Remembering Japanese cars from the past
Ten years ago I posted a set of blue Nissan Prairie twins I encountered in my hometown in Down on the Street. I happened to see one of the pair occasionally, the latest encounter happened three years ago in 2021 at a petrol station. As I wrote a few months ago, I bring my daughter to school in a neighbouring town and I tend to explore the area to find quicker routes or to avoid traffic. On one such route, I was able to find the Prairie hideout!
What is this 1982 Toyota Carina ad supposed to mean? Are the Toyota LASRE engines supposed to fuel the infamous Sirocco winds? Sirocco winds are “a hot wind, often dusty or rainy, blowing from North Africa across the Mediterranean to southern Europe.”
Alternatively, are these engines supposed to give the Carina competing in the second Paris-Dakar rally a small push? Or perhaps, are these Toyota LASRE engines supposed to be giant windmills that work the reverse: wind makes them turn and in effect they suck up hydrocarbons via the exhaust and poop out fuel on the intake side?
We’ll probably never know what went through the minds of the marketing people at Toyota in 1982.
In the previous post in the March-athon I promised there would be another final final limited edition. So here it is, the Nissan March White Limited! You may wonder what’s a Nissan March White Limited. In today’s post, I’ll tell you all about it!
But first, let’s see if ChatGPT can make a joke about it:
Why did the Nissan March White Limited get a job at the bakery?
Because it wanted to show off its dough-white exterior and prove that it could rise to the occasion – delivering freshness with every drive!
Yes, ChatGPT is a true stand-up comedian! Badum-tssh
Earlier this week I posted a photo of a German AE86 and Toyota GR86. Only a few days prior to that I already encountered my first GR86 in the wild!
I actually went hunting for a strange polka-dotted Nissan Micra I saw earlier in the parking garage. It unfortunately already departed by the time I returned. But as I made a small detour through the parking garage my eye caught a familiar tail light through the grate above me. So naturally I drove up one floor to take some photos.
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This photo of a German Toyota Corolla GT Twin Cam 16 AE86 and a Toyota GR86 is just brilliant!
As you can see, both have a personalized vanity plate with AE86 in it! It was posted in the German AE86 WhatsApp group and the first comment was “Opa und Enkel on tour.” which roughly translates to Grandpa taking grandchild for a day out. Just simply brilliant!
I’m sorry to say this to the owner of the Toyota GR86: you got the wrong plate! It should have been MD-GR-86! But you could also say I’m just jealous we can’t get personalized plates here in the Netherlands…
I love to browse stuff for sale on Yahoo Auctions on a weekly basis and every now and then I find interesting stuff, like for instance the TRD Sports Accessories brochure. This week I encountered this baby-blue Toyota Carina GT-R kaido racer that is for sale for a mere 1.6M yen! (10K euros, 11K dollars)
I have a weak spot for kaido racers (also known as zokusha), especially if they are done well. This one is done very well, looking at the amount of work that went into this. First of all, you will notice the Levin AE86 front bumper has been widened and made its way to the front of this Carina. It’s not clear why they didn’t use an AE92 bumper as that would fit without any issues. Then the lip underneath the bumper makes it look more like a zokusha.
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