Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Tag: nissan skyline r30 (Page 1 of 5)

A drive through Otsuka and Koishikawa – Friday Video

This week Kamepo posted a new video of a side-by-side drive through the Otsuka and Koishikawa districts in Tokyo. I had no clue where exactly this is, but according to the map, this is part of Bunkyo and nearby the Shuto Expressway C1. That means it can’t be too far away from the centre, right?

According to the various sources I read, the Otsuka neighbourhood is transforming itself into an area with a mix of traditional Japanese culture and modern foreign influence. It’s also the last place in Tokyo where you can find tram lines. This tram line, the Toden Arakawa Line, is unfortunately not on the route driven by Kamepo.

The Koishikawa area is known for the Koishikawa Korakuen garden which hosts beautiful plum and cherry blossoms in springtime. It’s also hosting various University buildings including the University of Tokyo, which also takes care of a large botanical garden. The drive will pass the University at 3:30 in the video and the botanical garden at 4:35.

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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

Family Album Treasures: Ken & Mary Skyline R30

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!
Family Album Treasures: Ken & Mary 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

Webmining: Paul Newman Skyline on the Fort Gates Ferry in Floria

One of my favorite tools to find new things is Google Images. I was searching for photos of a Paul Newman Skyline but bumped into a set of photos of Paul Newman with a red Nissan Skyline GT-ES Turbo at the Floria Memory site taken in May 1982 around the Fort Gates Ferry in Floria.
Paul Newman Skyline Fort Gates Ferry in Floria
This obviously triggered my curiosity and I started digging into the subject. 😉

I suspected at first this was just footage for one of the famous New-man Skyline ads from 1982, but for some reason I could not remember seeing this ferry in any of them:

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