Tag: nissan sunny (Page 1 of 4)

Nissan Sunny GTi-R statistics – How many are left?

February 24, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

The Nissan Sunny / Pulsar GTi-R is a homologation special for Group A rallying by Nissan. Nissan had to sell 5000 cars with the same engine as the rally car to fulfil the requirements for homologation. Nissan planned to use the SR20DET as the designated engine and permanent four-wheel-drive as their drivetrain. The combination led to a small pocket rocket that was able to accelerate from 0 to 60 in 6 seconds. The GTi-R was sold overseas under the Sunny branding, while in Japan it was sold under the Pulsar branding.

In the past, I did cover the Sunny / Pulsar GTi-R and I found it quite an impressive little car! I encountered one down on the street in 2015 and I even created two videos about this GTi-R and I’ll add them to the post below. When I recently started doing the How many are left series, I was curious how many GTi-Rs are left on the Dutch roads.

This B310 van used to be a true workhorse!

A tired workhorse: Nissan Sunny B310 van – Down on the Street

December 2, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

I was under the impression I posted this Nissan Sunny B310 van a long time ago, but apparently, I didn’t! I photographed it over 12 years ago and it has been sitting idle on my backup drive for an almost equal amount of time.

Spotting the Sunny van

I spotted this Sunny B310 van being parked near my garage, but back in 2011, I didn’t rent that space yet. It must have been one of my long bicycle journeys that took me past this van and I decided to take a photograph of it. The photo isn’t skewed, but the road is actually sloping down to the right. I kept the houses in the background horizontal to create this skewed effect. I really liked the amount of fog- and auxiliary-lights on this car and also the two slats on the grill painted in gold!

Stolen camera gear

Nissan Sunny LePrix B11 magazine advertisement

Commercial Time: wacky Nissan Sunny LePrix B11

October 14, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

These wacky Nissan Sunny LePrix B11 ads give you the impression they actually featured in a detective series like Seibu Keisatsu. However, they don’t. It’s all made up. The actors in the commercials are Keiko Matsuzaka and Saburo Tokito. Coincidentally both actors played in The Gate of Youth (Seishun no mon) but this was totally unrelated to these ads.

Wacky Nissan Sunny LePrix ads

It looks like Nissan chose to launch the Nissan Sunny LePrix with some wacky ads. Keiko and Saburo are dressed up like they would feature a detective or action series. Keiko’s catsuit reminds me of Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) in The Avengers. The ads are done in a similar tongue in cheek way.

First ad: Keiko and Saburo with Tommy guns

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

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

February 18, 2020 / banpei / 0 Comments

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.

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!

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.

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

Down on the Street: insane Nissan Sunny GTI-R

November 14, 2015 / banpei / 2 Comments

Everything about this Nissan Sunny GTi-R is insane and I’m not only referring to the specifications of the car! I covered this GTI-R a few years ago with a couple of photos but back then I was ignorant of its importance. As I had to pass this car every other day I decided to collect some more footage this time:

On the Dutch licence registration page the information told me it had been registered officially as a Sunny 2.0 GTI-R van. Wait a minute: someone was able to register a Nissan Sunny GTI-R as a van in 1993?

The video

Enjoy my homage to the Nissan Sunny GTI-R below that I created using the footage I collected during some five to six times passing by:

Keiichi Tsuchiya's Nissan Skyline GT GC10

Friday Video: Keiichi Tsuchiyas old drift cars

July 24, 2015 / banpei / 0 Comments

We all know that Keiichi Tsuchiya loves his kouki Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 drift car, but did you know he owned a couple of other legendary cars before that? For instance this Nissan Skyline 2000GT GC10?

In this Best Motoring video Keiichi Tsuchiya explains what cars he used privately to tear up the touges: a Nissan Skyline 2000GT GC10, a Nissan Sunny 1200 GX5 B110, a Toyota Starlet S KP61 and a Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-V AE86.

Nissan Skyline 2000GT GC10

The first part is covering the Nissan Skyline 2000GT GC10: Continue reading