This was achieved with bread and butter cars, but without a hint of sex appeal. Eiji Toyoda, the great godfather behind the company, was busy setting quality standards that other manufacturers should fear. But what #kaizen and #kanban is all about, I’ll bore you with when the Toyota Carina is featured here. Let’s get back to business. The first draft came from #Yamaha. They already had experience with the development of sports cars.

For #Nissan they had developed the beautiful #Sylvia, whose design came from the German Count Goertz. The A550X project was also created for Nissan, but this led to disagreements between Nissan and Yamaha. By the way, the A550X looks remarkably similar to the later 240Z. So Toyota came just in time, the birth of the 280 A Project – and costs didn’t matter for Toyota. It was clear to Toyota that the car would not be financially successful. But that was not the point. It was a flamboyant addition to the fleet.⁠

Who was responsible for the design of the 2000GT was kept secret for a long time. At Toyota, a car was seen as the result of a collaborative effort. And yet we know today that a man named Satoru Nozaki was essentially responsible for the design. He must have loved the #Jaguar #E-Type. In addition to conservative elements, there were many new ideas, such as the polished steel inlays around the rear lights. At the front you can see design elements of the smaller Toyota Sports 800.

With the 2000GT, Toyota also achieved a marketing stunt. In the James #Bond “You only Live Twice” Sean #Connery drove a 2000GT. But without a roof, allegedly Connery didn’t fit in the car otherwise. I suppose that’s nonsense. Between 1967 and 1970 only 351 cars have been made, making this one of the rarest and most expensive Japanese classics cars around⁠. ⁠

Der Beitrag A Japanese Icon! erschien zuerst auf petrolpunx.

The latter two cars actually looked brilliant. And as seen yesterday, also a 2 door hardtop coupé was available. The TI model in the picture resembles a Skyline in its purest form – even it’s called the “High Saloon II” it’s pretty basic. A 1984 car, with the small 1.8 4 cyl. unit, featuring an automatic gearbox. Any drift action has to deal with up to 90 HP – bring it on.

The design was the work of Shinichiro Sakurai, who was already involved in the first Skyline, still made by the Prince Motor Company in the 1950s. So we have some heavy Skyline heritage in front of us. Looking at the back of the car, the TI does not seem to have the double round taillights, which was a common feature on all R30 and DR30 models, except for the 5 door variants. As earlier Skyline models had different taillights on the TI models I guess the same happened here. ⁠

All in all up to 30 R30/DR30 variants had been available, making this Skyline a huge success. In 1983 actor and race car driver Paul Newman was hired for an advertising campaign, resulting in a “Paul Newman” model: the “New-man” Skyline. Nope, I’m not joking.⁠

Verdict: Quite a dull choice far away from any stance or drift action. It’s white and grey with steel wheels and no hubcaps. Deal with it.⁠

Der Beitrag A Nissan Skyline for everyday living – no drift skid marks involved erschien zuerst auf petrolpunx.

First of all: Wow! This resembles a lot of everything I love about japanese cars. They are well executed, well thought and sometimes just bold. The Skyline is almost iconic and maybe one of the best known #JDM-cars outside of Japan hence the Gran Turismo craze in gaming. But the #R30, or more correct the #DR30, is maybe one of the lesser known Skylines, while the newer #R32 and #R33 models have a strong following, and the older #KGC10 GT, the #Hakosuka #ハコスカ, are skyrocketing regarding prices. I enjoyed an in depth tour of this, provided by Fergus, who brought this to the #jcs2019 from the UK. Thanx mate!

So this RS-X Turbo started live on the base of the rather humble R30 series, available as 4 and 5 door, with engines starting from 1.8 up to 2.8, which I will show in a later post. The RS-X however was a turbocharged three door sports car, with over 200 HP, nicknamed the #Ironmask, or #Tekkamen #鉄仮面 – and as far as I know, never sold outside of Japan (maybe Australia?). The car was different in many ways to the R30, so these cars got their own chassis designation, thats why DR30. And this thing looks brilliant. The aggressive front end, the bold side graphics – and the attention to detail.

The original 1980s interieur looks stunning. There are actually two doorhandles, one for the people sitting in front – and of course, another one for people in the back. This is proper japanese design, avoiding any inconveniences for anyone. And yes, it has a rear windscreen wiper!

Another detail I love, but could not be shown here, is that you can actually change the angle of the roof aerial from inside of the car. I’ve never seen something like that! ⁠

Verdict: I’m not sure if I could handle this, but the idea is growing on me. If you want a killer Skyline, the DR30 RS models could be your chance. Maybe now is the right time to get one – as long as this is flying under the radar 😉

Der Beitrag Nissan Skyline Madness erschien zuerst auf petrolpunx.