Remembering Japanese cars from the past
I already knew duck tape was an indispensable tool for most car enthusiasts, but this usage is way beyond of what I thought would be within sanity levels:
Duck tape 2 way LSD
So, who needs a Cusco or Kaaz 2 way LSD anyway? I hear the new duck tape LSD is the way to go! ;)
BTW: I have no idea or recollection of where I found this pic… So whoever shot this pic: you definitely deserve the credits! :P
As a child I still remember going to a Subaru dealer with my dad in the mid 80s. My dad wanted to buy a car and me and my brother tried to persuade him to buy a XT6. When that failed we tried the sporty looking 3 door GL coupe, like this one but then in red:
Down on the Street: Subaru GL (Leone)
Next time I saw the GL coupe again was when I lived in Amsterdam. Someone in the neighborhood owned a white 1.6 GL coupe and parked it regularly across the street.
Down on the Street: Subaru GL (Leone)
So when I spotted this chocolate brown GL coupe I just had to take pictures of it! I did not see the owner nearby, but looking at the seat position he or she must be quite small!
Down on the Street: Subaru GL (Leone)
Looking at the car now makes me think that it is Subaru’s model placed against the Toyota Carina A60 coupe and the Datsun Bluebird 910 SSS coupe.
And what about my dad? Well, somewhere at the back of the dealership there was this gold painted Carina DX TA60 wagon parked. It had been converted to run on LPG, had a tow hook and foldable rear seat. Guess in what car we drove home that afternoon… ;)
After Thursdays overkill in Soarers I started searching on some videos. I found this short 1987 comparison video of the old (1986) and new (1987) Soarer:
As you can see: the new MZ21 Soarer with Air Suspension did improve a lot over the older (yet already amazing) Soarer with TEMS. The Air Suspension clearly compensates breaking out the new Soarer and keeps it in a straight line… Also the 0.2 liter increased 5M to 7M really makes a difference: about two seconds on the 0-400m run. But that is rather normal for a 70hp increase. Still I personally prefer the MZ11 styling above the MZ21…
It was a long time ago I posted a count the cars picture, so how about counting some Soarers?
How many Soarers did you count?
I stopped counting after 25. How many did you count? :P
This week not a drifting Carina, not a JDM model, nor an A60 series Carina but rather an older model: a TA40 Carina. Why? Well, just because I kind of liked it:
Toyota Carina TA40 DL
This bumperless chicken fenced Carina looked kind of awesome to me. It reminded me of the old school tuning from some ten years ago where everybody was just doing DIY tuning.
The rims are a very nice finishing touch. :)
Toyota Carina TA40 DL
Also the towhook is a nice touch. If you remove the bumper, just keep the towhook to avoid parking damage. ;)
Toyota Carina TA40 DL
The interior looks great: just as it came from the factory back in 1979.
Toyota Carina TA40 DL
And this is the biggest surprise: the DL (or rather DLX) should actually have a 2T engine and not the double carbed 2TB like the ST used to have. I think the previous owner thought the same as I did: cheap 10hp power increase! ;)
You can find the car for sale here:
Toyota Carina DL TA40 on Marktplaats
I saw this amazing video containing all Japanese Nissan Skyline commercials being announced a few weeks back on a Minkara blog:
Nissan Skyline Japanese commercials collection
This DVD covers almost all models: from the second generation (S50), third generation (C10 aka hakosuka), fourth (C110 aka Kenmeri) and up to the tenth generation (R34)!
I was able to find the DVD on Amazon Japan (?????? CM?????? [DVD])
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