Forgotten 70’s and 80’s Japs

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 minute ago, JeeExEll said:

For the money, the most fun you can have sitting down. 

Spearmint Rhino might beg to differ. 

[Austat]

On 1/7/2020 at 1:39 PM, ChinaTom said:

I wonder where LAH 304P is now, and what condition it is in. Last time it passed it's MOT was in March 2009. It was on the Driftworks forum c.2009, in lovely condition. However people urged the owner to modify it (fucking chavs), let's just hope it hasn't been modified. Those mid-70's Mazdas are quite sought after in Australia, and are incredibly overpriced. Saying that, I spotted this one for sale near me that I quite like the look of, will obviously need some work. 1978 929 Automatic, lasted priced at $3500 AUD (roughly 1800 quid).

Should I give it a go?

[Austat]

Are there any Mazda 1800s left in the UK?

[lesapandre]

Italian styled I think and clap-hands wipers.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, Austat said:

Are there any Mazda 1800s left in the UK?

Probably fewer than the fingers on one hand. 

[DavidB]

I love the ungainly look of the mk1 Familia / 323 and ae81 Corollas.

 

 

[Austat]

5 minutes ago, DavidB said:

I love the ungainly look of the mk1 Familia / 323 and ae81 Corollas.

There are plenty of those in Australia:

[Alan_Green]

On 1/7/2020 at 8:02 AM, sierraman said:

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?

 

 

Great thread.  The above pic is of a Mazda 626 not a 929.  Here's my 626 coupe (pictured last night when I went out for chips).

[sierraman]

Did they actually sell the 929 coupe in the U.K.? As in the funny looking one from about mid 80’s? 

My grandparents street always had loads of old batteredJapanese tin, the guy across the road had one of those 323’s with the round headlights in seventiestastic gold. 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

They did sell saloon, coupe and estate versions of the RX4 shape 929 in Britain, usually in metallic purple, in my memory at least. When I was 18 I almost bought an RX4 coupe that had been converted to a 2.0 Pinto, it was red with slot mags and a Starsky and Hutch stripe. Unfortunately insurance kyboshed that plan.

Although I did later buy a Datsun 260C saloon in red with the Starsky stripe and slot mags , my brother drove it all over the country , like a nutter, totally illegally- the Police must have thought no one would dare drive that unless it was 100% straight and left him alone- it ended up in Motorsport.

 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

44 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Did they actually sell the 929 coupe in the U.K.? As in the funny looking one from about mid 80’s?. 

If they did, I've never seen one.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

1 hour ago, Alan_Green said:

Great thread.  The above pic is of a Mazda 626 not a 929.  Here's my 626 coupe (pictured last night when I went out for chips).

I always remember the conclusion to a Car Giant Test with a 626 saloon of this shape against , I think, Cortina and Cavalier , that went;

" The Cavalier wins this test but we wouldn't condem anyone that chose the Mazda, and the number of Japanese cars we can say that about can be counted on the fingers of one hand" or something like that , we are talking about nearly 40 years ago.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, Alan_Green said:

Great thread.  The above pic is of a Mazda 626 not a 929.  Here's my 626 coupe (pictured last night when I went out for chips).

Ah, the Mazda Montrose....

I remember seeing a few in the 1980s. There was an elegant pillarless coupe fashioned out of the more-numerous saloon. Relatively slim A- and C-pillars and a sort of wraparound rear windscreen to help with the visibility. They were aimed at the suburban middle-class, as was the 626 generally, and they did sell in modest numbers.

Haven't seen one for ages, though. Where did they all go?

[Alan_Green]

23 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Ah, the Mazda Montrose....

I remember seeing a few in the 1980s. There was an elegant pillarless coupe fashioned out of the more-numerous saloon. Relatively slim A- and C-pillars and a sort of wraparound rear windscreen to help with the visibility. They were aimed at the suburban middle-class, as was the 626 generally, and they did sell in modest numbers.

Haven't seen one for ages, though. Where did they all go?

This one is a pillarless coupe with wrap around rear window and all that.  Behold, pillarless:

All those 70's Datsuns and Suzukis etc were so quirky and imaginative.  And so colourful.  So much variety.  Now it's all monochrome soft-roaders. 

[Sir Snipes]

Can't find any images of these with UK plates, though there are RHD models about.

Presumeably they're Australian or from New Zealand?

