Remembering Japanese cars from the past
Earlier this week it snowed in the Netherlands and since everything got covered in a thin layer of snow I’d thought it would be nice to take a short hike over the moors nearby. So I drove to the outskirts of my hometown and while finding a suitable parking space I ran into this blue 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX GDA:
The owner must be proud of it as it is in stunning condition!
It is the pre-facelifted version of the car with an headlight conversion: Continue reading
Seven years ago I posted a funny picture of Initial D cosplayers, so when I bumped into these two cosplay pictures I remembered the first vividly:
I must say these costumes are really sturdy made: three of them are based on shopping strollers. Itsuki’s Levin looks horrible, Takumi’s Sprinter Trueno even worse and the Subaru Impreza 22b looks acceptable. Ryosuke’s Mazda Savanna RX-7 looks the best and I bet the most sweat and tears were put into that costume!
BTW: the best looking character is Bunta Fujiwara in the Subaru! That guy really lives up to the original role!
Now there is another Takumi in the second picture: Continue reading
Yes, a new idea/section/regular just emerged: sanctuaries!
Why? Well basically last night I suffered from insomnia and for whatever reason my mind wandered to the original Initial D Tofu shop which is located in Shibukawan next to Mount Haruna (the town called Akina in Initial D) and that the original tofu shop has been demolished about three years ago. This is the photo Alexi took to prove it has been demolished:
So I was wondering how many fanboys actually posed (or their cars) in front of the tofu shop when visiting Shibukawan or Mount Haruna, so here is a whole gallery of cars, tofu shops and people posing in front of it!
Also in case you are wondering where to find the place, this is the location on Google Streetview: Continue reading
Unlike last year I wasn’t a visitor at the Japanse Autosport Festival in Assen as my Carina was present on the paddock between the various sportscars. This year AEU86 decided to ask for a club spot on the paddock and we were granted a large spot in the mid-center of the paddock! Awesome!
We managed to get a total of six Hachis and two Carinas. A small impression of our spot:
Cars from left to right: Corolla GT (4AGE+ITB), Corolla GT (3S-GE BEAMS), Corolla GT (3S-GE BEAMS), JDM Sprinter Trueno GT Apex (4AGE), Corolla GT (4AGE)
Another panda red Corolla GT AE86 was parked behind the Carinas (behind the banner) and apart from ours another four Hachis were present atthe Toyota Noord club so altogether ten hachis were present outnumbering various other cars like the Mitsubishi Lancer Turbos and such. Not bad at all!
I did not have a lot of time to walk around and shoot pictures of all the cars, but at least I got a decent share of the most impressive cars. One that immediately drew my attention was this pink Impreza: Continue reading
I can imagine a Subaru Impreza WRX GD wagon makes a perfect family car for the wannabe street racer, but utilizing it as a dumpster??
Well dumpster may be a bit exaggerated, but it was used yesterday to haul stuff in a trailer to the local dump. And even worse: it is owned by a posh looking bloke.
Then again: I used my almost-classic-Carina in a similar fashion. ;)
What would Bunta Fujiwara drive in 2008?
A Toyota Ipsum (called Picnic outside Japan):
Funny he didn’t buy a Toyota Estima because the Ipsum is FWD and the Estima RWD (MR).
The Japanese Estima may be a bit less well equiped than the American supercharged version, but it sure does have potential:
Manji drifting on the straight!!! :D
So the big question is: why would Bunta Fujiwara favor the Ipsum above the Estima then? IMO I think it is quite natural of Bunta to do such a thing: Takumi first learns to drive the Trueno AE86 (FR layout) really hard. Then he gets beaten by Bunta in an AWD Impreza, so he has to learn to drive that AWD really hard as well. Logically Bunta would then have to beat Takumi with a FWD, so what better car to totally humiliate Takumi with???
Right: the Toyota Ipsum!
Edit: video doesn’t work anymore, so here is a picture to compensate that:
Toyota Ipsum (picnic) next to Fujiwara Tofu shop
Picture was found here
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