Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Month: September 2009 (Page 1 of 6)

Mindblowing: Japanese Classic Car Club meeting by Zeppann

Monday moring RSS reading gave me these beautiful videos by Zeppann containing various old Japanese (and European/American) cars at a Classic Car Club meeting held July 19th in Kuroishi:

Japanese cars spotted at quick glance (after 6:30 minutes) were almost the entire nostalgic lineup of Japan: (in no particular order)
Honda S800, Honda S600, Honda Beat, Nissan Cedric C210, Nissan Laurel C130, Nissan Skyline C110, Nissan Fairlady S30 280Z, Nissan Skyline C10, Mitsubishi Galant Lambda, Hino Contessa Coupe?, Nissan Fairlady S30 240ZG, Mazda Cosmo, Nissan Silvia CSP311, Mazda 360, Nissan Sunny B10, Honda N360, Nissan Skyline C210, Nissan Cedric C330, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Mitsubishi Starion, Soarer Z20, Toyota Corolla AE86, Nissan Cedric Y30 hardtop, Nissan Laurel C31 hardtop, Nissan Skyline DR30 ironmask, Nissan Bluebird 510, Prince Gloria, Nissan Cedric C130 (early), Toyota Crown MS110, Mitsubishi Minica (first generation) and Isuzu Bellet.
Then I got bored and stopped identifying them. [???]

And then there was a second video:

With a Subaru 360, Daihatsu Max, Mitsubishi Galant GTO, Mitsubishi Lancer, Toyota Publica and many many many many (did I already say many?) more Japanese nostalics! ?(´?`)/

IMO worth watching and not a even a second of that video was wasted time!

Direct link to videos: 2009 クラシックカークラブ青森ミーティングINこみせ 1/2, 2009 クラシックカークラブ青森ミーティングINこみせ 2/2

WTF: Mitsubishi Pajero Jr Flying Pug

This was really a big WTF for me:
Mitsubishi Pajero Jr Flying Pug - WTF?!
Mitsubishi Pajero Jr Flying Pug – WTF?!

No, it is not a modern London cab! And it is not a Riley Elf retro car based upon the new mini! (the old Elf was based upon the old one). No, it is the Mitsubishi Pajero Flying Pug!

Mitsubishi Pajero Jr Flying Pug - Retro front
Mitsubishi Pajero Jr Flying Pug – Retro front

Mitsubishi thought a downsized Pajero would create a great mini SUV. So they created the Pajero Jr in 1995. Unfortunately sales were not booming as they expected them to be, so they tried to sell them through some limited editions. The names were as insane as the thought of people willing to buy limited edition mini SUVs: McTwist, Lynx and Flying Pug!
Back in the early nineties the English retro looks were very popular, so Mitsubishi thought the Pajero Jr Flying Pug would sell great when styled after a London cab with big wide fenders and a big Mercedes-like hood ornament! Boy, they were wrong! Sales still declined and the whole Pajero Jr was killed off in 1998.

Mitsubishi Pajero Jr Flying Pug - Rear
Mitsubishi Pajero Jr Flying Pug – Rear

The rear has’t changed at all, except for the tail lights. They must have thought the retro styling of the front would have been appealing enough?

Mitsubishi Pajero Jr Flying Pug - Interior
Mitsubishi Pajero Jr Flying Pug – Interior

And the interior doesn’t show any luxury at all: just an ordinary plain ninties plastic interior with leather seats.

This particular Pajero Jr is one of the 149 Pajero Jrs produced in 1998 and thus incredibly rare. It can be yours for only 8000 dollars while an ordinary Jr can be picked up for 100 to 1000 dollars. At least I wouldn’t spend that amount of money on it. 😉

Japanese rustoseums (part three)

As promised: this time a Japanese rustoseums without a Toyota. Well, actually it is a one car only episode! 😉

Rustoseum: Nissan Skyline C210 Wagon
Rustoseum: Nissan Skyline C210 Wagon

As you can see: a terribly rusted Nissan Skyline C210 wagon!

Rustoseum: Nissan Skyline C210 Wagon
Rustoseum: Nissan Skyline C210 Wagon

You can almost see through its door without using the window! 😉

Rustoseum: Nissan Skyline C210 Wagon
Rustoseum: Nissan Skyline C210 Wagon

And what would you see then? A bunch of crap piled up inside!

