Tag: Sonny Chiba (Page 1 of 2)

JCS2011: Super rare Carina hardtop coupe TA17!

July 5, 2011 / banpei / 3 Comments

This posting had a high Sonny Chiba feeling: this restored Carina hardtop coupe TA17 is exactly the same model as Sonny Chiba used in the famous commercial!

Toyota Carina hardtop coupe TA17 @ JCS2011
The owner and his buddies came all the way from Finland to the Goodwood Festival of Speed and inbetween they stopped by at the JCS2011!

Just look at how beautiful those tail lights are sunken deeply into the bodywork!

Toyota Carina hardtop coupe TA17 @ JCS2011
Also imagine what potential watertrap that could be!

Toyota Carina hardtop coupe TA17 @ JCS2011
The Carina TA17 hardtop coupe has been imported from Japan and it, as the owner described it, is his dreamcar and he simply had to. He does own another 10 Toyotas from which 3 are Carina TA14s.

Last but not least: this is how great fender mirrors are:

Toyota Carina hardtop coupe TA17 @ JCS2011
A very high coolness factor but a limited angle of view…

Carina Sightings: Carina’s twin Brother

February 19, 2011 / banpei / 2 Comments

MyCub uploaded these two videos containing all Corona Twincam Turbo TT140 commercials featuring Roger Moore (when he was still 007). The Carina GT-TR TA63 had the puppy saving Sonny Chiba, its twin brother the Corona GT-TR TT140 had Roger Moore jumping out of a truck!

On one hand I prefer Roger Moore because he got a bit more class (and so does the Corona), but on the other hand the Carina is more a ordinary hero’s car.
I love the last commercial with the three trucks saying “Toyota”, “Twincam Turbo” and “New Corona GT”.

In this second video we see more James Bond in the ads: with the classy ladies, the miraculous escape and the good endings! Continue reading

Carina Sightings: how the Carina A40 was designed

May 12, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

This 1977 Toyota Carina commercial shows how the A40 Carina was designed: with tron-like neon computer vectors the laser sharp lines of the A40 were cut out and moulded into the famous (pre-facelift) shape!

Apparently Toyota did not need Sonny Chiba to convince us the sharp lines were the way to go in 1977! Did they they change their mind and rehired him in 1979?

Carina sightings:Carina A40 commercials with Sonny Chiba

December 16, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

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!

Carina Sightings: Puppy saving Carina GT-TR TA63

December 9, 2009 / banpei / 1 Comment

Two years ago I posted the puppy saving Carina commercial and unfortunately it disappeared due to copyright violations… (why?!)
Lucky enough Youtube CM poster mycub posted it once again:

And once again Sonny Chiba saves the day!

Commerical time: Carina Jeune commercial

October 5, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

Brilliant! Someone uploaded the Toyota Carina SG Jeune commercial yesterday!

As you can see the girl sticks a Japanese Young Driver Mark on the Carina, hops two or three time of joy before pointing to the reverse backup warning system and the amount of lock you can have on this Carina! Also Sonny Chiba makes his cameo at the end of the commercial.

The Carina Jeune AA60 was available with this, back in the 80s, very sophisticated system:

Carina Jeune with a Reverse backup warning system
The Jeune included four sensors in the rear bumper calculating the amount of space between the Carina and the car behind it. It showed on the warning sign, mounted on the rear shelve, in green, yellow and red how far you are from the obstacle behind you. Probably a very crude version of the systems we have nowadays!

The Jeune had, of course, also power steering and an automatic gearbox. So in other words: a very expensive edition of the Carina SG AA60 for those salarymen (Sonny Chiba?) who has to buy a car for his wife and daughter and doesn’t trust their driving skills at all!