Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Month: February 2009 (Page 1 of 4)

Hilarious: Go Go Daijiro Inada!!!

I found this very funny clip of Daijiro Inada (founder of Video Option and D1GP) racing around Fuji Speedway in a D1GP prepped Toyota Chaser JZX100 the Speedracer way with his head sticking out of the sunroof:

Very funny to watch. Especially when Daijiro tries talking to the camera at 113MPh: his mouth stays open due to the wind!

At first he enjoys the experience, but after the first two rounds a while he really begins to hate it… Then he has to do the shooting again because the camera was not setup correctly and the picture is too dark!

It can be yours: Toyota Comfort GT-Z

Some time ago I wrote about the Toyota Comfort GT-Z being an ideal family car. Also Mike Garrett wrote about the Toyota Comfort GT-Z on Speedhunters last week. Well, it can be yours because there are two for sale on Goo-Net!

Toyota Comfort GT-Z on Goo-net
Toyota Comfort GT-Z on Goo-net

For only 12500 euros this baby is yours! May sound like much, but this GT-Z only drove customers (if it has seen customers at all!) 43000 kilometers, so that’s practically nothing! And it is one of 59! Absolutely unique! 🙂

However… Unique? What about this then?
Toyota Comfort GT-Z on Goo-net
Toyota Comfort GT-Z on Goo-net

Another GT-Z for sale??
And it is cheaper than the other one: only 11800 euros for a car that only drove 46000 kilometers! Sounds like a bargain! 🙂

Both cars have the same color (navy), still have the stock bodykit and RS Wantanabes and imagine: both can be obtained for the same amount of money as you would normally spend on a Toyota Corolla AE86 in the same state with the same mileage! Think about it: this car has serious potential (3SGTE anybody?) and there is nothing like it anywhere in the world! Except Japan of course…

You can find the cars here:
Toyota Comfort GT-Z #1
Toyota Comfort GT-Z #2

Carina Sightings: Carina AA63 20v Sedan on Goo-Net

I found this Carina AA63 on Goo-net:
Carina AA63 20v Sedan
Carina AA63 20v Sedan

I know what you probably thought first: that must be a scale model!

Well, it is not! Have a look at this:
Carina AA63 20v Sedan
Carina AA63 20v Sedan

That looks a lot better, doesn’t it? 😉
I have no clue what the photographer did wrong in that first picture, but is surely looks weird. Maybe it is the combination of the garage floor and the rollcage creating an illusion of a reflection in the windscreen…

4AGE 20v blacktop with a set of ITBs
4AGE 20v blacktop with a set of ITBs

This Carina GT-R got its heart swapped for a nice revving 4A-GE 20 valve Blacktop. As you can see the radiator has been upgraded as well. Also the owner did not bother to swap the cooling fan in the process.

Funny thing: I just realized that relocating the waterpump and distriubutor are not necessary for the Carina AA63: it sits more in front of the firewall than in the AE86! So all you have to do is reroute all piping of the radiator to the back of the engine! I verified this by looking at Revolverdrift’s AA63 20v setup.

Unfortunately his Carina got stolen last week. So, if anyone has seen his car, in or outside Malaysia, please let him know! I hope it will return soon!

Talking about theft:
Anti fuel theft?
Anti fuel theft?

Looks weird… Only logical explanation I can come up with is that this car either has a fuelcell (not visible), a weird D1SL or MSC rule I’m not aware of or an anti fuel theft method. I suspect the most probable is the last explanation.

Rollcage, bucketseats and new tach
Rollcage, bucketseats and new tach

The rollcage is of the removable type so the cage itself is placed a bit annoying nearer to the center of the car. The rear bench has been stripped and a set of bucketseats have replaced the original front seats.

The car is sitting on a set of deep dished SSR Mk. IIs. The rims can’t be much wider than 7J because they don’t stick out of the fenders.

You would think: what’s so special about this car then?
Well, the car itself isn’t that special. It is more that the surprise picture caught my eye, then the anti fuel theft and then I also realized the 20v problem didn’t apply to the AA63 Carina. So that’s worth a Carina Sightings posting I guess. 😉

Popular Bosozoku cars: Toyota Mark II X3/X4

This weeks highlight is the Toyota Mark II X3/X4. The bodystyle is very distinct and can easily be recognized between all other bosozoku cars. A good example is this really nice Shakotan style Mark II X3:
Shakotan style Toyota Mark II X3
Shakotan style Toyota Mark II X3

This Shakotan styled Mark II really shows how this almost stock car can be made very beautiful by simply adding two tone paint, a set of fat stretched tires and lowering the car till the ground.

The Mark II is a very popular model because it has very American styling, like the cokebottle lines and its grille and headlights are more British. This combination is ideal for the early 80s Granchan style.
Bosozoku style Toyota Mark II X4
Bosozoku style Toyota Mark II X4

This Bosozoku styled example has it all: extra wide fenders, big chin spoiler, oil cooler, changed (square) headlights and a very big wing on the trunk!

Bosozoku style Toyota Mark II X3
Bosozoku style Toyota Mark II X3

No headlights at all? Is that road-legal in Japan? Or are the headlights hidden somewhere? Then again: those big exhausts are not road-legal either…

Bosozoku style Toyota Mark II X3
This really shows how beautiful the Mark II rear can be with widened fenders, stretched tires and a big exhaust pointing high in the air.

The first Mark II was originally meant as a Corona model between the Crown and the normal Corona, hence the Mark II tag.
Factory stock Toyota Cressida MX41
Factory stock Toyota Cressida MX41

The X3 and X4 are the third generation of the Mark II (shouldn’t it be called Mark IV then? 😉 ) and was sold as the Toyota Cressida overseas.

The difference between the X3 and the facelifted X4 are minor: only the grille and foglights are a tiny bit restyled. I couldn’t find a clear factory stock X3 picture, so you have to compare it with one of the Bosozoku styled cars. 😉

Factory stock Toyota Cressida MX41
Factory stock Toyota Cressida MX41

The Cressida’s and Mark II differ only in engines: the European version had the high performance 18R engine while the American version had the older 4M engine. In Japan they had a wide variety in engines: 1L, 1M, 4M, 16R, 18R, 21R, 3T, 13T.

Only the 4M and 18R are true worthy engines for this car: the 4M because it is a SOHC inline 6 and has a big displacement and gives a smooth ride. The 18R because it is a high performance DOCH inline 4 with fuel injection and creates a sporty ride.

The X3 and X4 had an A43DL 4-speed automatic optional. This automatic had an overdrive and an overdrive lockout. Nowadays this sounds not like a big deal with all those 7 and 8 speed automatics, but back then the overdrive lockout was a major improvement.

Personally I would love to own a 4 door X3/X4 myself as a daily driver and slam it to the ground shakotan style. 😉

[I posted this article earlier today on Bosozokustyle.com]

Toyota Corolla KE30 turns out to be a Nissan Sunny B122

Remember this one?
Toyota Corolla KE30 pickup in front of a European looking house
Toyota Corolla KE30 pickup in front of a European looking house

I posted it here shortly before Christmas:
http://www.banpei.net/blog/toyota-corolla-ke30-pickup-europe

Must have missed this JNC blogposting during the holidays:
http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/blog/2008/12/28/rs-yasus-nissan-sunny-b122-pickup-resto/
Because the Corolla KE30 pickup turns out to be a Nissan Sunny B122 pickup. Must have overlooked that it could possibly be a Sunny and not a Corolla. Well, they do look very much alike after all. 😉

Hilarious: 1981 Honda City and the Motocompo

This weeks hilarious posting stays in the 1980s, just like last week!

This week I present you: the Honda City! (city… city… hondahondahondahonda…)

I used to be a big fan of Madness in the 80s and owned about every record/cd they ever made, but I never knew their songs (and themselves) were actually used in commercials for the Honda City! The commercials itself were hilarious back then! Dated as they are now they look even more hilarious! Honda tried to attract young people to the Honda City and back then Madness was the band that attracted a lot of those youngsters, so it would have been a very obvious choice!

The 1981 Honda City was a subcompact car and was produced till 1986. The car sold in Europe under the name Honda Jazz. Due to Opel owning the rights to the name City on a car (Opel Kadett City for instance) Honda had to choose a different name. It was just a few centimeters too tall and wide to be a Kei car if the displacement would have been lower. Of course the European Jazz is in no way comparable with the Japanese City: apart from the Turbo and Turbo II editions it lacks the Motocompo companion in the trunk! The motowhat?
Motocompo minibike in Honda Jazz
Motocompo minibike in Honda Jazz

The Motocompo is a small minibike with a small 49cc 2 stroke engine which fitted in the trunk of the Honda City. It was sold as an option till 1983 when the production reached 53369, so not every City did actually have one. The Motocompo manages to output 2,5HP and with its 42 kilograms it should actually a quite capable minibike for the City! (city… city… hondahondahondahonda…)

Here you can see how rediculously small that Motocompo actually is when someone rides it:

And during my search for info I also found out people are selling brand new Motocompos through Ebay for $3500! That’s more expensive than the City was when new! (thanks to Japanese Nostalgic Car for that info!)

I only learned of the Honda Motocompo during early 90s when I got involved into anime and discovered the You’re Under Arrest (Taiho Shichauzo) series. In this series Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa, two female police officers, patrolled Tokyo in their Honda Today. The Honda Today was partly the successor of the Honda City: Today was the smaller Kei sistermodel of the City while the higher spec (like more luxurious and the Turbo editions) remained the City. Back then I mistook the City for the Today.
You're under arrest (Taiho Shichauzo) and their Honda Today
You’re under arrest (Taiho Shichauzo) and their Honda Today

In the series you can see the Motocompo in action various times since Natsuki ownes one and always takes along on their patrols.

And to show you once again how small that Motocompo actually is, look at how big Madness is:
Motocompo minibike vs Madness
Motocompo minibike vs Madness

A bike that small? Madness!

IMO the Motocompo was a great invention from Honda! Just imagine: drive to the outskirts of central Tokyo, park your car and travel to work in central Tokyo with your Motocompo! It would even work here in the Netherlands and it’s puny capital Amsterdam! If they would only have sold the Motocompo along with the Jazz… Jazz? I should rather call it the City!

If you really like Madness you’d definitely love the City! city… city… hondahondahondahonda… Damn… That song is in my head now! 🙁

« Older posts

© 2024 Banpei.net

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