Tag: video (Page 2 of 22)

Pre-production Corolla Levin SE AE85 – Friday Video

December 29, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

One of the highlights of this year was a WhatsApp call from Daniel ‘O Grady out of the blue about an early Corolla Levin SE AE85 he found. I was doing my usual Saturday groceries and just parked my car in a parking garage. Daniel was very agitated about this car as it had such a low frame number.

6600 kilometer Toyota Corolla Levin SE AE85

During the call, it dawned on me that such a low frame number meant it was actually a pre-production run. Last year I created an overview of the AE86 and AE85 frame numbers and a lookup function. One of the things that surprised me was that the AE85 production in May 1983 started at 180, while AE86 production started at 1. There are no records of the pre-180 frame numbers in the EPC either. This means these cars have been assembled in pre-production.

Epic road trip from Ireland to Poland in an AE86

Nightride to Poland in an Trueno AE86 – Friday Video

December 22, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

For those who aren’t subscribed to either the Juicebox and Nightride channels, the story is that Sam from Nightride wanted to buy a Trueno AE86 and asked Neil from Juicebox if there was one available in Ireland.

Nightride's Trueno AE86 at the Juicebox shed — Nightride’s Trueno AE86 at the Juicebox shed

Coincidentally a two-door Trueno just became available for sale, Sam agreed to buy it and Neil closed the deal. Neil also agreed to drive with Sam (and some other Nightride members) inside the Trueno from Ireland to Poland. That’s an epic journey of 2000 kilometres! Both Nightride and Juicebox posted their videos earlier this week, so check them out below!

How the Skyline GT-R got the Godzilla name – Friday Video

December 15, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

Aiden Millward has done a ton of videos about racing and I love his storytime videos. It harks back to those good old days and Aiden can tell these stories with that little extra cherry on top. Most of his storytime videos are about Formula One or Le Mans 24 Hours as those are the most covered motorsport in this world. However, earlier this week, I was pleased to see him covering the story of Godzilla. The R32. How it earned its name. How it outclassed everything else.

Godzilla R32 at its finest hour at the 1992 Bathurst race

Not to spoil too much of this story, but the Nissan Skyline R32 didn’t earn its nickname in Japan. It earned this name in the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATTC) over the period of 1989-1992 when it dominated the Supercars (group A) racing series.

You can find the video below:

Star Road's Fairlady Z with a 3200cc L-series engine

Legendary voice: Star Road tuning garage- Friday Video

December 8, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

Video Option has a regular recurring series called Legendary Voice. This series will make a portrait of a legend from the automotive scene. Their latest video is zooming in on the man behind the Star Road tuning garage: Masatsugu Inoue.

Masatsugu Inoue, the man behind Star Road

Star Road is a tuning house that originated in the 1980s. He was determined to do whatever he liked until the age of 25 and then settle on a job. But by the time he turned 25, he never settled on a job. Being a street racer himself, he knew all too well what people wanted and then started building his own aero parts and tuning cars. His speciality is with the Nissan Fairlady S20 platform.

You can watch the entire documentary below:

3 hours of Shakotan Boogie Anime – Friday Video

December 1, 2023 / banpei / 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.

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.

Better view of the pair of 2000GT or 2400GT with the visible surfline

Watch Hakosuka Skylines being Unloaded in 1972 – Friday Video

November 17, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

Back in 2008 I started to research early Datsun and Nissan history. One of the things I quickly discovered was that the Hakosuka Skyline was sold here in the Netherlands as the Nissan 2000GT and 2400GT. Ever since, I have been on the hunt for old brochures and other memorabilia proving its existence!

Nissan 2000GT or 2400GT?

Today we have one such a things: a short newsreel from 1972 covering unloading of Japanese cars in the Rotterdam harbor. I was very happy to spot various early 1970s Datsuns and most of them were of the type 100A (Cherry E10), 1200 (Sunny B110) and 1600 (Bluebird 510). My jaw dropped to the floor when I spotted two Nissan Skyline C10s driving down the ramp!

If this screencapture is too blurry, a few frames advanced you can clearly see the surfline on the first of the pair of Skyline C10s: