Remembering Japanese cars from the past
Last Sunday there was a big party in Sagamiko and unfortunately for the fourth time I was not able to be there… If you are unfamiliar with the date and place: it hosts the biggest hachi-roku gathering in the world called HaCHiRoCK Festa!
This year the festival was down from 270 cars to 200 cars due to renovations of the Sagamiko Resort Pleasure Forest but nevertheless the festival was better than last year!
Even Speedhunters did make it this year: Continue reading
Back in the late fifties Jaguar launched the Mark 2 as a medium sized saloon and it was an instant hit! The Mark 2 entry level engine already had an output of 120hp (cars with ten times less horses were still for sale back then!) and its top model, the 3.8 litre XK model, featured an output of 220hp. To put that into contrast: that is about as much as the Lexus IS250 outputs nowadays.
Imagine then the creation of this little lookalike:
Yes from up front it really looks like a Jaguar Mark 2!
But from a different angle… Continue reading
Or at least, that’s how this proud owner would have called his latest acquisition in the early 70s:
Otousan (father) is making sure the SGX badge of his Laurel C130 is just as clearly visible on the photo as his daughter. You could almost say the Laurel is part of the family!
Also okaasan (mother) makes sure her dress matches the Laurel’s tail lights: Continue reading
What amazes me most about Japanese junkyards is the number of luxurious cars stashed there…
This video by BANKAKUEMIKO is filled with cars like the Nissan Cedric Y30, Toyota Celsior, Toyota Crown Majesta UZS141, Skyline R33 and a Nissan President: Continue reading
For a very obvious reason the Carina Jeune attracted my attention when I first read the 1984 Carina brochure.
Displayed on this picture it may look a bit dull to you and you are right: it is a dull car!
The car itself is in immaculate condition:
But even from this angle it doesn’t get any better. It remains an immaculately dull looking car…
So why am I so overly excited over a dull car? My excitement is about this device called a back sonar: Continue reading
For some reason during the 80s the Japanese liked to portrait their cars in a foreign habitat, like they needed approval from the old world. The same happened to this 1980 Mitsubishi Eterna ?:
This Eterna ? is on French plates (Paris), RHD and portrayed next to a Spanish farmer and his mule (Sancho Panza) and against the Don Quixote white windmills.
What were they trying to say? That the Eterna Sigma is capable of attacking the giants (windmills)? Or that the Japanese advanced technology wise more than the Spanish (and the old world)? And why is the lady on the right drinking coffee? I honestly don’t know…
Found at Furudo Kai
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