Month: October 2009 (Page 3 of 6)

Itasha: not every Japanese knows its meaning!

October 20, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

You may think every Japanese citizen would know the meaning of Itasha (??), however as this video explains they do not…

The word Itasha is a word that consists of the words Itai (?) and Sha (?), meaning Painful and Vehicle. Painful is used in a way that it means painful for the wallet. The word is also a pun on Itariasha (?????) which is shortend into Itasha (???) and means Italian Car. Note that the two words are written differently but pronounced the same!

So that explains a lot why all those interviewed people did not know the true meaning of Itasha!

BTW: Itasha is getting bigger and bigger… This will be the next major export style from Japan!

JList: Japanese Beginner Driver Mark

October 19, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

I’ve been advertising for JList.com/JBox.com for a while now and I actually wanted to know what I was advertising for!

I always thought the Japanese driving marks were a fun item to own, so I decided to buy the beginners mark from them! I could very well have chosen for the senior driving mark, but the video of the Carina Jeune made me decide for the beginners mark…

Japanese beginner driver mark: how it arrived

I was a bit amazed by the price: this mark only cost me only 9 dollars including shipping! I’ve seen these for sale at some huge JDM site for sale for 15 dollars without shipping!

So I ordered the item and expected it to take a week or two to arrive. I was quite surprised when a package arrived only 8 days later!

Japanese beginner driver mark: unpacked

It was nicely packaged in a thick envelope with a big carton behind the mark to prevent it from bending. Nice!

Japanese beginner driver mark: how big is it?

I was a bit surprised of its size: it is 4.5 inch wide and 7 inch high!

Japanese beginner driver mark: how to apply

From the instruction I understood you need to apply this one clearly visible to the inside of the rear window of your car. This mark has a suction cup (a magnetic one is also available!), so you can reuse it in any car you like. ;)
There is also one needed at the front of the car but I didn’t buy that one since I’m not living in Japan and this is supposed to be a novelty. ;)

BTW: note that JBox.com is the SFW variant of JList.com, so if you are interested in bizarre Japanese stuff (tenga, tentacles, school uniforms, etc.) you can also browse Jlist.com!

DOTS: Mazda 323 mk1

October 18, 2009 / banpei / 3 Comments

In the October 2009 issue of Practical Classics the editors wondered about an eBay sale of an almost mint Mazda 323 mk1 with a broken clutch: in their eyes the car sold for a large sum of money (over 1000 pounds). For classic Japanese cars of that era that amount of money is actually a bargain. On the other side they commented correctly: try to find another one in the same state!

Well I did not succeed in doing that, but instead I found this good looking 323:

Down on the Street: Mazda 323 mk1

I was a bit surprised to find the car for sale at Marktplaats.nl (Dutch Craigslist) for only 950 euros!

From far away it appears to be in a good state! But getting closer reveals some flaws:

Down on the Street: Mazda 323 mk1
V6? Good joke guys! If the car would have been lowered and sitting on some stretched rubber I may have bought it… ;)
No, the car actually runs the original 1.3 liter Mazda TC engine, mated with a 4 speed manual.

Parked in this way it looks like it is participating in a drag race!

Down on the Street: Mazda 323 mk1

The interior was in good condition: the seats are half (fake) leather, half tweed. The front seats do have covers on them, so it a big question what’s under that cover… The dashboard looked completely original and not hacksawed to make a modern car radio fit.

The car isn’t really rusty. All the rust I saw is only surface rust. In some places the car already had its crusty parts repaired:

Down on the Street: Mazda 323 mk1
So I’d say, not a bad RWD car for only 950 euros! It may be a bithigher priced than the one sold on eBay. However this 323 is drivable, while the one on eBay could not move by itself…

In case you are interested, you can find the ad here!

BTW: I know, the Mazda 323 mk1 is actually the Mazda Familia mk4. Europe already suffered from a renaming scheme due to Mazda and Peugeot fighting over the 808 naming scheme of the Mazda Familia mk3. Mazda changed its name to 818 and by the time the mk4 got launched they decided to rename almost its complete lineup to the x2x scheme. The Familia became the 323, the Capella the 626 and the Luce the 929.

Flyrat: Tommy Kaira M30

October 17, 2009 / banpei / 2 Comments

Just browsing through the Flyrat blog and came across this rare Tommy Kaira M30:

Tommy Kaira M30

I thought it would be nice to share this car: this is one of the very rare occasions you will see this car, apart from when you play games like Gran Turismo! :D

Tommy Kaira M30

Tommy Kaira was already a renowned tuner in Japan since 1968, but in 1987 they made their first rebadged version of a tuned production car: the Tommy Kaira M19! (based upon a Mercedes 190) Starting from 1988 they changed focus and put themselves exclusively to modifying Japanese production cars, starting with the Tommy Kaira M30!

