Today we’re going to take a rare detour from news on nostalgics to comment on some things we’d like to see happen with Japanese cars.
First up, a 1978 VW Golf has appeared on eBay with the selling price of $30,000. What makes this Vee-Dub so special? It’s an unrestored one-owner example with only 8600 miles on the odometer! This guy is so confident that he will even arrange for shipping anywhere from its current location in Berlin, Germany.
There is no doubt that the Mk1 is an icon, but it didn’t start out that way and that’s what makes it so great. Like many Japanese cars, it was designed purely for cheap, practical transportation but became so much more. This reminds us of the 8500-mile Toyota Corona that sold for $16,740 last year, but does the Corona have the international appeal of the Golf? Maybe a nice E20 Corolla would be a more likely candidate. Perhaps our non-US JNCers can chime in. Anyway, it’ll be an interesting one to watch.
The next item is the news that Citroën will be unveiling the C3 Pluriel Charleston at the upcoming Paris Motor Show. Its two-tone paint job is meant to conjure up images of the Citroën 2CV, another piece of utilitarian transport that wasn’t particularly fast or sexy, but somehow managed to capture the hearts of people all over the world.
Here’s the original 2CV. Coincidentally, both of these Citroëns sport the colors of the Japanese royal family. We love seeing homages like this, little nods from the automakers that say to us torchbearers, “We know you’re there, we thank you for your support, and we appreciate it.” What we’re trying to say is, Toyota/Nissan/Mazda/etc… show us some sugar!
[eBay via CarDomain; Jalopnik, Image: 2CVimports]
Once again, not to nitpick, but it should probably read is an icon, not in an icon.
I think the Mk1 iconic status is already comparable to the iconic status of the Toyota Corolla AE86. It’s currently an icon as well and certainly didn’t start out that way.
Back in the 80s it was an outdated RWD platform (TE71 floorpan!) featuring a new engine (4AGE). But Toyota already determined its destiny by introducing the AE82 FX GT at the same time and later on replacing the AE86 with the FWD AE92.
Late 90s the marketvalue of AE86s was not more than a few hundred bucks and only because of drifting becoming very popular (Initial D helped as well) the value of the car skyrocketed… I saw a low mileage (8000 km) JDM AE86 for sale at auctions.yahoo.co.jp and it’s price was already past the 2 million yen! That’s more than the car was originally sold for!
As much as it pains me to complement European car makers,they tend to be much,much better at acknowledging their heritage and their fanbase.They seem to have a better understanding of the cultural aspect of making cars than their Japanese counter parts. Hopefully,fan sites such as this can help remedy this,although with Toyota seemingly being determined to become the most poltically correct car maker in an age when cars are becoming more and more popular as conveniant scape goats for all that is wrong with the world,I wouldn’t hold my breath for that retro-themed Celica I know many of us would like to see in show rooms.Let’s hope the other Japanese car companies are a bit bolder.
But it’s not a “German built” GTI MK1, which IMO is worth the chedder. Collectors or not that “L” is not old enough to pull that much weight, considering I found mine in a ditch with barely 75,000 on the tach.
Appreciation in both value and public opinion would help this hobby, but it has some unfortunate side effects that could be a detriment. Part of the fun in this is the accessibility we have to cars. Most JNCs, even the rarer ones, are inexpensive. They may take time to track down, but the prices are great. I’d hate to see the price of Corona hit Barret-Jackson levels if all-of-a-sudden they became the cool car to have.
What we need is a broad cultish following like wet dubs and corvairs and fieros and DMC 12s have. They’re not mainstream, but the market is there, the parts suppliers are there, and they have a great culture about them.
Thanks John – fixed. 🙂
the12for12 – A GTI this mint would be an incredible find, but I think a lesser trim level, especially one with 8600 miles, is still rather noteworthy. The same would go hold true for a Celica ST vs a Celica GTV or a Skyline GT-X vs a 2000GT-R