[DavidB]

6 hours ago, Austat said:

There are plenty of those in Australia:

I think they had nine or ten (maybe more) body shape variants of the Corolla around this time! Can you imagine that now?

[Conan]

3 minutes ago, DavidB said:

I think they had nine or ten (maybe more) body shape variants of the Corolla around this time! Can you imagine that now?

Not only that you can get many different body shape, you can also choose between many engine options. 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, petrol, diesel, naturally aspirated, supercharged, manual, automatic. And the option list for the later E90 Corolla was simply astonishing. With stuff like electronic adjustable dampers, limited slip differential, digital dash, four wheel drive, whorehouse red velour interior. It's safe to say back in the 80's if you were in Japan you could get a Corolla to suit your need.

 

Nowadays you adjust your need to suit a Corolla.

[Shep Shepherd]

On 1/12/2020 at 8:21 AM, Spottedlaurel said:

 

That is an amazing looking car, which puts me in mind of a mid-1980s Cadillac. Super Saloon, indeed 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

https://youtu.be/IWWwM2wwMww

[Mrs6C]

Among the collection of interesting cars my Dad and Mum have owned, they had two cars from new. The first was a white Morris 1100 Traveller, in which they toured Europe. The other was a 1972 Honda Z600 coupe in bright orange, which I recollect was the 'standard' and possibly only factory colour for the UK spec. cars. 'Harry' had factory finish twin black coach stripes, which were hand-painted rather than stick-on vinyls. 'Harry' the Honda was much-loved, well-travelled and owned for many years. Eventually he failed to proceed and after many years slumbering in the corner of their farmyard, he was towed off to the local dump and is now resting quietly somewhere on (or in!) a remote Welsh hillside. If only I had been more interested in cars at the time...

I do still have one of his front seats, the original Owner's Manual and a few other bits and bobs.

Harry looked something like this:

[Mrs6C]

Coincidentally, one of my schoolteachers had a Honda Z as well, albeit with no coachstripe. She taught Sunday School at a church at the end of a lane that ran past our house and the local allotments. If the church parking area was full, she parked her Z at the allotments and walked up. If my parents were at their allotment on a Sunday morning, there were two Honda Zs parked there together. I suspect that wasn't a common occurence for these little cars 'in the wild', even back in the day.

[Spottedlaurel]

One of those Mazdas here, probably off one of the East Anglian USAF bases. Back in the '90s there were quite a few Q...LEW JDM imports floating around the area.

1985-ish Mazda Cosmo Turbo by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1985-ish Mazda Cosmo Turbo by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Saloon equivalent, haven't got a clue where this one came from:

1985 Mazda 929, B808MAB (1992) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

[DavidB]

The Japanese loved head lights and tail lights that were so wide they nearly meet in the middle, especially Mazda.

[Sir Snipes]

They often did meet in the middle! (But usually not for export markets like here)

[Austat]

Does anyone know what happened to this rare Leone 1600 2 door?

[Spottedlaurel]

I don't know about that one, but I do recall one or two of those GFT coupes back in the late '80s.

In the 1990s, a friend had a pleasant habit of turning up in all sorts of obscurities. This was one of his:

1979 Subaru 1600 GFT c.1996 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1979 Subaru 1600 GFT c.1996 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Like most of the other Japanese makers of the time, Subaru enjoyed creating subtly different variations of the same thing so they also offered this coupe:

Subaru 1600 Coupe by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Which is different again to the 2-door saloon they also had. I think they even imported all three variants here.

The next-gen model was a bit more common, but little surprise to see the poor rate of survival when you see the state of this one:

1981 Subaru 1600DL c.1997 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

That was after it had sat somewhere since being taken off the road in 1989.

[Austat]

Honda 1300, a Japanese equivalent to the Triumph Toledo/Dolomite 1300:

Very similar cosmetically:

[Conan]

You forgot to mention it being front wheel drive with full independent suspension. Powered by air-cooled overhead cam 4-cylinder engine fueled by optional quad carburettors and dry-sump oiling. Revs to 8000rpm and produce more than 100hp from 1.3-litre engine.

 

All of this was back in 1969.

[808 Estate]

On 1/7/2020 at 1:47 AM, Steve79 said:

1989 Nissan President

 

 

Love that.

I always liked the Toyota Crowns and the Datsun Laurel. I seem to have a thing for gangster wagons..

[Austat]

Toyota Tercel L10 with it's very weird derrière: