Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Japanse Autosport Festival: the classics

I think many of you have waited for this: the classics at the Japanse Autosport Festival!

The best classic on the terrain was this original Dutch 1977 Honda Civic SB parked in the parkinglot:
Honda Civic SB
As you can see it is in perfect condition and I could not find a spec of rust on it. It also has been fitted with a set of periodically correct vintage alloys.

The only comment I can give is that it was missing one small thing:
Honda Civic SB
Either someone nicked the badge or the car had a respray and the badge was not placed back (yet).

Also in the parkinglot was this 100% original Nissan 300ZX Z31:
Nissan 300ZX Z31
It is nice to see an original as about 90% of all Z31s have been imported from Germany, Austria or Switzerland in the past few years.

Opposite to the Civic SB was this other Civic:
Honda Civic AG
This third generation Civic (AG I believe) was in great nick and this one of those “you don’t see them often nowadays” Civics that used to be on every street corner. Definitely an upcoming classic.

On the paddock there was this flock of Mitsubishi Lancers:
Mitsubishi Lancer EX 2000 Turbo
For an unknown reason I did not take a picture of the whole group, but seeing eight of them was quite impressive. Got to repeat that next year with eight AE86s on the paddock. 😉

Anyway, one of them drew my immediate attention:
Mitsubishi Lancer EX 2000 Turbo
That’s not the usual SOHC 4G63 and not even the commonly modern 4G63 swapped in. No, it is the original SOHC 4G63 bottom mated with a USDM 4G63T first generation Eclipse head. Why? Because you can!

Compare that to the original SOHC 4G63:
Mitsubishi Lancer EX 2000 Turbo
Which is also a beautiful engine by itself!

Also on the paddock were this pair of SA22c Mazda RX7s:
Two Mazda SA22 RX7s

And this bone stock Mitsubishi Galant made me quite jealous:
Bone stock Mitsubishi Galant
Until I found out it is fitted with a 2.3 Turbo Diesel engine. Diesel engines from 1983 were not very impressive, not even if they were fitted with a turbo with a wastegate like this Astron 4D55. Still the remainder of the car is very clean and it is the Carina equivalent by Mitsubishi.

Last but not least was this bugeye Starlet KP60 at the Starlet stand:
Toyota Starlet KP60
Almost bone stock as it had been fitted with the famous Pizzacutter rims that were fitted on the Corolla AE86, Celica A60s and Celica Supra Mk 2s.

Now you might wonder where are the AE86s? Just be patient one more day. 😉

2 Comments

  1. Ricardo Severijns

    Wow i missed a lot of awesome cars 🙁
    I can spot that KP60 almost daily if the weather is good because the owner lives almost in the same street.

    • banpei

      Awesome car! I would be jealous of having such a beauty around the corner!
      Then again: I can enjoy my neighbors pimped up 2CV every day. 😉

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