Author: banpei (Page 10 of 318)

I have no idea why this March Polka sits on a plate either

Nissan’s nearly last and final K11-swansong: the March Polka – March-athon

January 27, 2024 / banpei / 1 Comment

In the final year of Nissan March K11 production, the Nissan March Polka was introduced as a special version alongside the Bolero and Rumba. So today in the March-athon series we’re moving on to the fourth in the quartet: the Nissan March Polka! Naturally, I’ll compare the Polka against the other three musical dances: Tango, Bolero and Rumba.

But first, we need to verify if ChatGPT can outdo itself once more and make an even better joke about the March Polka:
What did the Nissan March Polka say when it won the dance competition?
“I may be small, but my polka moves are in a class of their own – the compact class, that is!”
That one was even better than the joke it made about the March Rumba!

ZLA 831 ABO plus AE86 equals ZLAE 861 ABO?

Double rally monster Levin Delta Integrale – AE86 Wall of Shame

January 25, 2024 / banpei / 2 Comments

Someone sent me a picture of this Lancia Delta Integrale with a Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 front end crafted on it. I don’t remember who sent it and I’ve searched to no avail through my WhatsApp history. So if you are the person who sent it to me: very much appreciated and you deserve all the credit!

Lancia Delta Integrale with Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 front swap

The Delta Integrale is about the same red as the panda-red AE86 colour scheme. I love the previous owner retained the panda-paint scheme on the front bumper. It would have been even more radical if the whole Delta Integrale had received some panda-paint as well. However, the Delta Integrale doesn’t feature the necessary lines to support that.

The photo is a typical Japanese car auction photo, so my guess is that it went through auctions some time ago. I’m not a big enough expert to distinguish the 8V from the 16V Integrale. All that I know is that it looks mad enough! So, what do you think? Blasmephy or the perfect marriage?

Toyota Carina DX TA60: faithful as a dog?

Autoweek user review on Toyota Carina DX TA60 – Carina Sightings

January 23, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

I did happen to read a review of a 1983 Toyota Carina DX TA60 some time ago on the website of the Dutch car magazine Autoweek. This review spoke fondly about the car and how well it pulled their caravan. That reminded me of the many vacations I spent in my father’s Carina DX TA60 wagon with the same colour.

1983 Toyota Carina DX TA60 - You got to love that dog sitting next to it! — 1983 Toyota Carina DX TA60 – You got to love that dog sitting next to it!

This is the full (translated) review:
Used the Carina for over 11 years. Never had any issues.
Spent many vacations with the caravan in hot climates. Never budged. As it’s rear-wheel-drive it’s ideal for pulling caravans. In my memory one of the best cars I’ve owned. Already 20 years have passed since I sold the car. Not because it didn’t run anymore, but because the inner wheel wells were rusted through. Water was entering the cabin through that.

Is this Nissan Cefiro A31 whaling the Japanese salaryman? – Commercial time

January 21, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

The 1988 Nissan Cefiro A31 was offered as a sporty four-door saloon alternative to the Toyota Cresta and Chaser competitors. It shared many components with the Skyline (R31), Laurel (C31) and Leopard (F31) of a similar generation. The drivetrain and rear multi-link setup were shared with all four of them and the front strut-based suspension with the Laurel. If you squint your eyes, you will also conclude it shares its design with the beautifully styled 1988 Nissan Silvia S13.

Nissan Cefiro A31 (top) looks like a Laurel C31 with a Silvia S13 (bottom) nosejob

So can we conclude the Nissan Cefiro A31 is just a Nissan Laurel C31 with a Silvia S13 nosejob? Perhaps it does. Judging from the various ads I found online it’s rather aimed towards the sportier image of the Silvia than the dull salaryman image of the Laurel. Most ads tend to highlight this. Most of them. Most of them except this one featuring a whale:

Can you guess how many Nissan Be-1s have been imported?

Nissan Be-1 car statistics – How many are left?

January 20, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

I think it’s very interesting to find out how many are left of a certain car and the Nissan Pikes cars always had my attention. I recently found a website that scaped the Dutch license plate registry and aggregate cars. This, in turn, allows me to scrape their site and pull my own statistics out of it. That’s how I recently found out there are 269 Nissan Figaros registered in the Netherlands.

Nissan Figaro I encountered in Kensington, London

So I thought, why not create a How many are left series where I highlight a certain car or set of cars and try to figure out how many are left? Today I’ll kick off with the Nissan Be-1, which was the first of the Nissan Pikes cars.

Nissan Pikes “Factory”

Crazy 1JZ modified Carina TA60 in Pakistan – Carina Sightings

January 18, 2024 / banpei / 0 Comments

I happened to stumble across a TikTok video with a crazy modified Carina TA60, but I couldn’t find out who created it. That’s the issue with TikTok: you don’t really follow people, you just scroll random stuff that interests you. Today I finally found two videos of this crazy build on Youtube!

Crazy 1JZ powered Toyota Carina in Pakistan

Crazy 1JZ powered Carina

The company in question is Sbc Modifier in Pakistan. They do crazy builds like crafting a Rolls Royce bodywork on top of a Toyota Corona, a Mustang with scissor doors on top of a Kia Spectre and a Dodge Challenger on top of a Datsun Sunny B210.