Month: July 2010 (Page 1 of 5)

Hilarious: kei cars19 years ago in Top Gear

July 30, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

Honestly I do love Top Gear, but I simply can’t find the time to actually follow it… Most of the time I just wait for the reviews and see if I really need to see an episode…
People already speculate that this actually might be the last series of the new Top Gear, which I can understand since all three of them are already presenting the new format for 8 years now (I know, May only 7…) and it slowly starts to become difficult to make the series even better than last season. ;)

Back to the old series: I found this clip from the old series (1991) where Jeremy Clarkson test drives a couple of the finest Japanse kei cars:

I was really puzzled on how much he actually liked them! Was he more forgiving in his early years or did he become soft for the little ones??

Family Album Treasures: Skyline DR30 girl sandwich

July 29, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

What would you prefer more: a tekamen Skyline DR30 or a girl sandwich? Why not do both?

Skyline DR30 girl sandwich
And of course a nice zenki Levin in the background. ;)

Carina Sightings: Carina Surf

July 28, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

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…

Video: Aristo automatic drifting in Tochigi

July 27, 2010 / banpei / 2 Comments

I liked this short drift video in Tochigi a lot:

Not only do we see a 6 to 7 cars drifting snakelike all the way up a mountain in Tochigi, we also see Nomuken sitting shotgun in a Toyota Aristo (aka Lexus GS300) with automatic gearbox! The driver does manages to drift most corners and keep up with the S15 up front and the S14 behind him!

These first generation GS300s are already up for grabs for under 3000 euros, so that is very tempting! Only thing that is holding me back is the road tax: about 1000 euros per year! Compare that to the zero euros I pay for the Carina! :O

BTW: The plings indicate the huge dents in the guardrails!

DOTS: Celica’s like brother and sister

July 25, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

Some time ago I saw a red Celica ST in the TACN magazine which looked very very familiar… When I saw the license plate I knew I did see it somewhere before… But then with different rims… The day after I knew where I saw it:

Brother and sister: two Toyota Celica ST AT180s
Right down the street, literally: it is parked one block away from my house! :D

That evening I compared it with the one in the magazine and found out that it is indeed almost the same: the license plate is off by one number:

Brother and sister: two Toyota Celica ST AT180s
In the Netherlands we have incremental license plates (no vanity plates!) and the plate says something about when the car was registered with that plate. In this case both cars were bought on the same day and probably at the same dealer. Maybe they were even bought by a brother and sister. ;)

At the Japan Classic Sunday I spotted the second car and tried to find the owner. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find him, had a chat with the owner of the neighbouring car and took a picture of the car with the intention to post it up here in the DOTS. ;)

JCS 2010 highlights (part two)

July 24, 2010 / banpei / 2 Comments

Let’s continue (and finish) the highlights of Japan Classic Sunday 2010!

First of all these two blue Corolla KE30s drew my attention:

Two Corolla KE30s

Two Corolla KE30s
I briefly spoke to the owner and his buddy. They surely love to keep these old Rollas alive! :)

Another Corolla, but this time PetzK’s AE86:

PetzK 3 door AE86
It finally returned to its home soil (it used to be a Dutch 3 door!) and the car looks even better than on the pictures I saw before. Too bad I didn’t have the opportunity to chat! :(

Talking about 3 door AE86s:

Ibrahims red 3 door Levin AE86
He won second place in the youngtimer class (two years ago he became first). Winning a price on the JCS is not a bad thing, but winning twice is a very good thing! Congrats again Ibrahim! :)

Iwan brought both his Datsun Super Six and this Datsun 280C wagon:

Datsun 280C (Nissan Gloria/Cedric 430) wagon

Datsun 280C (Nissan Gloria/Cedric 430) wagon

Datsun 280C (Nissan Gloria/Cedric 430) wagon
Not only can this 280C bring along 8 passengers (!) but it also has a small side window that can be operated through the keyhole in the back (seen in the last picture!). It was meant as a feature for Japanese people who returned shopping and wanted to load their groceries into the car without stepping off the pavement! Talk about (useless) innovation! :D

And last but not least, this Corolla Levin BG-Z AE111:

Toyota Corolla Levin BZ-G AE111

Toyota Corolla Levin BZ-G AE111
Believe it or not: this car is an original Luxembourg car! A collector from Luxembourg ordered this RHD car through a Toyota dealer directly from Japan, so this is one of the few original AE111 delivered outside Japan! Amazing!

That’s it for JCS 2010! Can’t wait for JCS 2011! (if that is ever going to happen!)