Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Tag: Motocompo (Page 1 of 2)

These Honda City Turbo prices are madness! – Classic valuations

Only a few days ago I posted the incredibly scary crash video of a Honda City. Lately, I haven’t been paying attention to the classic valuations of anything other than an AE86 or Carina A60. Understand my huge surprise when someone (Emin) sent a Honda City Turbo II for sale in Düsseldorf. The asking price? A mere 69,000 euros! (Or 74,000 dollars)

Honda City Turbo II for sale in Düsseldorf for 69K euros
Honda City Turbo II for sale in Düsseldorf for 69K euros

Okay, it’s one of the best City Turbo IIs on the market and has only driven 9000 kilometres. It’s completely bone stock and even features the original disk wheels.

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The tall boy dissected: Honda City – Picture of the Week

This week I already posted twice about the Honda City, so why not stick to it for the picture of the week post? Today we will look at a dissected Tall Boy: the Honda City! For those unaware: Honda nicknamed the Honda City the Tall Boy. They did so because of the relatively high profile of the car, giving it a lot of space.

Honda City was nicknamed the Tall Boy
Honda City was nicknamed the Tall Boy

The Honda designers created the tall CITY logo to support the tallness of the car. The Honda leadership liked it so much that they retained this. That’s also the reason why all sorts of tall and city puns, like the Manhattan HiFi, were created. It’s a shame no Motocompo can be found in this cutaway drawing.

Better than the motocompo: Honda City R Manhattan HiFi – WTF?!

If you thought the Honda Motocompo moped was the best accessory of the Honda City, you’re very wrong! The best accessory for the Honda City R is, by far, the Manhattan HiFi! If you’re wondering what the heck that is, it looks like this in the brochure:

Honda City Manhattan Sound accessory
Honda City Manhattan Sound accessory

Yesterday we featured a Family Album Treasure lightly touching upon the Honda City, but today we have a deep dive into the Honda City!

What is the Manhattan Hifi?

As the name implies, the Manhattan HiFi is a Honda City boombox! Literally! It wasn’t an accessory you could order, but rather more a whole car! Basically, you could order the Honda City R with this big boombox mounted to the ceiling in the rear making your Honda City a boombox!

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Manga Car Spotting – Caterham Super 7 – Honda Gyro Up – You’re Under Arrest part 7

Manga Cars

What do a Caterham Super 7, Ducati 750 Sport, Toyota Crown Royal Saloon S140 and a Honda Motocompo have in common? They are all featured in the seventh manga of You’re Under Arrest! And what do they use them for? Naturally to catch car thieves in downtown Tokyo in the early 90s! In this manga review I will spot all the cars in the seventh manga of the Dark Horse publication of Kosuke Fujishima’s You’re Under Arrest! I’ll also include two mystery cars taken from the next and final manga, so we’ll play the little guessing game one more time! If you think you know what the mystery cars are, leave a comment below. In case you’re stuck: ask your friends on FB/Twitter/Insta
Manga Car Spotting - You're Under Arrest part 7

You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima

The young petrolhead Kosuke Fujishima started out as an editor and assistant of, back then not so famous, Tatsuya Egawa mangaka. This inspired him to create his own manga and the first successful manga series drawn by him was You’re Under Arrest! (逮捕しちゃうぞ) which revolves around a Tokyo police station in the business district Sumida. The two protagonists are two female police offices called Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa and both of them are petrolheads. Natsuki is the more blunt one who catches thiefs, thugs and tramps singlehanded while Miyuki is the more intelligent one who loves tinkering with cars, engines and motorcylces.

In today’s manga we will spot more than 10 cars and various motorcycles. The most prominent car in this episode is the Caterham Super 7. Apart from that we see the Honda Today police special various times patroling the Sumida area in this car. We also see a couple of motorcycles and motorbikes. Some examples of these are the Honda Motocompo, Yamaha Pocke, Ducati 750 sport and the Honda Gyro Up delivery bike than can be spotted in this manga. Also don’t forget the overkill police arrest using various Toyota Crowns including the luxurious Toyota Crown Royal Saloon S140!

