Forgotten 70’s and 80’s Japs

[Garythesnail]

Another bit of 80's exotica - all the fuss is about the DC2, but the first generation 4 door is still the best looking Integra. The whole Honda range mid to late eighties looked bloody good.

 

 

 

 I may* have a thing for Hondas with pop-up headlights.

[angle]

Goo.net is a good place to fantasise about the obscure nonsense you'd import if you won the lottery.

https://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcars/

For example, a Mitsubishi Dingo:

A Toyota Deliboy:

Or maybe a Nissan Gazelle:

 

[skattrd]

I still own a Galant Saporro, one day it will be fixed … Best velour of ever in that car.
Engine meltdown on the M62 , replacement 4G64 2.4l  engine required if anyone know of one around.

[Pieman]

That Toyota Deliboy has to be the most oddly proportioned vehicle I've ever seen.

[ChinaTom]

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Oh yeah!!!

[ChinaTom]

What happened to that purple one in the end (or was that a straight 929 coupe?)

[Steve79]

Any coupe made by Isuzu

117 coupe

Gemini Coupe

Impulse RS

Don't forget the Pizza (piazza)

[Roobarb]

I had a 73 Corolla in bright orange called ‘Cyril’. 

Last time I was in the UK I chased it back through the family I sold it to all the way through to the scrapper. I would love one again (but this time manual)!

Cost me £250 back in 87. Probably add a ‘1’ at the front and ‘0’ on the back these days. 

[Steve79]

1989 Nissan President

AMG Mitsubishi Debonair

Scooby XT

[Steve79]

Got massive horn for these at the moment.

Mitsuoka Rock Star - based on current mx-5

They've only made 50

 

 

[ChinaTom]

First 3 are various denominations of Subaru Rex

4 and 5 are Daihatsu Charmant

6 is Mirage saloon

7 and 8 are Tredias

all these from memories of my time in Malaysia and Indonesia. Plenty still biffing about the back roads.

[ChinaTom]

Mazda 818, 121, Toyota Cressida, Corona estate, Mazda 616
 

memories of Gladstone Street in P’bo.

[ChinaTom]

[Sir Snipes]

People tend to remember the last "T" series Bluebirds when reminded but the poor, short-lived U11 less so;

As usual back then, the really interesting variants like the pillarless 4-door or the TwinCam Turbo SSS stayed at home.

[Twisterboy]

There was always something about Honda's with Pop Up headlights that made a impression on me as kid! Also one of the officers at my boys brigade was a salesman for a local Honda dealer and used to pitch up in the current Honda Range a lot!

[sierraman]

6 hours ago, Steve79 said:

Any coupe made by Isuzu

117 coupe

Gemini Coupe

Impulse RS

Don't forget the Pizza (piazza)

Wasn’t the Isuzu 117 imported to the U.K. briefly?

[sierraman]

Oof the Mazda 929, remember the estate but I can recall the 929 coupe being sold in the UK but again I never actually saw one. Imagine popping into ECP asking for a tail lamp cluster for one...

Think the big seventies stacked lamp 929 saloon was sold here as well?

[Steve79]

2 hours ago, Sir Snipes said:

People tend to remember the last "T" series Bluebirds when reminded but the poor, short-lived U11 less so;

As usual back then, the really interesting variants like the pillarless 4-door or the TwinCam Turbo SSS stayed at home.

Wasn't that shortlived as they never did a T12 estate. The estate used the U11 platform from 1984-1990

 

[jonny69]

@ChinaTom can you label up what all yours are? I don't know what half of that obscure J-tin is

[warch]

Not particularly obscure or forgotten I'll grant you but a lovely simple design from back when Subaru were a niche market seller. Really handy off road too. 

[big_al_granvia]

mum went from a vauxhall viva hc to a datsun cherry on a P plate, then a datsun sunny on a S plate, toyota starlet on a V then toyota carina on a Y... what i do remember of the early ones was that they were rusty within 2 years (okay we live right on the west coast of scotland), her 80's jap collection was rounded off by a 89 proton, in the 90's she had a 96 toyota corolla 3door sport (midlife crisis at 60 lol) and a 55 plate micra which she hated... aye jap family 

[JimH]

12 hours ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

Wonder how many RWD Mazda 323's survive?

I'm quite sure Google has the answer but is any resemblance to the Sunbeam entirely coincidental?

[HMC]

Great thread! A near neighbour had one of those galant Sapporos. I remember being blown away by some sort of “active ride” it had ; which apparently although ambitious wasn’t all that good! 

[JimH]

Obscure memories of an obscure television programme where an obscure Japanese car was mentioned.

I have a recollection of many years ago seeing something on telly where a copper was talking about solving a case where a child had been abducted. According to the copper the only thing they had to go on was what little the kid could remember about being bundled into the back of a car which had no rear doors, vinyl seats with funny stitching and wind up windows in the rear. The copper pointed out that it meant that it was clearly Japanese and could only be one car sold in Blighty. He named the car and said after that solving the case was a doddle.

What was the car? I cannot remember what it was and it's been sort of nagging for years and years for some reason.

[sierraman]

What was the Mitsubishi that had 2 separate ranges on a 4 speed effectively giving it an 8 speed gearbox? I mean that’s bat shit crazy! 

[Steve79]

Just now, sierraman said:

What was the Mitsubishi that had 2 separate ranges on a 4 speed effectively giving it an 8 speed gearbox? I mean that’s bat shit crazy! 

Yep, called the supershift, as fitted to the Cordia, Colt, Tredia etc

 

[JimH]

Was it possible to shift while in motion, giving you a splitter and letting you pretend you drove a big lorry?

[Steve79]

Yep, but you needed to shift both at the same time!

Mitsubishi Super Shift transmission - Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Super_Shift_transmission

[Vantman]

My Colt that i owned,still going as far as i know and owned by a forum member--