Month: October 2010 (Page 3 of 5)

Commerical time: 1977 Isuzu Gemini

October 18, 2010 / banpei / 1 Comment

We all know the first generation Isuzu Gemini was based upon the Opel Kadett C (third generation), but what I didn’t know was that Isuzu actually upgraded its specs to Japanese standard:

Yes, that’s a Kadett C with not only headlight washers but actually double headlight washers! Now that’s something you can misuse to squirt on girls! :D

Isuzu also prolonged the Gemini beyond the FWD Kadett D by giving it a mild facelift. To prove they did a great job on that they launched this comparison commercial:

Now if it also could also fly as good as the Space Shuttle it would be even better than the 1982 Pontiac Trans Am. :P

DOTS: Carina vs GS300

October 17, 2010 / banpei / 1 Comment

How much bigger is a Lexus GS300 than a Carina TA60?
Just about this much bigger:

Toyota Carina TA60 and Lexus GS300 JZS147
That is indeed my Carina. On one of the rare occasions when I went to work by car (I live at 5 minutes walking distance from work) and returned to my car I found one of my colleagues parked his Lexus GS300 JZS147 next to my Carina. I just had to take a quick snap!

Three generations of Nissan Skyline music

October 16, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

Music from commercials always have been successful if the product caught on. This was especially the case for the Nissan Skyline in Japan: apparently there were many vinyl records, cassette tapes and CDs sold with the music of the Skyline commercials.

Kayou is a collector of these items and put pictures of them on Minkara:

Nissan Skyline Turbo vinyl record
Click here if you are curious how the Nissan Skyline Turbo sounds,

And what would a collection be without the full Paul Newman cassette collection?

Nissan Skyline Paul Newman cassettes
See here for some of the different Paul Newman commercials.

And let’s not forget the most important one:

Nissan Skyline Ken & Mary CD
Ken and Mary! You can find their commercials here.

I really envy Kayou: gems like this swap hands for loads of money on Auctions Yahoo nowadays…

Hilarious: Japanese Spam commercial

October 15, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

Do the Japanese really have commercials for spam?
Yes they do:

Okay, I admit: it is not the spam you may have expected… But still, advertising for spam is spam. :P
I love the part where the commercial shows a thick slice of spam on top of a nigiri sushi! Amazing!

DOTS: Nissan 200SX S14 in fall (the end?)

October 14, 2010 / banpei / 5 Comments

Down on the street on Thursday? Why?
Because it is a sad day for the Nissan 200SX S14 rustoseum:

Nissan 200SX pushing the daisies
The 200SX passed on! This car is no more! He has ceased to be! The S14 expired and gone to meet his maker! He is a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! He be pushing up the daisies! HIs metabolic processes are now history! He is off the twig! He’s kicked the bucket, He’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-CAR!!
* sorry for misuse of the dead parrot sketch *

When I returned to take beautiful fall pictures of the S14 yesterday it had vanished. As you can see the dead leafs even cover the spot where it once stood:

Nothing but dead leafs
I checked the RDW (Dutch license plate registration) to see if it was now re-registered by someone else, but its entry has been removed from there meaning it is no longer a valid registration. That can either mean it has been sold off to some foreigner or has ended up at some junkyard. I fear for the latter…

Carina Sightings: Finnish Carina with quad headlights

October 13, 2010 / banpei / 2 Comments

When I first saw this Carina TA60 sedan I thought the quad headlights were either originals (without the citylights) or taken from a Celica:

Carina TA60 with Audi quad headlights
But I was wrong: they are from an Audi Quattro!

If you look close enough you can see the original sidemarkers are missing their citylights:

Carina TA60 with Audi quad headlights
Now that’s creative! :)

Carina TA60 with Audi quad headlights
I’m curious how this project will turn out in the end!
You can find the porject here.

BTW: this color is the exact same color as my dad’s Carina wagon used to be!