoku futo dancers… Maybe that is the public they want to attract with this car. Somehow I can picture a Roox filled up with a bunch of speakers, neon and smoke machine! :D
We all know Japanese love to use (foreign) actors in their commercials and Jan-Michael Vincent (Stringfellow Hawke in Airwolf) was no exception to that:
Maybe Toyota thought of the possibility to reuse this Chaser commercial in the US, but never actually did because the Cressida never got the 24 valve 1G-GTTE Twin Turbo engine!
If they would have aired this Commercial when I was a young lad I would most certainly have tried to convince my dad to buy that Airwolf car! ;)
I think Mitsubishi did an excellent comparison in this CM:
Benz, BMW, Mitsubishi Galant Sigma!
And I found another one:
Somehow during the late 70s and early 80s the Japanese had the impression that the best car seats should be as soft and fluffy as possible. I have no idea how these Galant Sigma seats actually sit, but I had the pleasure to sit in both those Benz and BMW seats in the past and they were actually very comfortable. I could not say the same about the 1990 Mitsubishi Colt seats I sat on during a 1600 kilometer vacation… My personal experience actually is that the harder the seats, the more comfortable they get on the longer distance travels.
Soft and fluffy seats? No thanks! ;)
At first I didn’t really understand what the Celica and drifting had to do with milk at all, but when they showed the punchline it was clear to me!
They show you how you drive when the windows of your car are covered with metal sheets and think can be compared to a fully blinded milk carton. Well I don’t know what they normally do with their milk cartons, but I always feel how much milk is left. ;)
So what’s left of the comparison between the milk carton and the (blinded) Toyota Celica? Something you can feel as well? :P
I do think the Celica used is real: it has got too many details! Take for instance the pizzacutter rims: they are not Celica A40 rims so they had to be added later on. The interior of the celica is also too detailed and if you look at 0:14 you can see the tape used to hold the “metal sheets” between the window and the sheets. So probably the CGI characters and bouncing tires are added later on…
And they have another commercial as well:
So, a screw cap is better than plunging open the carton?
BTW: it is nice to see those marketing guys use nostalgic Japanese cars for their advertising! :)
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