Author: banpei (Page 221 of 318)

DOTS: 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser

March 24, 2010 / banpei / 3 Comments

Last week I spotted a big Toyota parked near the office. A few hundred meters later I vaguely remembered what it was and returned to the spot. It was a Toyota FJ Cruiser:

Down on the Street: Toyota FJ Cruiser
When I saw the pictures on the net in 2006 and 2007 I always thought the FJ Cruiser was much bigger than this, in my memory it had at least the proportions of a Hummer H2. Well you can see it is actually smaller than the Volvo XC90 parked next to it!

Then after taking the second shot the crap-cam died on me again, so you will have to do with this shaken (but not stirred) shot of it:

Down on the Street: Toyota FJ Cruiser
I must say the FJ Cruiser surely has great looks! If I had to choose between the XC90, H2 and a FJ Cruiser I would certainly go for the FJ Cruiser! ;)
The only thing that would stop me was my wallet at the next gas station. :(

Carina sightings: Carina AA63 sedan early morning touge practice

March 24, 2010 / banpei / 1 Comment

I found this Toyota Carina AA63 sedan caught on celluloid doing an early morning touge practice on Minkara:

Carina AA63 morning practice at a touge
I love the smell of rubber in the morning!
Just a damn beautiful sight!

Here is another one from the same corner/angle:

Carina AA63 morning practice at a touge
Those SSR Longchamps look great on the Carina. Anyone got a set for sale? :P

This is how the Carina looks close by:

Carina AA63 morning practice at a touge
I’d swap it for mine anytime! ;)

You can find the Carina here: White Carina AA63 sedan @ Minkara

Video: Trueno – Sexy Cruising In Europe

March 23, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

Yesterday I already posted the Levin video that was posted on HR Blog earlier this week. I promised a follow up, so here it is: the Toyota Sprinter Trueno variant of the same video! D.O posted this additional video on AEU86.

Rally drivers Per Eklund and Klaus Fritzinger drive the Sprinter on the Nurburgring, Zandvoort and Spa again (only the order is a bit different).

This video is even better than the Levin video: the Trueno video shows even more sideways action than the Levin video. Who said Keiichi Tsuchiya and Initial D were the ones to popularize drifting? I think it rather was Toyota with this video! It is a beautiful sight how the panda red Trueno and white Levin do a tandem drift on Spa Francorchamps!

I also spotted a Carina on Spa Francorchamps at @5:41 where Fritzinger talks about the zenki Sprinter Trueno performance. At first I thought he was holding the zenki Trueno catalogue, but when I double checked I found out that pictures of this trip were used in that catalogue, so that wasn’t possible… What was he holding then?

To complete the whole video, the Sexy Sprinter song at the end makes you feel you are back in the 80s again. The echoes of the squealing tires make me want to watch Shuto Trials again! :P

Only the choice for the title of the video is a bit weird IMO. Nowadays it would definitely have a very different meaning. :D

Video: Levin On European Circuits

March 22, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

Evan already posted these videos on HR blog, so I’ll just repost them here! They are videos from Toyota shot on several European circuits:

Probably an exhibition video by Toyota to see how well the new AE86 was appreciated in the old world, so this has got to be between May and August 1983.

As you can see they did not use the Euro Levins (aka Corolla GT) but took their own. Both Levins are early GT Apex models: apart from the decals you can see both have the rotating grille and the white coupe has a black moulding on the trunk.

The white Levin shows some nice action when it goes sideways on the Nurburgring before heading over to Spa and Zandvoort. Funny detail is that both Zandvoort and Spa were Formula One circuits at that moment while the Nurburgring was working hard to make a comback with the Eifelring. On Spa they really go wild on the long corners and on Zandvoort they do some faint drifts on consecutive corners. :)

The Corolla sedan in Europe Scenery is a bit of a letdown after all that action! ;)

Tomorrow a follow up on this video, so stay tuned for more! :)

Carina Sightings: Carina AA63 coupe at New Zealand Nationals 2010

March 18, 2010 / banpei / 4 Comments

Last friday Michael from Retro Classics posted some pictures of the New Zealand Nationals 2010, including a Carina AA63 coupe going head to head with a Corolla AE70 hardtop:

Toyota Carina AA63 coupe and Corolla AE70 hardtop
The coupe features a set of SSR Longchamps at front and some less wide rims at the rear (probably the extra set of tires). It looks very good with the Longchamps, so a mental note to myself: buy a set whenever you can get them! ;)

Dunno what’s up with the hood, but it looks loose on the picture above and fastened on the picture below:

Toyota Carina AA63 coupe
Somehow the Carina single headlights look much better on a coupe than on a sedan!

You can find more pictures of the Carina, Corolla and many other great classics (like a ~~810~~910 Bluebird hardtop!) on Retro Classics blog or at their Flickr page.

Random: Honda Think Simple campaign

March 18, 2010 / banpei / 1 Comment

Earlier this week I saw a bunch of vintage Honda ads posted on EK Hatch’s blog and one of them made me think:

Honda Think Simple campaign
Think simple! It sound incredible so simple, yet so right about the spirit of Honda.

At the same time I thought of the Apple Think Different campaign:

Apple Think Different campaign
Apart from the fact that it uses the type face (clear sign of plagiarism by Apple!) it is also the direct opposite of the Honda spirit…

It almost smells like a parody made on Apple after they came up with the slogan, but I found the following pages to back up the Honda campaign:
Honda Think Simple ad
Similar Honda ad
Another similar Accord ad