Month: December 2014 (Page 1 of 3)

Commercial Time: SSR Star Shark rim ad

December 29, 2014 / banpei / 3 Comments

Speed Star Racing (SSR) started off producing a solid alloy wheel called the Mk 1. By the 80s they were famous already and they already had a track record for the number of wheel designs in between. Then they introduced the SSR Star Shark (also known as the Colin Star Shark) in the 80s and it got the name because of the double star that cross each other like a shark, right?

Well this 80s ad really explains it all: We are Shark and We love Colin!

There were the two piece SSR Star Shark rim (eight spoke four point star), the two piece SSR Star Shark II (ten spoke) and (finally) the one piece SSR Star Shark Mini (eight spoke four point star) for sale. The mini is aimed at, you never guessed, the Mini and equally small Japanese kei cars. ;)

I love the design of the SSR Star Shark and yesterday I was seriously on the verge of buying myself a (dirt cheap!) set of 14 inch rims (for sale here!), but didn’t do that in the end because they are 14 inch rims and I really want 15 inch rims. Nevertheless they look awesome on an AE86 (or on the Celica XX above) or any old Datsun! So I started googling on the SSR Star Shark to find out what it looks like on a Carina and bumped into this ad.

Ad found at: JDMEuro (hence the JDMEuro branding)

Brochures: Datsun pricelist from 1973

December 26, 2014 / banpei / 0 Comments

Last week I posted a picture of the showroom of a Dutch Datsun dealership and I remembered I also got a genuine Datsun pricelist with the Dutch Datsun catalogue I bought some time ago:

The Datsun pricelist is from February 1973 (pre 1973 oil crisis) and the prices are at least a bit surprising: Continue reading

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

December 24, 2014 / banpei / 0 Comments

As every year a merry Christmas and the best wishes for 2015!

My wishes for the New Year are:

World peace
Cure for all diseases
Discovering a barn-find Nissan 2400GT (I’ll also settle for a Nissan 240K GT)

Picture of the Week: Dutch Datsun car dealer in 1977

December 20, 2014 / banpei / 0 Comments

I found this scanned newspaper photo of a showroom of the Dutch Datsun car dealer Rhenoy (in 1977) posted in japanseklassieker.nl Facebook group and immediately thought to share it here:

What I quickly spotted in this photo was (from top left clockwise):

Datsun 160B / 180B / 200B coupe (aka Nissan Bluebird 810)
Datsun 260Z (aka Nissan Fairlady Z S30)
Datsun 200L coupe (aka Nissan Laurel C130, aka pigsbutt Laurel, aka butaketsu)
Datsun 280C sedan (aka Nissan Gloria 330)
Datsun 160B / 180B / 200B sedan (aka Nissan Bluebird 810)
Datsun 100A (aka Nissan Cherry E10)
Datsun 160J coupe (aka Nissan Bluebird 710, or plain 710)
Datsun 100A F-II two door sedan (aka Nissan Cherry F-II F10)
Datsun 100A F-II coupe (aka Nissan Cherry F-II F10)

Now the big question is where is the Datsun 120Y (aka Nissan Sunny B210) in this photo? Or did I guess the first car wrongly here?

In my opinion the most interesting cars at this Datsun car dealer are the first four cars. Styling wise the late 70s was when Nissan shifted from coke-bottle styling to ruler styling and that’s quite visible in this showroom. The all new 160B/180B/200B (Bluebird 810) just arrived and also shows the arrival of the ruler styling with its sharp lines. There is just one tiny coke-bottle hip left over at the rear quarter of the car. Even sharper lines and more angular design would arrive with the all new 1977 Datsun 200L (aka Nissan Laurel C230), 1977 Datsun 160J (aka Nissan Violet A10) and the 1978 Datsun Cherry (aka Nissan Pulsar N10).

If I had to pick one car from this Datsun car dealer showroom back in 1977 I probably would have taken the four door Datsun 180B sedan. Simply because of it practicality and fuel economy for as far as you could call it economical at all. However if I had to pick one today I would choose either the Datsun 200L coupe (I just love the word butaketsu!) or the Datsun 200B coupe.

Friday Video: Honda City Turbo II races!

December 19, 2014 / banpei / 1 Comment

Over a year ago I posted a picture of a Honda City Turbo II racecar. Today I have a couple of videos for you where these little bulldogs get in close combat on the circuit!

First of all this great video of the John Player Special Honda City Turbo II trophy race: Continue reading

Family Album Treasures: Ken & Mary Nissan Skyline R30

Family Album Treasures: Ken & Mary Skyline R30

December 18, 2014 / banpei / 3 Comments

The Ken & Mary Skyline advertisements from the 70s made a really huge impact on the Japanese youngsters of the 70s. Both Ken and Mary became icons and so did the umbrella icon. Not surprisingly the Japanese baby-boomers love to pose in front of a Nissan Skyline C110 (kenmeri) with a red umbrella. In this case the car is slightly different: a Nissan Skyline R30!

I have to be honest here: I don’t know the origin from this photo, when it was taken, no idea who is in the photo and why she decided to be there. But what is for sure is that a person called Jing found the photo and added it to his Skyline pictures album.

Found at Jing’s Skyline photos