Initially created as a spin-off of You’re Under Arrest! manga, Ah! My Goddess surpassed it in fame. Belldandy turned up in one of the manga of You’re Under Arrest and this inspired it’s creator Kosuke Fujishima to create the Ah! My Goddess manga. In this a goddess, Belldandy, meets a lowly student Keiichi Morrisato and this series ran from 1988 till 2014. I have also created a Manga Car Spotting episode for this series some time ago. As Ah! My Goddess surpassed You’re Under Arrest! in popularity, the final manga of You’re Under Arrest was released in 1992.
Toyota Liteace XL-7 AWD

You can find the video and the high resolution scans of the panels containing manga cars below: Continue reading

Manga Car Spotting: Subaru R-2 SS – Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32 – You’re Under Arrest part 1 to 4

Manga Cars

What do a Subaru R-2 SS, a Toyota Sports 800, a Honda Motocompo and a Honda Today have in common? They are all driven by the police in You’re Under Arrest! And what do they use them for? Naturally to chase down fast cars like Toyota Supra A70s and Nissan Skyline GT-Rs in the early 90s! In this video I’ll spot all the cars and some motorcycles in the first four parts of this Dark Horse publication.

Manga Car Spotting - You're Under Arrest - Subaru R-2 SS

You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima

You’re Under Arrest was one of the original series the young Kosuke Fujishima started to draw. As he was obsesses with cars and motorcycles this naturally became part of the manga series. The series revolve around the fictional Bokuto Police Station in Sumida, Tokyo. The two protagonists are the female police officers Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa who share a healthy petrolhead mentality. Natsumi prefers motorbikes over cars and is the more physical of the duo. Miyuki on the other hand loves cars and loves to wrench on them whenever she can. She is also the brains of the duo.

In this manga various (in)famous cars and motorbikes can be spotted. The duo drives around in a Honda Today police special, which has been blessed by Miyuki’s wrenching skills and can easily keep up with Toyota Supras and Lancia Delta Integrales. Another frequent visitor is the foldable Honda Motocompo that resides in the trunk of the Honda Today for, whatever reason possible, Natsuki to chase some bad guys downtown Tokyo. Also the Subaru R-2 SS mentioned in the introduction plays a big role on one of the story: the owner of the Subaru R-2 SS gets this car nicked and Natsuki ends up buying it. That just screams for a motorcycle engine swap!
Subaru R-2 SS police special

The Ah! My Goddess manga may have made Kosuke Fujishima (world) famous, but it’s origins lie within the You’re Under Arrest manga. In one episode Natsuki and Miyuki encounter a goddess and this story inspired Kosuke Fujishima to create the Ah! My Goddess manga where the goddess Belldandy meets the student Keiichi Morrisato. I have also created a Manga Car Spotting episode for this series some time ago.
Toyota Liteace XL-7 AWD

You can find the video and the high resolution scans of the panels containing manga cars below: Continue reading

Honda City and Motocompo study in 2001: the Honda e-DAX

I couldn’t let go the combination of the Honda City and the Motocompo, so I did some searching upon the topic of foldable motorized bikes and found this:
Motocompo successor: the Honda e-dax
The Motocompo successor: the Honda e-DAX

The e-DAX was a prototype shown at the Tokyo Motor Show 2001 as a foldable bike for the Honda Bulldog prototype. What a coincidence that the Honda City Turbo II was nicknamed the Bulldog (it really looked like one!) and the Motocompo’s bigger brother was called the Dax in Europe.

Honda Bulldog and E-dax on Tokyo Motor Show 2001
Honda Bulldog and e-DAX on Tokyo Motor Show 2001

The e-DAX only weighted 25kg and could easily be folded into a compact package. The e-DAX has unfolded the same dimensions as the Motocompo but was rougly twice as small when folded. Also the weight was only half of the Motocompo. I really wonder why Honda never actually tried to sell the e-DAX…

If you want to know more about the e-DAX or the Bulldog:
[Honda World e-DAX exhibition]
[e-DAX on Tokyo Motor Show 2001]

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