Banpei.net

Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Tag: Toyota Soarer (Page 1 of 4)

Shakotan Boogie Soarer MZ10

3 hours of Shakotan Boogie Anime – Friday Video

December 1, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I have been dreaming about this for years now, and now finally, someone took the effort to upload the Shakotan Boogie anime to Youtube! You may wonder why this is such a big deal, so let me explain to you what Shakotan Boogie is, why I have yearned for this and why it is great to have it on Youtube!

What is Shakotan Boogie?

Shakotan Boogie (シャコタン★ブギ) started as a Manga in Weekly Young Magazine in 1986 and remained serialized until 1996. It’s a manga about two boys, Hajime Yamamoto and Koji Watanabe, who are into zokusha and the whole subculture around it. This is closely related to the Bosozoku, but they aren’t the same.

Shakotan Boogie manga

The two boys are car-crazy and they drive around in a blue and white Toyota Soarer Z10 on SSR Mk Is. This car has become so iconic that it became the stereotypical Soarer for many people who are into zokusha. Similar to what the panda-Trueno is for Initial D fans.

Continue reading
Toyota Soarer VR GZ10 with a baby
Toyota Soarer VR GZ10 with a baby

Soaring Toyota Soarer GZ10 Baby – Family Album Treasures

November 5, 2023 / / 0 Comments

These two family album treasures prove a car doesn’t necessarily have to be the highest trim level to be cool! Seriously, I would have loved to have a cool dad with a Toyota Soarer like this baby!

Toyota Soarer VR GZ10 with a baby
Toyota Soarer VR GZ10 with a baby

According to the Minkara user, his dad bought this Soarer new before he was born. The Soarer is an early VR trim level, which means it is powered by the Toyota 1G-EU engine. There is absolutely no shame in that as the only other engine choices of the early Soarer were the 2.8 litre 5M-GEU and the turbocharged 2.0 litre M-TEU.

Continue reading
Brilliant: Showa scale model cars

Brilliant: collection of Showa scale model cars

February 4, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Now this was a big jaw-dropper: two videos of a Toyota Mark II Grande GX71 literally covered in Showa scale model cars. This must be the largest personal collection of scale model cars I’ve seen!
Brilliant: Showa scale model cars
Now if you look carefully enough you can see that each and every scale model car has its own special paint job (mostly kaido racer, race car livery or kyusha kai) and set of (rare) JDM rims! If you count the number of hours it took to make them look this way alone it already is an amazing job!

Now the list of cars, mainly from the late Showa-era, is going to be a lengthy one, but I’ll try to sum up the most important ones:

  • Toyota Mark II Grande GX71 (duh)
  • Toyota Soarer GZ10/MZ11/MZ12 (including the Shakotan Boogie Soarer twice)
  • Numerous Toyota Celica XX GA61
  • Toyota Celica GT RA45
  • Toyota Corolla Levin TE27
  • Toyota Corolla Levin TE71 four door sedan
  • Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 hatchback
  • Toyota Corsa AL11
  • Numerous Nissan Skylines C10, C110, C210, R30
  • Numerous Nissan Cedric/Gloria 230, 330, 430
  • Numerous Nissan Fairlady S30
  • Nissan EXA
  • Hasemi Skyline KDR30 Super Silhouette kaido racer replica
  • Nissan Silvia S110 Super Silhouette kaido racer replica
  • Isuzu Bellet GT-R
  • Mazda RX-3

And the list could go on for another 20 or 30 models that I overlooked…

Watch video number one: Continue reading

German Toyota Soarer MZ10 and glider

Trivia: Why the Toyota Carina A60 failed in Europe

July 14, 2014 / / 2 Comments

There are a lot of speculations why the third generation Carina (the Toyota Carina A60) failed to sell in large numbers in Europe. One of them is that Datsun (aka Nissan) launched their new Bluebird 910 around the same time and offered a better pricing. This is partly true and this posting is about the other part which can be captured in the scan below:
Toyota Carina TA60 vs Toyota Carina II AT150
I made this scan of a Dutch book about Honda and Toyota from the mid 80s. During this period the Carina II T150 was selling quite well while the Carina A60 already had been phased out.

The photos above are press photos distributed in the 80s by Toyota Netherlands (aka Louwman & Parqui) and you clearly see a difference in marketing: the old is marketed with a conservative mustached salesman-guy and the new with the streamlined (French) glider in the background. I don’t think the annotation of the photos need to be translated as they are similar. ;)
Notice the glider: I will come back to that later…

This is obviously not the only marketing they did, another example is this 1982 ad targeted at Ford Taunus drivers: Continue reading

« Older posts

© 2024 Banpei.net

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