Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Month: March 2009 (Page 1 of 4)

Rare Bosozoku cars: Mitsubishi Galant Lambda

This week we feature another rare Bosozoku styled car. This time I did find two Bosozoku styled examples of this car in contrary of the singular examples I previously posted.

This time we feature two Mitsubishi Galant Lambdas in different styles:
Mild Bosozoku styled Mitsubishi Galant Lambda
Mild Bosozoku styled Mitsubishi Galant Lambda

This Galant Lambda is a bit of a Kyusha styled car. Very nicely slammed to the ground with some phat rims and a nice oil cooler sticking under the bumper.

Wild Bosozoku styled Mitsubishi Galant Lambda
Wild Bosozoku styled Mitsubishi Galant Lambda

This wildly bosozoku styled Galant Lambda has it all: big overhanging lip at the front, big fenders, spoiler on the boot, 70s paint scheme, chromed mirrors and bumper, a hood ornament and let’s not forget the Astron 80 badge on the grille!

The Mitsubishi Galant Lambda was also known as the Mitsubishi Sapporo in the EU, Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Sapporo in the US, Chrysler Scorpion and the Mitsubishi Scorpion in Australia and the car was also known as the Colt Sapporo in the UK. That’s a lot of names!
Almost factory stock zenki Galant Lambda
Almost factory stock zenki (1976-1980) Galant Lambda

The Galant Lambda was marketed as a “personal luxury car” which meant it was not considered a coupe. It was supposed to be a two door luxury vehicle based on a car from the larger model lineup. Most likely to match the “hardtop” designation by Toyota for the Crown and Chaser which were immediate competitors.

The car had a facelift in 1980 which resulted in a new grille with fixed lights, B pilar going into the roof lining instead of being a seperate beam, new rear lights and a set of spoilers to get it into the 80s era.
Factory stock kouki Galant Lambda
Factory stock kouki (1980-1982) Galant Lambda

The Galant Lambda featured several engines but the 4 cylinder Astron 80 was the most favorable engine of them all: it featured the “silent shaft” system. The “silent shaft” system was an improved version of a single balance shaft which counter balanced the vibrations made by the inline piston engine design. This system was the first use of twin balance shafts which enabled Mitsubishi to improve stability in the Astron engine and enlarge the engine over 2 liters. The Galant Lambda Astron 80 featured a 2.6 liter engine, a figure which was in the 70s normally only obtainable by adding at least two extra cylinders!

The Galant Lambda featured a futuristic design both outside and inside. It features a single spoke steering wheel and a wild spaceage interior. This interiour looked just as good as the interior of a Citroen SM back in 1976!
Factory stock interior Galant Lambda
Factory stock interior Galant Lambda

On one side I understand why the Galant Lambda is a rare Bosozoku car: it is already a very wild styled car, on the other hand I don’t understand it: it reads potential all over it.
Perhaps it has to do with the brand Mitsubishi: Mitsubishi focused primarily on smaller cars during the 60s and early 70s while Nissan and Toyota already sold the larger saloons. Resulting in Mitsubishi’s being the 5th largest car manufacturer in Japan. Also Mitsubishi focused on Rally and not on circuit racing so they missed the Granchan followers.

As an ex-Mitsubishi owner I always wanted to buy a good condition Sapporo, however an AE86 came in between. Who knows, maybe I’ll own one myself one day. One thing is for sure then: it won’t be Bosozoku styled! 😉

[I posted this article earlier today on Bosozokustyle.com]

DIY: Fender widening by Video Option

I still remember encountering these techniques through AEU86 for the first time and it scared the hell out of me:

Back then when I saw this video I thought this guy is bashing up his own car in a very bad way: he’s not using the right hammers to do body work with and he just uses a pole to widen his rear fender with.

Nowadays I can truely enjoy this video: I’ve learned a lot in the last years and one of them is that you can’t keep your car clean if you want to go fast with it. People like this guy are doing this to improve the car, not the looks of the car. They don’t care how the car looks, as long as it is okay.

So actually seeing this video after such a long time made me laugh about how my own opinion changed during these years… I still wouldn’t do that to my own Carina because I would take a proper set of tools but I can understand and enjoy these DIY mods now. 🙂

I wonder if this car still lives… Or would it already be used as a drift missile after a while?

Hilarious: Riki Takeuchi’s split personality

While doing research for Bosozoku Style blog I came across an interview with Riki Takeuchi by Knuckles TV:

You may know him for his acting skills: he played bad guys in several major movies, like Battle Royale and Dead or Alive for instance, but his acting career started already in the mid 80s! Back then he already played Bosozoku bikers, so his acting career hasn’t changed much since!

This guy really has a split personality! At one side he is the actor Riki Takeuchi who plays tough guy roles and on the other side he is the Yakuza/Bosozoku/etc singer RIKI.
Riki Takeuchi the actor
Riki Takeuchi the actor

versus
Riki Takeuchi the singer
Riki Takeuchi the singer

His looks are a bit of a crossover between Daijiro Inada and Elvis and his music videos are mainly the same: him singing as the tough Yakuza/Bosozoku guy with either a lot of flashy dancers, big trucks or even battling bears! I wonder where I did see that all before??

Especially this video is great:

Supahwwwwwwwawe! 😀
I think RIKI just got a new fan! 😉

Carina Sightings: Turbo diesel Carina ice racing

This Carina was posted two weeks back on Youtube:

This Carina is doing some ice racing and it is doing some sideways action along the way. In this case it is not that good: the car gets passed easily with the competition all being FWD cars.

