Guess what kind of car this is. Go on, guess. If you said Mazda Familia you’d be only sort of right. Mechanically, its a second-generation Familia with a cheap eggcrate grille, quad headlamps, and either a 1.0 or 1.3 liter Mazda inline-four under the hood. But technically, it’s a Kia Brisa. Continue reading
This Mazda Familia is a Korean Nostalgic Car
What’s in a Name? Mazda Savanna RX-3 and RX-7
Mazda knew it had something special when it created the RX-3. Back in the early Seventies Mazda was dropping rotaries in everything it could get its hands on. The Familia Rotary (R100) was getting on in age and had been named so because it started out as a family sedan. The bigger and heavier Capella (RX-2) was named after the brightest star in the Auriga constellation. The RX-3 would slot right in between them, the sportiest rotary yet, and Mazda was sending it into battle against the Celica 1600GT and hakosuka Skyline GT-R. So how did Mazda choose its name? Continue reading
Posted in mazda
5 Comments
Friday Video: No Honor Among Stop-Motion Diecast Thieves
Our friend Luxe37 is back with another brain-churningly awesome action short, creating with stop motion animation what was really going on in our childhood minds as we made vroom-vroom noises across the kitchen floor.
Well, actually this is quite a lot darker than that, but who knows what would’ve happened if we had grown up with Seibu Keisatsu and an unlimited supply of Tomica Nissans and Mitsubishis! Watch the video below the fold. Continue reading
Posted in minicars, mitsubishi, nissan, toyota
Tagged 810, bluebird, crown, datsun, galant, laurel, minicars, mitsubishi, nissan, tomica, tomica limited vintage, toyota
11 Comments
Flared Toyota Corona T100 is nobody’s pet
The Toyopet name lasted a lot longer in Japan than the US. That’s the badge on the back of this purple people eater, but it ain’t no pet. Looks more like a wild animal. Continue reading
Somebody Buy this 1971 Toyota Corona RT90 Coupe for $1200!
Listen up, Toyotaku. There’s an extremely rare RT90 Toyota Corona coupe for sale in Fresno. The Corona is kind of Toyota’s red-headed stepchild, having continued on with a leaf sprung rear long after the rest of the line from Corolla to Cressida evolved a four-link setup. And obviously, anyone looking for a sporty Toyota coupe in 1971 would have gone with the Celica.
The succinct seller promises only 60,000 miles, new tires and current tags. Also, it “runs good.” What more do you need? It’s not your typical kidney car either because the price is a just-an-old-Toyota $1,200. Buy it. You’ll be the only one at the next Toyotafest.
Wagon Want: KP37V Toyota Publica Van
Show of hands, who would rock this? “This” being a Toyota Publica Van that is the exact reason why we love old Japanese cars. Look, it’s barely larger than an OG Mini but has funky-sleek lines, looks totally bitchin’ on SSR MkIIs no bigger than your dinner plate, and is RWD. Plus it’s a two-door wagon. Who doesn’t love two-door wagons? Fascists, that’s who.
[Minkara]
Hot Wheels Datsun Bluebird 510 is “Faster Than Ever”
Are you tired of seeing yellow 510s and a billion different Mustang variations at your local Hot Wheels rack? Soon this mean red and black Datsun Bluebird 510 will be showing up at your local toy store in the “Faster Than Ever” line. That means these will have nickel-plated axles that help them scoot down the track a bit faster. We like this graphic scheme a lot — the black hood on red body reminds us of the East African Safari Rally livery worn by Nissans of yore. More images after the fold. Continue reading
Friday Video (sort of): S40 Crown in Reborn Toyota campaign promising “Fun to Drive, Again”
Toyota has launched a mysterious website called Reborn-Toyota for the Japanese market. The sparse page has nothing but a slideshow depicting actor “Beat” Takeshi Kitano and singer Takuya Kimura dressed as 16th century daimyo warriors looking gangster behind the wheel of a piano black S40 Toyota Crown. UPDATE Continue reading
Posted in cm, toyota
Tagged beat takeshi, cm, crown, hideyoshi toyotomi, ms41, nobunaga oda, reborn, s40, shuto, takeshi kitano, takuya kimura, toyota
7 Comments
Kidney, Anyone? Vintage TE27 Toyota Corolla Levin Rally Car
Here’s something we wish we saw more of in the States — a vintage Japanese race car with well-documented motorsports provenance. According to the auction, this TE27 Toyota Corolla Levin is one of three imported to New Zealand in 1973 to compete in the Heatway Rally. It had old school work done to its valvetrain and bottom end and seems to have retained many of its period mods, like twin 45 Dellorto carbs. And since it came directly from Japan, that motor is a 2T-G. Continue reading
Join JNC at the 2011 Art Center Car Classic
The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena is among the most influential transportation design schools in the world. Noted graduates include Chip Foose, Ford VP of design J Mays, head of Nissan design Shiro Nakamura, former head of Pininfarina Ken Okuyama and renowned GM/Ford designer Larry Shinoda. Every year, the Art Center holds the Art Center Car Classic, a special exhibition to show the next generation of car designers the best of the best. Continue reading
Posted in events
Tagged art center car classic, art center college of design, datsun, events, nissan, toyota
7 Comments
Bosozoku Toyota 2000GT answers the question no one asked
The Toyota 2000GT was a little too early for the golden age of the Fuji GC series, and for that we are thankful. But in an alternate universe here’s what a gurachan MF10 might look like. Continue reading
Posted in minicars, toyota
Tagged 2000gt, bosozoku, gurachan, longchamp xr-4, longchamps, mf10, toyota
21 Comments
Behold the bridge of the USS Mazda Cosmo
This is the interior of a third-generation Mazda Cosmo. The first generation 1967-72 Cosmo Sport had space-age styling on the outside. Then Mazda brought back the Cosmo name in 1975 for the Mazda RX-5, and the only thing spacey about that was the idea of a Cosmo with Landau roof.
