Archive for April, 2009

Sorry for the lack of anything posted yesterday and also for the lack of anything of substance in this post. I’ve been a bit busy and had the mind occupied with the potential purchase for me of another Prince Skyline, it has been consuming all my thoughts and in turn I neglected this site, I’ll try to not let that happen again. Honest.

Whilst I try compile something for later today, here’s a big ass picture for your downloading desires;

Prince Skyline Sprint 1900 (R52)

Prince Skyline Sprint 1900 (R52)

The picture is hosted on conceptnissan.com where there’s some pretty cool other vehicles to squizz at too, so take a look around.

-Michael

A lot of you will be familiar with this car now, it’s been at least mentioned on here a few times, perhaps only once…  regardless.  It’s Alistairs EP70 Toyota Starlet.  When he bought it recently all the hard work was done but externally it looked fairly average.  Rather than tart it up, Alistair decided to return it back to more of an original look.  Being it houses a 4E-FTE from a later model Glanza Turbo Starlet and is quite capable in the performance stakes, the look is one more commonly referred to as “sleeper”.  Though nothing external, here’s a little video Alistair made lastnight and then posted on YouTube, it gives you a little idea of how rapid this tiny machine can be.

Hopefully he’ll have some external shots of it at the strip and at the track sometime in the not too distant future and the moment he does, I can guarantee you that I’ll have it up on here.

You can read more about the car on oldschool, here;
Alistair’s EP70 Nana Racer

-Michael

OK, so whilst most of you likely went away or did something awesome on your days off over easter, I did very little.  I drove around a very bland looking Audi A4 and although it was very polite and comfortable with it’s ways, it certainly lacked a lot of the character that I’m used to in my own vehicles, perhaps being tip-tronic was of no assistance to it, but that’s beside the point I think.  Mixed in with this driving of a vehicle beyond my means, was the important part.  The sussing out of particulars involved in the purchase made on my behalf of replica 110GT-R flares, in Japan, on YAJ.

The flares themselves, are these ones;

Replica KPGC110 Bolt-on Fibreglass Flares

Replica KPGC110 Bolt-on Fibreglass Flares

Sure, they don’t look like much but they’re specific to the C110 in that they have to cater for the bodylines at the rear of the car and they wrap around the majority of the length of the arch as opposed to the universal type which in general will just crown the wheel-arch.  I managed to win the auction at the starting bid.  Though before any of this even took place, I had emailed the amazing Ewan @ hayatonka.com asking for a basic estimate on what it would be to get these suckers to my door.  He replied within the day and his basic estimate turned out to be very close to the final price.  Being the size, composite and fragility of the items it wasn’t the easiest to guess.  His initial estimate coming only 1820JPY shy of the final costing. The discrepancy in price turned out to only really be the weight, 2kg was actually 3kg and so internal Japanese freight and then International freight to NZ rose slightly because of that.  They should arrive to my door within the next 7 days, once they do I’ll let you all know and probably do a little taped onto the car mockup just for shits and giggles.

-Michael

Radical ’80s!

April 10, 2009

fans of big chunky ’80s Jap turbo cars (like me) will enjoy reading this official English translation of OPTION magazine’s Oct 2006 article titled RADICAL ’80s: Tuned Cars From The Previous Era!

The article holds a definite Nissan slant, as six of the seven vehicles covered are of that marque (no less than half being Z-cars!) with the remaining one being Toyota. But even if you aren’t a Nissan person, and even whilst a purist like myself may not agree with engine conversions (as I think they completely ruin a vehicle’s originality), it’s interesting to read about how Japanese tuners utilize modern tech to keep these older cars competitive in terms of horsepower and handling.

Must admit seeing a R31 wagon fitted with a RB25DET and GTS-X slope-nose front is strangely inspiring. It’s what the Stagea could/should/would have been in a previous life!

From R31 Skyline wagon... to GC34 Stagea

From R31 Skyline wagon... to GC34 Stagea

>> RADICAL ’80s: Tuned Cars From The Previous Era!

Something a bit different than Japanese cars for sale in Japan, this time… European!  At least two different manufacturers thereof.  First up, this sweet Peugeot 505;

Peugeot 505, French Mafia, Black styles.

Peugeot 505, French Mafia, Black styles.

1989 Peugeot 505 @ 980,000JPY

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