Remembering Japanese cars from the past
The owner of this second-generation Honda Civic strikes such a strange pose that I immediately had to think of the wacky Madness Japanese TV ads for the Honda City! It’s like he’s doing that strange Madness-walking dance!
If you are unfamiliar with what that dance looks like, this is the album art of the Madness Honda City LP that was released in Japan:
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I have been seeing this nearly original Toyota Carina GT-TR TA63 for the past few years in videos. I think it is one of the most stunning Carina A60s I’ve seen! As there are many videos around, I’d thought I’d go over the car once using photos from one video, and then make an overview of all the other videos I found of the car.
This 1984 Carina GT-TR TA63 is from Hokkaido. It is covered by various people on YouTube, but I’ll feature videos by Yu Sasaki and Bankakuemiko.
At first glance, you would think it is nearly original. Almost as if it were new from the factory. It even still has the small black trim pieces on the wheel arches that were only present after the facelift in 1984. However, there are a few things that make it not original. From the outside, compare it to the red GT-TR in the 1984 Carina brochure:
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The Honda Life Step is a van based on the Honda Life Kei car. The Honda Life was a successor to the popular Honda N360 and N600 (only abroad). Unfortunately, Honda stopped exporting their Kei offerings as soon as the Life replaced the N360/N600. This means we never got to enjoy these cars outside Japan. That makes me extra sad to find these magnificent Kei cars rusting away in their natural habitat.
This example seems to be parked in someone’s yard. Photos like these make me wonder where people then actually sit in their gardens. I mean, you can’t sit down next to a big pile of rust, right?
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I found this really bizarre Mitsubishi Pajero Pinin in my hometown and you really can’t come up with this if you wanted to! But more on that later! I’ll first dive into the Pajero history and, if you haven’t figured it out already, explain why this is so funny to begin with!
Back in 2008 I started to research early Datsun and Nissan history. One of the things I quickly discovered was that the Hakosuka Skyline was sold here in the Netherlands as the Nissan 2000GT and 2400GT. Ever since, I have been on the hunt for old brochures and other memorabilia proving its existence!
Today we have one such a things: a short newsreel from 1972 covering unloading of Japanese cars in the Rotterdam harbor. I was very happy to spot various early 1970s Datsuns and most of them were of the type 100A (Cherry E10), 1200 (Sunny B110) and 1600 (Bluebird 510). My jaw dropped to the floor when I spotted two Nissan Skyline C10s driving down the ramp!
If this screencapture is too blurry, a few frames advanced you can clearly see the surfline on the first of the pair of Skyline C10s:
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There are a few Italian concept cars from the 1970s that really made an impact design-wise: the Ferrari Modulo and the Lancia Stratos Zero. To prove the Japanese were equally capable of designing striking cars, Minoru Hayashi designed the Dome (pronounced do-mu), built a prototype and exhibited it at the Geneva Motor Show in 1978. This exact prototype is what Takashi Fujiku drew here:
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