Month: September 2011 (Page 3 of 5)

Auctions Yahoo: bought a Carina AA63 on impulse

September 19, 2011 / banpei / 1 Comment

Presumably you thought I was going nuts and bought a full size yellow Carina AA63 on impulse? Don’t worry: I’m not completely nuts and it is only 1/64th in scale…

According to the auction this Tomica Limited Vintage TLV-N59a is a yellow Carina 1600 GT-R scale model from the retro series released by Tomica back in 1999. The picture provided with the auction is not resembling the actual product, so I’m really curious what I’ll end up with.

On Google Images I found this little picture: Continue reading

Imported Nissan Figaro in an non-OEM colour

DOTS: Retro imported Nissan Figaro

September 18, 2011 / banpei / 5 Comments

Since the Nissan Figaro (just like the Pao and Be-1) was delivered in Japan only it is very uncommon to see anywhere outside Japan. So I was a bit surprised to see one while I was on my way to the local gardencenter (yes, really I do have a garden!)

I kind of prodded my imaginary passenger to take some pictures while driving behind it, hence the quality is not entirely as it should be…

After a few kilometers I had to say goodbye to it: Continue reading

Family Album Treasures: Parkinglot Skyline DR30 and Levin AE86

Family Album Treasures: Parkinglot Skyline and Levin

September 17, 2011 / banpei / 3 Comments

What would be the chance of seeing this Skyline DR30 and Levin AE86 combination in a random parkinglot outside Japan? Nowadays it is not a big problem when you’re attending a Japanese car oriented parkinglot meeting, but what about the chance if it were 17 years ago as well?

Well in Japan the odds are a lot better and I don’t even think the owner of this DR30 would actually have noticed the little Levin AE86 at all!

Found at [Kurifuba tons page]

Tokusatsu: Emergency Command’s Subaru Leone GSS

September 16, 2011 / banpei / 0 Comments

It has been a while since I posted tokusatsu… So what about this 70s series called Emergency Command 10-4 10-10 complete with a Subaru Leone GSR coupe?

The question is if this Leone GSR was a match against Ultramans Mazda Cosmo. Seeing the number of episodes available on Youtube (next to zero) I fear that Ultraman had a much bigger audience…

In this short clip (one of the few I found) you can see the Leone in action follwing a bunch of vampires in whispering mode: Continue reading

Around midnight in Tokyo with your Mitsubishi Colt 1000

Wish I could have photographed this Colt A20

September 15, 2011 / banpei / 0 Comments

Just imagine it is someone around the same age as your dad (or granddad of course) who drove this Mitsubishi Colt 1000 with his wife back in 1963 for the backside of the Colt A20 catalogue:

The photograph is done in a typical early 60s style: showing the magnificent progress (the car, the blurry neon lights), the mood (dark, gloomy and wet asphalt reflecting the tail lights) and of course usage of the colors (pastel like). Makes me wish I could have taken this photograph!

Carina Sightings: rare Carina RA63 for sale!

September 14, 2011 / banpei / 2 Comments

The 18R-GEU engine was inherited from the two previous generations of Carinas (like the Über Rare Carina RA45), so naturally it found its way into the new A60 generation. But not for long: Toyota struck a deal with Yamaha for a couple of new engines including the 4A-GE (replacing the 2T-GEU) and the 3T-GTE (replacing the 18R-GEU) engines for their high performance models.

In october 1982 the 18R-GEU was replaced first by the 3T-GEU and the 2T-GEU was replaced in may 1983. In the end the Carina RA63 has only been sold for thirteen months in total…

This Carina RA63 only covered 125k kilometers, so that means at least an overhaul for this 18R-GEU engine: Continue reading