I've been (slowly) watching Roman fixing up his AA60 Carina coupe. Every few months he posted another update or image on AEU86.org showing what progress he made, either a F series live axle, an engine bay spray or acquisition of a 3SGE. Two weeks ago his Carina came back from the paintshop and all he has to do now is to put that puzzle back together. :D

This is how the project looked half way in 2008:

Romans SA60 Carina coupe project

And this is how it looks now in light greige metallic:
Click here to see the pictures of how the Carina looks today!

To say in yesterdays rustoseum spirits we will continue today with a rusty Carina SG left in a field:

Rusty Carina SG
I found it here and the translated text mentions something about a famous catchphrase "Carina foot guy". I searched on it and found here that it was the catchphrase of the first generation Carina GT.
Anyone more familiar with that phrase?

I'm not a fan of the rims on this Carina, but as you can see it is an original Carina Surf:

Original Carina Surf
The Carina Surf was part of the original Carina lineup and seperate from the Van line-up. It did feature the live axle we know of the other vans (and non-IRS Carinas) but there was a major difference: it had coil springs instead of the leaf springs used on the van!
BTW: The two extra stripes are not original...

Just have a look at this 1996 Carina commercial:

I thought about how the guy has changed during those 19 years from a tough 70s homie to a 90s salaryman dweeb. So I thought it would be fun to put all Carina drivers before that commercial into a chronological order and see how he evolves. ;)

Early 70s:

Sonny Chiba escaping from motorcycle gang in a Carina coupe TA17

1977:

The cool guy from 1996 commercial in front of a Carina TA40

1982:

Safari guy next to a 1982 Carina Road Runner II SA60

Puppy saving dad from the 1982 Carina GT-TR TA63 commercial

1988:

Suntanned guy in the 1988 Carina T170 commercial

1993:

Housedad in the 1993 Carina T190 commercial where his wife clearly cheated on him

1996:

Total dweeb in the 1996 Carina T210 commercial

conclusion:
So what happened?? What can we make of this?
Well, first of all if you look at it from the Carina perspective they get more dull on each new generation of the car, but that also accounts for the driver as well.

On the other hand if you look at this chronologically you will notice you start out as a superstud in your late 20s, be a cool guy in your early 30s, get adventurous in your mid 30s, get suntanned in your late 30s, get cheated on in your early 40s and become a loser in your late 40s. I think that sums up the life of a Carina driver pretty much! ;)

I'm pretty glad I'm still in my early thirties (almost mid thirties) and drive the 3rd generation of Carina. So I'm quite safe at the moment. But my next car won't be a Carina anymore, I can promise you that!! ;)

For the guy in the commercial: lucky for him the girl still remembers him as the cool guy in his late 20s and smiles, so he should be one lucky guy!