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Only in Japan: spot a Nissan 240RS in the wild

August 2, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

Okay, maybe not 100% true: you can certainly spot a 240RS outside Japan, but probably not on the open roads! Outside Japan normally these cars end up somewhere in the corner of a museum or only be driven on circuits while the Japanese actually are very fond of driving heritage out on the open roads.

Only in Japan: spot a Nissan 240RS in the wild
Imagine what it would be like to hear a deep growl coming closer and closer, you turn your neck to the direction the sound is coming from and all you can see is this very wide flared 240RS homologation special!

[ Found in Toyota08’s photozou]

Opened up a Flickr account

August 2, 2010 / banpei / 4 Comments

Apart from automotive blogs I regularly read some great photoblogs like Art pants (Will Roege and Lindbergh) and Encounters as well. Also Beeoneoneoh is a great cross-over between the two.
Being greatly inspired by the latter this week and already having plans to put my artsy-fartsy pictures somewhere for months I enroled on Flickr.

Pictures like these will turn up there:

Not particularly pictures I’d normally post here. ;)

DOTS: Miata hunting! (part ten)

August 1, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

Already beginning of the month again? Then it is time to perform another Miata hunt! This time the bit more beautiful Mazdas!

How about a nice grey NC?

Grey Mazda MX5 NC
Okay, I cheated a bit here… This Miata was parked in front of the Mazda (and Hyundai) dealer. Nevertheless it was blocking the sidewalk and thus right down on the street! ;)

This very nicely done NB with aftermarket rims passed me somewhere in (slow) traffic and I quickly took a picture:
Mazda MX5 NA
Mazda MX5 NB
Never saw the NB again but surely would like to take some more pictures of it.

And last one, a dark green NA with 90s aftermarket six spoke rims:

Dark green Mazda MX5 NA
Parked in an industrustrial zone only 300 meters from where I live, but separated by railroad tracks.

BTW: sorry for the poor quality. I took all these pictures with my (new) phonecam but only realized afterwards how worthless it actually is!

Hilarious: kei cars19 years ago in Top Gear

July 30, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

Honestly I do love Top Gear, but I simply can’t find the time to actually follow it… Most of the time I just wait for the reviews and see if I really need to see an episode…
People already speculate that this actually might be the last series of the new Top Gear, which I can understand since all three of them are already presenting the new format for 8 years now (I know, May only 7…) and it slowly starts to become difficult to make the series even better than last season. ;)

Back to the old series: I found this clip from the old series (1991) where Jeremy Clarkson test drives a couple of the finest Japanse kei cars:

I was really puzzled on how much he actually liked them! Was he more forgiving in his early years or did he become soft for the little ones??

Family Album Treasures: Skyline DR30 girl sandwich

July 29, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

What would you prefer more: a tekamen Skyline DR30 or a girl sandwich? Why not do both?

Skyline DR30 girl sandwich
And of course a nice zenki Levin in the background. ;)

Carina Sightings: Carina Surf

July 28, 2010 / banpei / 0 Comments

I’m not a fan of the rims on this Carina, but as you can see it is an original Carina Surf:

Original Carina Surf
The Carina Surf was part of the original Carina lineup and seperate from the Van line-up. It did feature the live axle we know of the other vans (and non-IRS Carinas) but there was a major difference: it had coil springs instead of the leaf springs used on the van!
BTW: The two extra stripes are not original…

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