Remembering Japanese cars from the past
If you have never heard of the 1987 Mazda Étude: you are not alone! I personally never heard of it before and it was a big WTF?! when I saw it first. At first I thought I was looking at an Isuzu Gemini, but those tail lights resembled something else. When I looked at the badge I was even more baffled: Étude?
Continue readingMr Yumio at Youtube just uploaded his private drift videos from 1990 till 1993. Half of the content takes place at local drift events but the other half is shot on various touges. You really can see how things evolved since this early 90s drifting!
It is interesting to observe in this video that most cars at the touge are old “disposable” cars. For instance the Nissan Skyline R30 and Toyota Corolla Levin/Sprinter Trueno AE86 are popular cars. At the circuit a lot of new cars can be seen: Mazda RX7 FC, Nissan Silvia S13, Nissan 180SX, Eunos Roadster and a Toyota Soarer Z30. Still the AE86 is ubiquitous at the circuit as well.
Other extraordinary cars seen at the touge are: Nissan Skyline GT-R PGC10, Isuzu Piazza, Isuzu Gemini PF60 and a hot Nissan Sunny B310. At the circuit the most odd thing is a second generation Honda CRX SiR drifting in reverse!
I bet you can’t wait to spend the remainder of your Friday afternoon watching this video: Continue reading
I think these three videos are about the earliest drift videos to be found on Youtube so far!
Be prepared for an overkill of Hakosuka Skylines, Corolla Levin AE86s and Sprinter Trueno AE86s, (brand new) Nissan Silvia and 180SX S13s, Mazda FCs, MR2 AW11s, Isuzu Gemini, Eunos Roadster, Lancer Turbo, Toyota Carina and even an Isuzu Piazza right at the beginning! Two of the videos are shot on the pass next to Kurume (Fukuokai) and the other one on Yz circuit in Mizunami!
In this second video it really shows how dangerous the drifts of these guys actually were: I stopped counting after the tenth near accident with oncoming traffic!
Yes, a real bunch of lunatics!
There is some serious action on the YZ circuit going on and at 4:36 you can spot an occasional zenki Carina GT twice:
Looking at all this track action I get the feeling the aftermarket for springs and shocks wasn’t as big as today! Most of the cars drift like a boat! :D
I understand why Shuichi Shigeno got inspired by his drift friends back in the early nineties! These guys really were way before drifting went from fun to pro.
All videos found at [Pipiyumio]
We all know the first generation Isuzu Gemini was based upon the Opel Kadett C (third generation), but what I didn’t know was that Isuzu actually upgraded its specs to Japanese standard:
Yes, that’s a Kadett C with not only headlight washers but actually double headlight washers! Now that’s something you can misuse to squirt on girls! :D
Isuzu also prolonged the Gemini beyond the FWD Kadett D by giving it a mild facelift. To prove they did a great job on that they launched this comparison commercial:
Now if it also could also fly as good as the Space Shuttle it would be even better than the 1982 Pontiac Trans Am. :P
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