Remembering Japanese cars from the past
About two weeks ago my fellow AE86 owner Robert forwarded me a Facebook video of a very special gauge cluster. The video contained a bespoke Motec screen installed in an AE86 with software that displays the OEM Toyota gauge cluster in various generations. I found out the video was shot at Tec-Art’s but it wasn’t an official video. Now Tec-Art’s released a video of a customer car that contains this gauge cluster!
You can watch the video (with English subtitles) below:
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The photograph of a Mazda Cosmo Sports 110 below looks like any other ordinary photograph from someone’s family album. However, if you look at the date scribbled in the right bottom corner your eyebrows will be raised! The Mazda Cosmo Sport 110 was only first sold in 1967, so how can this be?
The Mazda Cosmo Sport 110 prototype was unveiled at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show. The motor show was held from the 26th of September till the 9th of October. That means this photograph was taken even before the unveiling of the Cosmo!
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This already happened a few weeks ago, but I have done some work on my Carina. The most important update was replacing the Celica Supra rims with a set of Black Racing rims. In addition to that, I finally installed a fuel pressure regulator to, hopefully, fix some rough idling of the 2T.
I refurbished these Watanabe knock-offs last year by sanding them down and painting them with a rattle can. I can’t say it’s perfect, but they do look heaps better than they used to. The black paint on them was fading and they were in desperate need of new tires.
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The first generation Daihatsu Charade was released in 1977 and the three door hatchback featured a weird looking opera window in the C-pilar. Today’s commercial isn’t about that funny three door, but its larger five door hatchback.
The ad seems to to highlight the fact that the Charade is everything a Toyota Crown sized car can offer with its boot (or trunk for you Americans) cut off. Is it really that large? The literal definition of Charade is an absurd pretence intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance. So the Daihatsu Charade was meant to be something absurd which it actually isn’t? That sounds just about right when they pretended this Charade to be a Crown with its boot cut off!
What I found most confusing were the three ways of pronouncing Charade in this video. The first voice over pronounces it as the American charade (charayde), the female voice sings it as charaydo and the girl with the aviator glasses says “Yes, chalayde” with a thick Murican accent. So, what is it then?
I’ve featured Kamepo‘s amazing side-by-side videos a few times before and this week he outdid himself with a side-view video of the Tokyo Monorail! It’s taking a drive on the Shuto Expressway route 1, where the monorail follows the route side-by-side.
There are only a total of 16 cars to spot in this video as its total length is only 3 minutes. I think, in addition to the monorail, the double E-class, Toyota Stout, Nissan Laurel C32 and Toyota Sprinter Carib are the highlights of this video.
This Isuzu R6 Spider is one of those racing cars from the late-1960s and early-1970s that punched well above its weight! Let’s honour it with this cutaway drawing by Takashi Jufuku!
Powered by the same DOHC inline-4 that powered the Isuzu Bellet, it wasn’t a promising combo. The engine featured Solex PHH carburettors and had an output of 180hp in the R6 spider. Magic happened and it managed to qualify as second on the Suzuka 500km and managed to finish 4th.
Even though the R6 Spider featured the same engine, it shouldn’t be confused with the 1969 Isuzu R6 coupé. The Spider was an open top development of the coupé.
The R6 Spider did compete in most other Gran Championship races in 1970 before being succeeded by the Isuzu R7 which was powered by a Chevrolet V8. The arm of GM was apparently longer than the Pacific Ocean and it’s a shame the Isuzu inline-4 was ditched in favour of the Chevy V8.
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