Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Tag: Nissan Exa

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

Commercial Time: Space Age Nissan concept car

In 1983 the Nissan Motor Company celebrated its 50th anniversary and they showed in Japan a commercial that revealed a space age looking concept car that got updated to the 80s taste:
Space Age Nissan concept car
Sleek looking aerodynamic (not soap bar yet) delta wing idea that must have convinced people in the 80s that Nissan was seriously going to make flying or rocket cars in the (near) future. This Nissan concept car certainly does that!

If you squint your eyes you can make out the 1971 Nissan 216X concept car:
1971 Nissan 216X concept car

Interestingly enough there is also another concept car called the NX-21 that introduced the EXA concept:
1983 Nissan NX21 concept car
Yes, this Nissan concept car is somewhere between the 216X and the EXA but nowhere near the one shown in the commercial. 😉

For completeness here is the 80s Nissan commercial:

Continue reading

WTF: US Nissan Pulsar, 200SX and 300ZX commercial

This 1987 US Nissan commercial was posted by Reich and it clearly illustrates why cars and Flashdance don’t match:

WTF were the Nissan executives thinking in the 80s? Apart from the fact that flashdance and cars don’t match it is also weird to have such a commercial in the late 80s when flashdance was clearly out of fashion. Now if they would have come up with the Lambada it might actually have caught the attention of the teenagers. 😉

Spotted a Nissan Exa

Today I spotted a Nissan Exa while driving through town. It stopped at the junction which I was passing and followed 50 meters behind me for two or three blocks so I only got a good look at it at the junction. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me, so once again a cameraphone would be quite handy in these occurrences.

Normally the Exa is quite rare here in Holland since it was never sold here and normally was only imported from the US. However this model had a very distinctive front spoiler, so I looked it up and it appeared to be a Grand Prix edition which was only sold in Australia. Hmmm… Forgot to look if the driver actually was on the right side of the car…

The Exa looked like this:
Nissan Exa Grand Prix edition front
Nissan Exa Grand Prix edition front

As you can see the front looks very similar to the S12, but actually I think it looks rather more a like the Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno. Too bad it looks horrible at the rear and that it is wwd. 😉

While searching for Exa info I also found this great Nissan Sunny Turbo picture:
Nissan Sunny Turbo
Notice the mirrored “Turbo” writing on the grille. Imagine cruising and all of a sudden some car rushes in very fast. All you can see in your mirror is “Turbo” written on the grille… I love those small details on 80s cars… 😉

Thanks to the Nissan Exa club for their info about the Exa Grand Prix.

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