Forgotten 70’s and 80’s Japs

[sierraman]

31 minutes ago, JimH said:

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

Ha ha imagine that. Nissan Sunny with an Eaton Fuller Roadranger. 

[garbaldy]

18 minutes ago, Vantman said:

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

Yes still going well and clicked over to 40000 miles on last year's Skye run.

Also had a nice article in the last retro jap mag.

 

 

[omegod]

1 minute ago, garbaldy said:

Yes still going well and clicked over to 40000 miles on last year's Skye run.

Also had a nice right up in the last retro jap mag.

 

 

I widely publicised a LHD Colt identical to yours I found in a local scrapyard last year in the hope someone would make use of the parts, it was subsequently heavily stripped and I always wondered who rescued the bit's ..... was it you by any chance Garbaldy ?

[sierraman]

For real out and out luxury you need a Mitsubishi Debonair. Only 1 imported, whatever became of it?

[garbaldy]

4 minutes ago, omegod said:

I widely publicised a LHD Colt identical to yours I found in a local scrapyard last year in the hope someone would make use of the parts, it was subsequently heavily stripped and I always wondered who rescued the bit's ..... was it you by any chance Garbaldy ?

Nope not me as I only found out about it once it was in this state.

I would have jumped at the chance of that.

 

[JimH]

56 minutes ago, Steve79 said:

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

Hmmm, I reckon with a little modification to the shape of the levers and some clever hand/finger movements you could make that work as a splitter. It could become the most useless driving skill ever developed.

Option 2 is to always have a passenger and get them in on the act.

[junkyarddog]

This is my 1978 Toyota Corolla ke35 coupé.

[garbaldy]

5 minutes ago, JimH said:

Hmmm, I reckon with a little modification to the shape of the levers and some clever hand/finger movements you could make that work as a splitter. It could become the most useless driving skill ever developed.

Option 2 is to always have a passenger and get them in on the act.

You only really need to use it in second gear as that has the most effect ie

1st power to 2nd power then switch to 2nd economy then 3rd power which is the only one you need two hands for but a genius fix was a bar welded to the stick to push forward the second stick at the same time.   Don't worry I'm not welding this car as it's too good.

[JimH]

That going from 1st P to 1st E is pointless and stupid isn't really the point. You could never call yourself a Super Shift Master until you had fully mastered the full range of shift patterns.

[Fat_Pirate]

1 hour ago, JimH said:

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.

I remember that, sure it was a late-70s Sapporo.

[ProgRocker]

Has the Daihatsu Charmant been mentioned?

Speaking of booted Daihatsus, I still sometimes see this Charade around.

Daihatsu Charade saloon by Matt W, on Flickr

Also the attractive Suzuki Swift 4wd saloon (late 1980s/early 90s) and more contemporarily, the Kisashi that I assume was a sales flop.

[angle]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

For real out and out luxury you need a Mitsubishi Debonair. Only 1 imported, whatever became of it?

Ideally, the AMG version... 

[ProgRocker]

16 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I always liked the 120Y

 

I remember being a passenger in one of these once back around 1988. A dad of a schoolfriend had one in dark blue and drove shitters (120y replaced a rough looking mark 3 Cortina). It wasn't the nicest car to be in as it was funeral black everywhere and it was a bit 'plastic fantastic'.

Nevertheless, I flipping love these 120Ys. Especially in this light blue colour and with the funky wheel trims. ?

[sierraman]

A few doors down from my grandma when I was a kid there was a Datsun 180B, don’t know the year but it was brown so I’m guessing late 70’s shape one. Anyway I was always fascinated with it, can remember visiting said grandparents one day and my grandma had the badge from it, said it was on the road, must have fell off or whatever. Still have it but I’ll always wonder if it had fallen off or if it had been ‘liberated’. 

[Sloth in a bowl]

Suzuki Whizzkid

It works, but it's no where near being MOT legal.

[jonny69]

Can anyone identify these and do you know what the story was and what happened to them? This was November 2017. 

[sierraman]

Nissan 280C and 300C. Where was that Tilbury? Either export or being raced? 

[Sir Snipes]

5 hours ago, Steve79 said:

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

 

Yeah I know bit the saloon was only around for a couple of years iirc? 

The other is the b12 sunny coupe which was only production for about 3 or 4 years, though there's always one or two on eBay to remind everyone of their exsistance.

[treehugger]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

For real out and out luxury you need a Mitsubishi Debonair. Only 1 imported, whatever became of it?