Rustoseum: Nissan Skyline C210 Wagon
Rustoseum: Nissan Skyline C210 Wagon

Imagine the potential of this car! Just like the infamous Carina firevan you can put a mighty engine in there, lower it to ground scraping heights! Or just put in the L20ET engine from the 2000GT-EX turbo and you would certainly have the coolest Skyline Japan sleeper of them all!

Rustoseum: Nissan Skyline C210 Wagon
Rustoseum: Nissan Skyline C210 Wagon

Too bad this example is too rusted for all that: even the hood has crumbled away enough to give us a glance of the engine in there. Most probably a L16T as fitted in the 1600TI together with a lot of foliage!

Found at: Dara Dara Seikatsu’s blog

Commercial time: Mazda RX2 Capella

It is commercial time again! ?(´??)?

This time a 1971 Japanese Mazda Capella RX2 advertisement:

Funny that the Japanese try to sell the RX2 by giving the impression that the Americans approve and love the car! I can’t read the name of the driver from his signature, but he says funny things like:
Well, that sure does look different!
At first I thought it was Pat Bedard, but both the time (Pat Bedard only started to have interest in the RX2 in 1972) and signature can’t be his…

Also puzzling: the driver tests the car and on 0:24 he starts to make a turn resulting in oversteer on 0:27. How would you explain that he is doing his test on a dragstrip and not a circuit? Personally I have never seen a dragstrip with a corner in it! ?(???;)

My Carina: the Toyota Carina GT-R AA63 cluster

I just realized I did not post any pictures of the cluster I bought from Revolver Drift!
Carina GT-R AA63 cluster
Carina GT-R AA63 cluster

After his Carina coupe got stolen he did not have any use for the cluster anymore. Of course I was interested in the cluster since the European TA60 does not have a tachometer nor an oil pressure meter! We agreed upon the price and he sent the cluster to me.

Even though he packaged the cluster with the most wrapping materials I ever saw on a parcel it arrived with a broken trip-odometer-reset button. I have no idea how this could have happened while it was packaged that carefully… Maybe the parcel service played some hoops with it??

Carina GT-R AA63 cluster, zoom in speedo and odometer
Carina GT-R AA63 cluster, zoom in speedo- and odometer

Different than the LHD cluster the temperature-, speedo- and odometer are on the left side of the cluster. I probably need to convert the input speedocable to fit on the left side instead of the right side to make it work. Also the odometer has a double trip meter. At first I was only been able to reset one, but later on found out you can pull the reset switch and select left or right. Then push the switch and it resets either the left or the right trip meter! Cleaver!

You can also see it has a digital clock instead of the analogue clock on the European models. Great 80s nostalgia!

Carina GT-R AA63 cluster, zoom in tachometer
Carina GT-R AA63 cluster, zoom in tachometer

Fuel meter is on the spot of the temperature meter (swapped over).

Oil pressure meter is on the spot where I normally find my econometer. Normally I can play a game of pong with the econometer by tapping the gas. Hopefully I won’t be able to do that with the oil pressure meter. 😉

Tachometer goes a bit further than my 2T is capable of. Honestly I have no idea what the maximum amount of revs are of my 2T, but judging from the sound it must be somewhere near the 5k when the auto gearbox shifts into second.

On the right all important warning lights and on the bottom there is the high beam warning light.

Carina GT-R AA63 cluster, extreme closeup of redline
Carina GT-R AA63 cluster, extreme closeup of redline

Redline of 7800 rpm! Just like the kouki AE86! (???)

Carina GT-R AA63 cluster, warning lights
Carina GT-R AA63 cluster, warning lights

On the European cluster I have three warning lights: door, handbrake and highbeam. I think the Japanese characters say “catalytic converter” and I presume the CHG light with a battery next to it means the charging of the battery fails… ?(‘?`?)?

Carina GT-R AA63 cluster, back wiring
Carina GT-R AA63 cluster, back wiring

The back wiring of the cluster. From what I read in the 1982 European Carina/Celica A6 body repair manual I own the connections on the back side are very different than the AA63 wiring. So this is a bit of a puzzle since the European repair manual does not have anything about the Celica AA63: it did not exist yet when that book was written! ?(???;)

Thanks again to Revolver Drift for the cluster!

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