Tommy Kaira M30

This car is often mistaken for the Infinity M30, which is actually a Nissan Leopard F31. The Tommy Kaira M30 was intially based upon the Skyline GTS-R R31 and later on based upon the Skyline GTS-t R32. This particular car is the R31 based M30. The car was tuned up to Tommy Kaira’s specifications by lowering and stiffening up the suspension and swap the engine for a custom built RB30DE!

Tommy Kaira M30

The engine was a work of art: they took out the RB20DE engine, removed the head and put it on top of a RB30E engine, and thus creating a RB30DE engine. Then the workshop increased the compression ratio, cams, port polish and all this raised the M30’s power output from 159hp to 238hp! There were some limitations to this engine: the RB30E bottom is not as strong and refined as its lesser counterpars and created inbalance. This results in and engine that can’t be revved over 7200rpm. On the other side it has massive amounts of torque!

Nowadays this trick is happily done by the Australians as well to upgrade their Australian built Skyline R31s (RB30E engines only) to a more decent power ouput. The only difference is that the Aussies do a much bolder job than Tommy Kaira: they swap over the newer RB25DET head to make it a more powerful turbo version of the M30 engine!

Bone stock R31 GTS-R Interior

All other parts of the car remained the same as the factory spec GTS-R. This can be seen in the austere (or yet better: spartan) interior of the car. On the other hand: who needs luxury if you got one of the coolest Skylines ever?

You can buy this beauty for the small sum of $16,495 at Flyrat!

Seibu Keisatsu Machine RS34

October 15, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

Suppose you are a big Seibu Keisatsu fan and want a comfortable daily ride, what would you choose?

Seibu Keisatsu Machine RS34
Minkara user Ken chose to drive his ER34 as a daily driver and turn the car into a Seibu Keisatsu Machine RS DR30 lookalike!

4Valve DOHC GT-Turbo intercooler
Even the writing on the side is done in retro styling of the Skyline RS-Turbo: his ER34 reads 4valve DOHC GT-Turbo intercooler on the place where normally the RS-Turbo writing is!

Seibu Keisatsu Machine RS34
And the whole car is painted in the red and black panda scheme of the Tomica Skyline that was copied over to the RS lineup.

Seibu Keisatsu sunglasses of Chief Daimon
So, to complete his Machine RS34 he also has a set of sunglasses which looks like the ones Chief Daimon had in the Seibu Keisatsu series. (???)

Seibu Keisatsu suit of Chief Daimon

Seibu Keisatsu suit of Chief Daimon
And don’t worry: for true fans they even sell immitation suits of Chief Daimon! ?(????)

Seibu Keisatsu Machine RS34
So he couldn’t resist (while wearing the sunglasses and suit) to have his picture taken next to his Machine RS34! ?(´?`)/

Carina sightings: Yokosuka’s deep blue Carina AA63

October 14, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

I found this lovely deep blue Carina AA63 on Minkara:
Yokosuka's deep blue Toyota Carina AA63
Yokosuka’s deep blue Toyota Carina AA63

It may look quite ordinary, but if you look closer to Yokosuka‘s car you can see it has got widened fenders up front, wider Hayashi Streets up front, lowered a bit (FC3S and GX71 springs) and a rollcage inside.

I’m not too sure it was originally an AA63 since the grille wears a Carina SG badge… But it surely does have a 20v 4AGE blacktop up front!

Yokosuka's deep blue Toyota Carina AA63
Yokosuka’s deep blue Toyota Carina AA63

With the helmet on the roof, the track number on the rear door window, roll cage and widened front fenders (and wheels) I suspect he uses the car for the occasional drift day.

Yokosuka's deep blue Toyota Carina AA63
Yokosuka’s deep blue Toyota Carina AA63

And some bling as well: he put a set of leds in the tail lights!

Too bad he just started his Minkara account, so we’ll just have to wait and hope more will come in due time…

Month: October 2009 (Page 3 of 6)

Itasha: not every Japanese knows its meaning!

JList: Japanese Beginner Driver Mark

DOTS: Mazda 323 mk1

Flyrat: Tommy Kaira M30

Seibu Keisatsu Machine RS34

Carina sightings: Yokosuka’s deep blue Carina AA63

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