My cousin knew a banger driver who had one about 2 years ago? Yorkshire. Not sure if got raced or sold on for profit. Will ask.

Great thread, by the way.

[ChinaTom]

Couple of Coronas on that trailer. All the Indian and Pakistani supermarket owners had these. Corner shop chaps had 120Y’s, the Tailors had Corollas or 160J and Cressida and Corona reserved only for the shopkeepers featuring trollies and nothing on the pavement outside.

Crowns and 300C was for the shady lot who oversaw the money laundering.

[lesapandre]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Nissan 280C and 300C. Where was that Tilbury? Either export or being raced? 

That is quite a haul to assemble. Export? There used to be a lot of Jap stuff to Africa - but these days? Maybe? 

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, treehugger said:

My cousin knew a banger driver who had one about 2 years ago? Yorkshire. Not sure if got raced or sold on for profit. Will ask.

Great thread, by the way.

Could have been an import. I would imagine the one in the photo is long gone, non existent parts supply and galloping corrosion probably saw it off which is a shame. 

The 300C and 280C was also available as a diesel on the continent as well. 

Another neighbour as a kid had a Cressida, got rid of it not all that long ago (I say that but it was probably 15 years ago...). Almost exactly the same as below...

[DoctorRetro]

20 hours ago, sierraman said:

Honda Jazz. The first time round! Remember one of these bring for sale in the Autotrader in about 1995, again they were pretty much extinct even then.

That's my old car, and my photo ? Taken on Canvey Island 

[DoctorRetro]

Mazda 929 - I should never have sold this... 

[quicksilver]

A few rarities from FOTU

Honda Quintet. Interesting* fact: it was this, not the SD3, that was the first Ronda as the Aussies imported Quintets and stuck Rover badges on them.

HER 560Y - 1982 Honda Quintet 1.6 DX Hondamatic by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

Mitsubishi Cordia. This is the only one currently taxed.

A60 SYW - 1984 Mitsubishi Cordia Turbo by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

Colt Sigma. So much brown.

UEE 509T - 1979 Colt Sigma 2000 GLX by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

Datsun 140J

PCF 182M - 1974 Datsun Violet 140J by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

Toyota Crown Custom estate

UPC 117M - 1973 Toyota Crown 2600 Custom estate by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

And of course, Heidel_Kakao's Cedric

VOD 686J - 1970 Nissan Cedric Wagon Six by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

[jonny69]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

Nissan 280C and 300C. Where was that Tilbury? Either export or being raced? 

That was northbound on the M1 somewhere before Jn13.

Posted about it in the Lazy Spotters thread originally, about halfway down p.100 but the pics are dead: https://autoshite.com/topic/13441-lazy-spotters-thread/page/100/

[barefoot]

My mother had one of these in this very colour.

Passengers failed to see the tiny rear doors & used to try to tip up the front seats, I wrote it off by crashing it head on into a Leyland Clydesdale whilst overtaking a Granada.

Hospitalised twat!

[junkyarddog]

58 minutes ago, sierraman said:

 

I had an identical Cressida to the one in the foreground,some time in the late 90's.

Same colour,wheels,sunroof. 

It was an 1983 GLI-6,fitted with a fuel injected 2.0 litre 6 cyl engine and 5 speed manual gearbox.

I saw was,as I converted it to 2.4 diesel power,it still went rather well.

The underpinnings were extremely robust,My old man smoked about in it for a while before it eventually met it's maker.

Definitely one I should have kept.

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

39 minutes ago, barefoot said:

My mother had one of these in this very colour.

Passengers failed to see the tiny rear doors & used to try to tip up the front seats, I wrote it off by crashing it head on into a Leyland Clydesdale whilst overtaking a Granada.

Hospitalised twat!

I've just realised that the design of the rear door imitates the shape of most modern designs which have appeared in the last two or three years. Id never spotted that before.

Who'd have thought modern* design ideas would actually owe their thanks to an early 1970s Datsun?! Obviously the Datsun is way more attractive. 

Here's a modern Datsun,  which actually looks much better than everything built since the K10. 

[barefoot]

It was replaced by one of these, an N10 Cherry in this very colour, a much larger car and with the gearing raised by amongst other things, the use of 13 rather than 12 in wheels, Where the E10 had been frantic & fun the later version was just an underpowered drudge. I left home & it was replaced very quickly by a Manta 2.0GTE.