According to the video this Carina features a Turbo Diesel engine. The Carina A6 never had a Turbo Diesel engine so it must be a transplanted engine. The video shows that the Turbo is from a Volvo 940, but no idea if the engine is from the 940. Also the Turbo is on the wrong way for the Carina, so either the exhaust could not be used and therefore it now features this nice “tractor” like exhaust pipe or they rerouted the exhaust pipe to the intake manifold and bolted the turbo right on it!

Edit: I got a reply from one of the owners/drivers, the engine is the 1C diesel with a 940 turbo on top of it! 😉

It kind of reminded me of this Carina I posted a long long time ago:

The color is different so it can’t be the same car but nice to see several people coming up with the same solution! 🙂

Popular Bosozoku cars: Toyota Celica XX

As promised: this week we feature the Celica XX in the Popular Bosozoku Cars. 🙂

We kick off with a subtle Kyusha styled example:
Kyusha styled Toyota Celica XX
Kyusha styled Toyota Celica XX

The kouki Celica XX (facelifted second version) already featured fender flares on its own, but this car above has extended those flares extremely and added some sideskirts to it. Nice example of Kyusha style on the more modern cars if there were no fins on the hood and a large exhaust.

Shakotan styled Toyota Celica XX
Shakotan styled Toyota Celica XX

This Shakotan styled Toyota Celica XX had it all: extremely lowered to the ground, deep dish wheels still fitting in the original fenders and a big pipe sticking out from under the rear bumper! Note that the wing on the hatch is the factory spec upper spoiler for some of the zenki Celica XX (pre-facelift) models.

Bosozoku styled Toyota Celica XX
Bosozoku styled Toyota Celica XX

Everything is boso on this Bosozoku styled Toyota Celica XX: big lip on the front, single windshield wiper, wacky color, racing mirrors, extremely wide fenders and some diy sideskirts to stand on while parading through town!

Funny enough I could not find any racing replicas through all pictures I have of Bosozoku styled Celcia XXs. Eventhough the Celica XX did not feature the Super Silhouette formula, there were a lot of them racing around the world back in the early 80s and definitely it must have inspired some people to make replicas of them, just like the Granchan styling were replicas of the old Super Silhouette racers.

Factory stock kouki Toyota Celica XX
Factory stock kouki Toyota Celica XX

The first generation Celica XX (pronounced as “double X”) was a lengthened Celica A4 to fit the 2.6 liter 4M or the 2.0 liter 1M into the Celica. Basically the first generation Celica XX did not look much different from the normal Celica except it had a very long bonnet. Later spec Celica XX did receive the more powerful 2.8 liter 5M-E and IRS, which was top of the range.

The second generation Celica XX succeeded the first generation and featured a 2.0 liter 1M-T turbo as the basic engine, a naturally aspired 2.8 liter 5M-GE as the midrange with lots of torque and a high revving naturally aspired 2.0 liter 1G-GEU as top of the range. At the same time Toyota was also working together with Lotus on the MR2 and had a good idea: have Lotus do the suspension on the Supra and in exchange have Lotus reuse some of the parts for their own car lineup! (the Lotus Excel for instance shares the rims and gearbox)

Factory stock zenki Toyota Celica XX
Factory stock zenki Toyota Celica XX

As stated before: the major difference between the zenki and the kouki models were the extended fenders with the wellknown fender flares. This resulted in the second generation having smaller diameter rims: 14 inch instead of 15 inch!

After the second generation Celica XX it became renamed to Supra, which was the overseas name for the Celica XX, so it could be split from the newer FWD Celica range. The Supra (mk. III) remained the A platform and got the designation A7.

[I posted this article earlier today on Bosozokustyle.com]

Rare Bosozoku cars: Mazda RX7 FC

This week we have another unpopular Bosozoku styled car: I initially planned to do a popular bosozoky styled car with the Celica XX but then I realized I already did the Corona RT40 last week, so the Celica XX feature will have to wait a few weeks I guess.

Anyway, I did see a lot of RX7 SA/FB Bosozoku styled cars but that is quite natural since the SA/FB raced in the Super Silhouette races. However I only found one Bosozoku styled RX7 FC:
Bosozoku styled Mazda RX7 FC
Bosozoku styled Mazda RX7 FC

You could consider this FC a bit of a mix between racing style and Kyusha style, but the huge lip and oil cooler in front makes it Bosozoku styled!
Bosozoku styled Mazda RX7 FC
Bosozoku styled Mazda RX7 FC

I have no idea why the RX7 FC would be an unpopular Bosozoku car: it is Mazda, it is rotary and it looks like a Porsche 928/944… Maybe it is too modern?

Factory stock Mazda RX7 FC
Factory stock Mazda RX7 FC

Back in 1986 the FC replaced the SA/FB and was produced till 1992 when it was replaced by the FD. The SA/FB was a more popular than the FC: the FC only sold half of the SA/FB in numbers.

But the FC was actually a better car than the SA/FC: it was very modern, had a better engine, featured ABS, adjustable suspension and even featured a convertible!

Factory stock Mazda RX7 FC
Factory stock Mazda RX7 FC

The FC only featured the 13B engine which was available naturally aspired and turbocharged. The power ranged from 146hp to 200hp.

Ryosuke Takahashi and his white FC
Ryosuke Takahashi and his white FC

Lately the FC became very popular after Initial D featured a white FC driven by Ryosuke Takahashi. He is one of the most charismatic persons in that series and his FC is styled very subtile so it is actually the opposite of the Bosozoku styled FC at the top of this article. 😉

[I posted this article earlier today on Bosozokustyle.com]

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