Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Category: brilliant (Page 1 of 5)

Grandpa AE86 taking grandchild GR86 for a grand day out – Brilliant

This photo of a German Toyota Corolla GT Twin Cam 16 AE86 and a Toyota GR86 is just brilliant!

Grandpa AE86 takes grandson GR86 for a day out!
Grandpa AE86 takes grandson GR86 for a day out!

As you can see, both have a personalized vanity plate with AE86 in it! It was posted in the German AE86 WhatsApp group and the first comment was “Opa und Enkel on tour.” which roughly translates to Grandpa taking grandchild for a day out. Just simply brilliant!

I’m sorry to say this to the owner of the Toyota GR86: you got the wrong plate! It should have been MD-GR-86! But you could also say I’m just jealous we can’t get personalized plates here in the Netherlands…

Better than JDM: German AE86 vanity license plates – Brilliant

For readers from the US, this is probably difficult to understand, but not every country has vanity plates. And even if they are allowed, most of the time they aren’t completely free form. A good example is the British plates where you often need to decypher what the buyer intended. German plates do allow a bit of freedom, but most of the format is set in stone.

VW Polo with German license plate BRB-AE-86
VW Polo with German license plate BRB-AE-86
Continue reading

Brilliant: Nissan Leopard F31 digital dashboard

Okay I admit that I love digital dashboards and I surely do love this Nissan Leopard F31 dashboard!
Nissan Leopard F31 digital dashboard
If you look at the complexity of it Nissan must have spent a fortune on getting these LCD displays fault free. πŸ˜‰

The boot-up test sequence shows about everything the display can show you:

Not much more than the most necessary gauges but sufficient enough for a Gran Turismo like the Nissan Leopard F31

Direct link to video: デジパネ ζ—₯産 レパード F31 デジタルパーター UF31 NISSAN LEOPARD digital dash

Brilliant: Nissan Leopard F31 keyless entry card

Nissan was forward thinking on their flagship the Nissan Leopard F31 back in 1986: it featured a keyless entry card! Earlier Glorias and Cedrics already featured pin-code like systems, but they keyless entry card is going way further than that!
Nissan Leopard F31 keyless entry card
This card has the size of a credit card and the thickness of a modern smartphone, but allows the wearer to open the doors and trunk without the use of a key!

The system was actually quite simple:
Nissan Leopard F31 keyless entry card
Two sensors operate this system: one in the driver side mirror and another in the rear bumper. Both sensors will unlock either the driver side door or the trunk separately from each other.The system was only available on the Ultima edition of the Nissan Leopard F31.

Via: Minkara

Brilliant: collection of Showa scale model cars

Now this was a big jaw-dropper: two videos of a Toyota Mark II Grande GX71 literally covered in Showa scale model cars. This must be the largest personal collection of scale model cars I’ve seen!
Brilliant: Showa scale model cars
Now if you look carefully enough you can see that each and every scale model car has its own special paint job (mostly kaido racer, race car livery or kyusha kai) and set of (rare) JDM rims! If you count the number of hours it took to make them look this way alone it already is an amazing job!

Now the list of cars, mainly from the late Showa-era, is going to be a lengthy one, but I’ll try to sum up the most important ones:

  • Toyota Mark II Grande GX71 (duh)
  • Toyota Soarer GZ10/MZ11/MZ12 (including the Shakotan Boogie Soarer twice)
  • Numerous Toyota Celica XX GA61
  • Toyota Celica GT RA45
  • Toyota Corolla Levin TE27
  • Toyota Corolla Levin TE71 four door sedan
  • Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 hatchback
  • Toyota Corsa AL11
  • Numerous Nissan Skylines C10, C110, C210, R30
  • Numerous Nissan Cedric/Gloria 230, 330, 430
  • Numerous Nissan Fairlady S30
  • Nissan EXA
  • Hasemi Skyline KDR30 Super Silhouette kaido racer replica
  • Nissan Silvia S110 Super Silhouette kaido racer replica
  • Isuzu Bellet GT-R
  • Mazda RX-3

And the list could go on for another 20 or 30 models that I overlooked…

Watch video number one: Continue reading

Brilliant: Toyota Carina GT-TR digital dashboard

As a follow up on yesterdays Mitsubishi Starion digital dashboard post I wanted to show the difference with the Toyota Carina GT-TR TA63 digital dashboard:
Toyota Carina GT-TR TA63 Digital Dashboard
As I wrote yesterday: the Starion dashboard has a lot more gauges than the Toyota counterpart, but the Toyota digital dashboard is a lot brighter with many more LEDs. On the left you can see the failure indicators (including oil pressure, oil temperature and voltage) and the indicator if the turbo is boosting or not. On the right you can see the fuel gauge and water temperature gauge as LEDs. A lot brighter than the Starion indeed.

Now if you compare the digital dashboard with the analogue below you immediately can see the difference: the analogue has an extra oil pressure gauge and features all the failure indicators on the right.

Just like the Starion, you can see the Toyota Carina GT-TR digital dashboard in action below: Continue reading

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