In 1981, the third-gen was modernized to look like, at least from the inside, a bridge station on the USS Enterprise. The instrument pod is really pod-like, attached to an otherwise pancake-flat dash. What would you do with the space behind it? Hidden radar detector? Beanie Baby gallery? The possibilities are as endless as the number of buttons on the pod itself! Continue reading
Friday Video: Japanese Demolition Derby Circa 1976
We have absolutely no idea where this video is from, what is going in it, and why it is happening. All we can say is that it’s from approximately 1976 and shows the senseless wreckage of many rare vintage Japanese cars, including what appears to be a MS51 Toyota Crown Coupe. Sadness. Bonus points to anyone who can identify all the cars in this chaotic clip. Continue reading
Rumors of Datsun comeback comes back
It seems like every few months now a new article is published claiming the return of the Datsun brand. It’s the same old story. It would be Nissan’s bargain-price brand, likely for developing markets, and not in the US. The last spike of interest in this topic occurred in July. Another inning took place in 2008.
Each time, the automotive media collectively takes the news nugget and passes it along like a cursed monkey paw, until its sheer prevalence gives the story credibility. For this round of specious wildfire, it looks like Auto Express was the one who flicked the cigarette butt out the window. They’re not exactly known for judicious use of the “publish” button, so yeah, lets not hold our breaths for this one.
Vintage Toyota Land Cruisers are in advertisements everywhere
There’s an adage that says once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence, three times is a trend. If that’s the case, then old Toyota Land Cruisers are about to become fashion icons. Just in the last month alone, we’ve seen a trio of advertisements featuring vintage FJs.
In the case of the ad above, there are no less than two FJ40s trekking through the jungle, surrounded by models, which is a pretty good situation to be in actually. This life-sized mural festoons Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Maryland, heralding the future home of an American Eagle Outfitters franchise. Fluke. Continue reading
Kidney, Anyone? 22,000-mile 1989 Toyota MR2 SC
Where have cars like this gone? Back when Jean-Luc Picard was captain of the Enterprise, the only thing that could make Toyota’s lightweight midship runabout even more fun was taking its high-revving 4A-GE — the same one found in the legendary AE86 — and strapping on a factory supercharger. The result packed 145 angry horsepower into a sub-2500-pound car that looked as if it could transform into an Autobot at any moment. Continue reading
Kidney, Anyone? 1977 Datsun F10 Wagon
Another garage-stored east coast car comes out of hiding, this time in Rhode Island. Ladies and gentlemen, may we present to you this cherry Datsun Cherry. That’s the Japanese market name for the 1977 Datsun F10, the diminutive front-wheel-drive coupe that ushered in both Nissan‘s front-wheel-drive age and the “atomic cockroach” design theme. This is actually the second gen Cherry, and like many 70s Datsuns sold by its chassis code rather than the JDM name. Continue reading
Friday Video: Intersection pimps CR-Z, but first-gen Honda Prelude is all class
The French arm of Intersection, the half-automotive half-fashion magazine, recently pimped an unsuspecting Honda CR-Z. Is a gloss beige sport hybrid with orange tires laughably ridiculous, or so avant garde that our uncultured pea-brains can’t comprehend it? Continue reading
Vintage Racing: SCCA GT4 TE27 Toyota Corolla
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Isuzu, here are some more vintage racing snaps. A couple of weeks ago at JCCS, we met a dude from T. Creations Paint Designs of Pasadena. He had collected some photos of this car, the old Downey Toyota TE27 that was often seen around SoCal’s road courses. Continue reading
Posted in motorsports, toyota
Tagged corolla, levin, sprinter, sr5, te27, toyota, trueno
16 Comments
Wednesday Wall: Isuzu Bellett Rally Car, 1965
We realize there was a dearth of Isuzu-related material at JCCS, so here’s a big bad wolf just cold storming through the woods of Australia, circa 1965. We found it whilst skimming Teh Internets on the site of Bruce Upton, a 60-year veteran photographer. You can see many more beautiful images, automotive or otherwise, on his site.
