Books on classic Keijidosha?

Sven7 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:17 pm

I'm doing a project on 60s-80s kei cars and need some info. I couldn't find many books on amazon or whatever. I'll go here this weekend http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/nahc/ to see what they have, but is there anything in particular I should be looking for?

pics for clicks

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:51 am

Heya,
I've been trying to find out as much as I can about Kei cars as well, especially ones from the 60's and 70's. (Currently in the process of acquiring a late 60's Mitsubishi 360). Unfortunately information is scarce and even scarcer in English, haha. I'll swing by the bookstore in Akiake and see if they have anything on classic Kei cars. Only problem is, if they do it'll all be in Japanese, haha.

If there is anything I can do to help let me know!

Here's some of my favorite Kei cars though

Mitsubishi 360 Van (Minica)

Mine (A little beat looking, haha)

Suzuki Fronte

Suzuki Fronte Coupe

Daihatsu Fellow

Subaru Sambar Truck

Haha, I could go all day with these pictures!
Let me know if I can help!
Cheers

Tyson · **Posted:** Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:39 am

Hey guys, I have a couple links you could check out.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mjs/index.htm
About half way down the page it says "History of 4-wheel kei jidosha" and there are links to each of the Japanese car manufacturers. He gives a fairly complete history of all the kei cars from each company.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%BB%BD% ... 5%E8%BB%8A
This is the Japanese Wikipedia page for kei cars. It's in Japanese but you could run it through a translator.

Also, kei cars have always had regulations on how big they could be and on engine displacement. These laws were only used on jdm cars. Kei cars cost less on taxes and insurance. There is a table showing the laws here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car

As for books, the best I've seen is probably "The Complete History of the Japanese Car" by Marco Ruiz.

Celicaholic · **Posted:** Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:04 pm

You have this book but in french. Lot's of good pics and history. Japanese cars 1960 to 1975 the Heroic era.

MonkeyMadness · **Posted:** Thu Feb 25, 2010 9:07 pm

Sven7 wrote:

OMG I sooo Fricking Want! this is much needed porn! :twisted:

I would trade my Lotus Elise for this car! my kid would love it but my wife would kill me! :lol:

It might be worth it! :mrgreen:

Sven7 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 26, 2010 8:04 pm

thanks guys! I'll take a look at those and go to the National Automotive History Collection tomorrow. It's supposed to be the largest public automotive lit collection in the country! :tu:

http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/nahc/

Arrow: DO IT! haha. You'd have to do some serious suspension mods to make it handle, though :roll:

Sven7 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 27, 2010 4:47 pm

NAHC was a total and complete bust. There was not one book on Japanese cars of any vintage. Only repair manuals.

I'm gonna have to hit up ebay.

Stationwagonguy · **Posted:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 2:23 pm

NAHC is awesome- but I could imagine the Japanese collection was nil. I was there doing a term paper once on the Corvair.

Would love to see/read what you manage to come up with!

Sven7 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:58 am

duuuhhhhhh how did i not look this up earlier?

http://www.keicar.info/

also, the far east auto lit site has a lot of good info- i just have to search through it. I've got 3.5 hours before class :td:

(Spent about three hours tonight getting a rad support, fender and grille for my broke ass Volkswagen. It's going to the body shop tomorrow)

I'm hoping to at least get this graphic redesign together and printed. I'll post it up next week when I"m on ssspppprrriinnnnngggg bbbrrrreeeaaaaaakkkkkkkk :mrgreen:

Northern Minnesota? Yummy.

Sven7 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 04, 2010 4:32 pm

OK hai everybody. I decided I won't be making any more pages anytime soon. Here is what I turned in to class a few weeks ago on 11x17 (A3) size glossy card stock.

Not too many pages, but I put a lot of time into image gathering and research to really understand them the best I could. :tu:

Sven7 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 04, 2010 5:08 pm

Holy Crap. When I posted these on Flickr, my contact "mazdamiata" referred me to an online model shop that sold Ebbro cars.

I went to Ebbro's website, and they have tons of awesome J-tin such as the Honda Z & Honda 1300 coupe, Subie 360, 360 Custom & R2, Yota Celica 1600GT, Toyopet Crown, TE27, Sports 800, Isuzu Bellett & 117, Mazda Carol....

They have SHIZ TONS of great little 87th scale secks!!!!

http://www.ebbro.com/WEB.htm

ben · **Posted:** Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:55 pm

That pic of the blue Honda Z is gorgeous. Is it from a catalog?

Sven7 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:41 am

Unfortunately, I can't seem to source it. Here's a url to a copy of the image:

http://www.autowp.ru/pictures/honda/z/autowp.ru_honda_z_12.jpg

Today received a 360cc Nostalgia magazine from Nakazoto, and it is KEWL! Too bad I can't read Japanese. :roll:

ben · **Posted:** Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:42 am

Thanks. saved

Sven7 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:27 pm

skunk wrote:

Tjena Sven!

As for info on old Kei Jidosha, I have been engaged in similar efforts. With the help of a Japanese dictionary and cross referencing on ja.wiki, I have been able to derive almost all the information I want from the following:

360cc Light Commercial Truck 1950-1975. ISBN: 9784861441394
360cc: Nippon Kei Car Memorial 1950-1975. ISBN: 974861440830
Car Graphic: Car Archive Vol. 1, The 60s. ISBN: 9784544091717
Car Graphic: Car Archive Vol. 5, The 70s. ISBN: 9784544091755
Car Graphic: Car Archive Vol. 11, The 80s. ISBN: 9784544910186
Chris Rees, Microcar Mania: The Definitive History of the Small Car. ISBN: 9781870519182
Kazuo Ozeki, Suzuki Story. ISBN: 9784895225038
Kazuo Ozeki, Daihatsu. ISBN: 9784895225052
Kazuo Ozeki, 360cc: Memories of Japanese K-Cars 1951-1975. ISBN: 9784895225014

Old catalogs and such are naturally priceless, as are period car books such as the Italian "World Cars" or the German "Auto Katalog". I included all the ISBNs, these books shouldn't be very hard to find via Amazon.co.jp or, even better, if there is a Kinokuniya Books store in your town. Good luck with your project, hope it is something we may see when you're done.

Håkan[/b]

Just thought I'd update this in case anybody's searching it. I ended up getting this book:

The complete history of the japanese car 1907 to the present by marco ruiz. Published in like '87 so it only goes up to then. Got it for $8 shipped. Great deal.

Camshaft · **Posted:** Sun Feb 06, 2011 12:57 pm

Sven7 wrote:

Published in like '87 so it only goes up to then.

Perfect!

Books on classic Keijidosha?

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