Trip to Japan

[cms206]

Those Cobus things are front wheel drive, the engine sits between the front wheels IIRC. It's normally a 4-pot Merc diesel from memory.

 

Charlatte and Lansing-Linde are the main electric tug providers in the UK, many of the Charlattes supplied on lease by TCR. The electric models are generally T137s - British Airways bought them exclusively after their last deliveries of Lansing P200s in 1994. Their latest deliveries have been Lansings latest model.

 

Keeping things suitably shite, Charlatte did a couple of diesel models, most recently the T225D which is a diesel electric thing using the 1.5TUD. We had a pair of 2004 models at aviance Glasgow and they were fucking hopeless.

[angle]

I didn't really notice much classic car scene at all, at least not a scene any greater that ours. They have much better weather than we do, but I saw hardly anything on the roads.

 

Not so much in January:

 

 

I spent the best part of a month there at the beginning of the year, and outside of the cities I saw rust that would put a Ka dipped in the North Sea to shame - a Wagon R+ with no door bottoms and a hole in the boot stands out. Similarly though, although I saw the bravest man in the world piloting a Messeschmidt bubble car thing round the centre of Osaka, a Renault 4, an Autobianchi A112, quite a few Minis and this:

 

 

But other than that there's very little pre-90s stuff in the wild. But the taxis are great:

 

 

As are the school buses:

 

 

But best of all, I got to drag my girlfriend to Nagoya for the sole purpose of going to the Toyota Museum (we found somewhere selling £1 gin and tonics afterwards, so it worked out). It was in the process of being refurbished but I managed to take a LOT of photos. Some of my favourites:

 

 

1935 Tsukuba-Go. 'Approximately 130 units were produced by Tokyo Jidosha Seizo over a three year period starting in 1935. Named after Mt Tsukuba in the Kanto region, this front wheel drive car was one of the earliest to be built in Japan'.

 

 

1932 Datsun Model 11 Phaeton. The oldest existing Datsun (and it's in the Toyota museum...)

 

 

1951 Toyopet Model SA

 

 

1955 Toyopet Crown RS

 

 

1957 Suzulight SL

 

 

1961 Mitsubishi 500 A11

 

 

1955 Flying Feather. 'The brainchild of designer Ryuichi Tomiya, who sought to build the most economical car possible, the Flying Feather was unveiled by Suminoe Engineering Works in 1955. The ar's streamlined styling and minimal mechanisms resulted in a super light vehicle'.

 

 

1955 Fujicabin 5A. 'Designed by Ryuichi Tomiya, this three-wheel 'cabin scooter' was sold by Fuji Motors. The unique design features a full monocoque FRP body mounted on a motorcycle'.

 

 

1961 Mazda R360

 

 

1961 Publica UP10

 

 

1965 Toyota Sports 800

 

 

1965 Daihatsu Compagno Spider

 

 

1967 Suzuki Fronte 360

 

 

1967 Nissan Prince Skyline 2000 GT-B. 'To compete in the second Japan Grand Prix, the manufacturer extended the Skyline 1500's nose and fitted a two-litre Gloria engine. The commercial version of this modfied car was the 2000 GT-B, the ancestor of the famed Skyline GT-R'.

 

 

1971 Colt Galant GTO-MR

 

 

1972 Subaru Leone Estatevan 4WD

 

 

1985 Toyota Carina ST160

 

 

1981 Toyota Soarer

 

 

2012 Toyota Porte Welcab. The passenger seat detaches itsel from the car and turns into a wheelchair...

 

 

Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon scooter

 

 

Toyota 'Firewood Truck'

 

 

Toyota Masterline van

 

 

Suzuki Carry

[Noel Tidybeard]

suzuki carry= mini sherpa (mg midget utility)

[andrew e]

Will fabulous stuff! In these days of the huge WWW a suprise is always welcomed. The German ICE have the glass cabs for first class passengers, you could *ahem* nip on board in Paris Austerlitz station for a look whilst there are cleaning them.

 

Angle - top stuff on the thread top up!

 

 

 

 

 

Hm. Didn't know anywhere other than the Netherlands had roof cab trains.

Wonder if the end doors work on the Japanese one - Nederlandse Spoorwegen stopped bothering with theirs as they were too troublesome (Talbot built).

Golden Panoramic does, you have to shove your complimentary SBB tickets under the German tourist noses to get those seats with the view though!

 

[captain_70s]

As I recall the Japanese MOT equivalent is quite strict/expensive and cars aren't really seen as a long term thing, avg life span for a Japanese domestic car is something like 6-8 years before it gets recycled or exported.  Interestingly they have a similar approach to houses, 40-50 years lifespan and then you knock it down and build a new one. You also can't own a car larger than a Kei class without having to prove you have somewhere to park it on your property and with cities being compact most homes only have space for a single car.

 

The JDM classic scene seems to be similar to that of the UK but it seems there is less "old tat" knocking about. Google Steetviewing random locations often turns up some off stuff, even the odd British or Yank motor. I've seen a picture showing that there is at least one Triumph Dolomite wearing Japanese plates, a Sprint with extended wheel arches.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

There's a few good articles on that TTAC site about motoring in Japan, one of the contributors lived there for a while and wrote some good stories about buying and running an old Supra I think it was.

[angle]

Their MOT equivalent isn't much different from ours, it's just that most people leave the entire renewal process in the hands of expensive garages and it includes a tax/insurance payment.

Yep, for a typical Corolla sized car you're looking at about £450 to get through the Shaken if you take it to the test centre yourself and assuming no work is needed, but the majority of that is tax /insurance, the actual test fee is only £100. That's another reason why Kei cars are so popular, they get a big tax break compared to 'white plate' cars. I think the 'Japanese MOT is really strict' thing comes about because it's mostly Americans writing about it - they check lights, tyres, brakes, suspension, speedo, emissions and for rust / damage but there's nothing really that we wouldn't expect from an MOT. You can fail on an oil leak though...