Old road vehicles in contemporary Japan

[railsquid]

OK, not technically a railway theme, but following on from this older Toyoto Hiace mentioned previously:

 

toyota-hiace-2016 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

I happened upon this pickup (no idea what make or model) in active service (transporting sheets of glass?) in the neighbourhood (whoever owns it was involved in some kind of repair work at a local restaurant):

 

old-japanese-pickup-tokyo by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

and earlier this evening near Yurakucho this London bus:

 

london-bus-tokyo by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[ToniBabelony]

Oh nice! I love those Nissan/Datsun Sunny Pickup Trucks! IIRC they're called 'bakkies' in South Africa.

 

We can see them quite often here, as they're still being used as agricultural vehicles or for small businesses (transporting oil or other stuff). Recently they also became a bit of a cult item, so it's not uncommon to see them running around with modifications (lowered, sports exhaust, ratted, cleaned, etc.). Your example looks actually quite spiffy there on those shiny alloys (Mugen?).

[Pashina12]

That pickup was I think the one imported to North America rebadged as the Chevy Luv?

[medusa]

Hm. Looking at it (and keeping in mind Kabutoni's wise words) I think Grandpa Saito from Nekomori should own a quite worn but still running Nissan Pickup. ;)

[ToniBabelony]

That pickup was I think the one imported to North America rebadged as the Chevy Luv?

The Chevy Luv was a rebadged Isuzu Faster, as both companies are related to General Motors. Nissan/Datsun cars also get rebranded from time to time, becuase of OEM reasons, but these are mostly for/from Mazda, Renault and Mitsubishi models. Isuzu provides platforms and components as a supplier, but not entire cars.

[Pashina12]

Thanks for the clarification. The design looks really familiar though... I wonder if they were imported under the Datsun or Nissan name? Maybe something for a bit of lazy-day research.

[ToniBabelony]

I wonder if they were imported under the Datsun or Nissan name?

I doubt that very much, as the Isuzu Faster really was a pure Isuzu/GM product. It was marketed under other brand names, likr Holden and Bedford (3rd generation even more), but never any other Japanese domestic brand (except Honda in the 3rd gen. for Thailand).

[Pashina12]

Oh, no, I meant the one in the photo! Sorry for being confusing... write it off to sleep deprivation! :P

[ToniBabelony]

Oh, no, I meant the one in the photo! Sorry for being confusing... write it off to sleep deprivation! :P

 

Ah yes, these Sunny Pickup trucks were exported and locally made under both the Nissan and the Datsun branding only. I'm however not sure if the pickups were also sold as Tan Chong branded vehicles though... The Datsun brand was mostly used as a budget Nissan, the same as Datsun is used today again. It's the opposite of the Infiniti brand.

[ToniBabelony]

Toyota Corolla is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and the first of this extremely successful line of cars is making a tour across Japan. Today this completely renovated 1966 Corolla 1200 DL came by at the local dealership. Now for those who know, we're not Toyota people at all, but our neighbours are, so they invited us (me and my son) to come along:

 

 

 

A heavily modded Sports 800 was also present:

 

 

Sure, these cars aren't in 'the wild', but still very lovable simple vehicles. You can fix these with a spanner and gaffer tape!

[medusa]

You can fix these with a spanner and gaffer tape!

 

That's true. On today's cars nothing goes without a laptop and some hacker software (at least if you're on your own and not paying big bucks in a contractor's workshop).

[Jcarlton]

Then there are the extreme cases like this GMC panel van:

http://wordpress.tokyotimes.org/old-american-truck-in-modern-tokyo/

Or I've seen at least two Citroen 2CV's and they were not the same car.

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/jccarlton/4161491989/in/album-72157652316373674/

[railsquid]

I've seen a 2CV parked in a driveway a couple of streets away from our house, must go and see if it's still there... Also noticed a Renault 4 around, though haven't seen it for a while.

[railsquid]

American gas guzzler parked around the corner from the Hiace at the start of this thread:

 

https://goo.gl/maps/RCAaQoqjW2r

[Jcarlton]

American gas guzzler parked around the corner from the Hiace at the start of this thread:

 

https://goo.gl/maps/RCAaQoqjW2r

Wow, That's one that's really out of place. I wonder how you get cars from the 1960's past the shaken. You rarely see station wagons that old in the states.  Never in the Northeast,  they all rusted out.  Other than car shows. Based on pics and cars I've seen, I can get away with using American and European 1960's cars for my Shinkansen module. Which is a good thing as post war Showa HO cars seem to be thin on the ground.  I would have thought that would be a potential market for the collectible makers.  

Edited May 23, 2017 by Jcarlton

[ToniBabelony]

Let's go hardcore:

 

  

 

   

 

Okay, not all old and all owned by one man. Private party, famous people (sat together with Naoko Ken at the table), helicopter flights, money overload. And yes, those are some very very exclusive cars... (taken in 2015)

 

What have I done with my life...

Edited May 23, 2017 by Kabutoni

[marknewton]

This is sort of on-topic:

 

http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/grand-touring-isumi-matsuri/

 

The rest of the Grand Touring pages on this blog are well worth a read, too.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

Edited May 23, 2017 by marknewton

[marknewton]

Based on pics and cars I've seen, I can get away with using American and European 1960's cars for my Shinkansen module. Which is a good thing as post war Showa HO cars seem to be thin on the ground. I would have thought that would be a potential market for the collectible makers.

I'm no expert on cars of any era, but I've got a small selection of Showa cars in HO from Tomytec:

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/3065/0/1?Make=Tomytec

 

(Scroll through to the second page)

 

There's also some nice little three-wheelers from Time:

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/3065/0/1?Make=Time

 

 

The Daihatsu on the left is by Tomytec, and the three Mazdas are by Time.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

Edited May 23, 2017 by marknewton

[katoftw]

This is sort of on-topic:

 

http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/grand-touring-isumi-matsuri/

 

The rest of the Grand Touring pages on this blog are well worth a read, too.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

oh stop it. Now i'll be surfi g the web for days. Prince skylines, bellettes, izuzu zz-1s. Just some of my favs spotted in that link.

[marknewton]

As I said, I'm no expert on cars, to be honest I'm not even that interested in them. But the blogs tell some interesting stories about Japan that I wouldn't have otherwise heard, so I'm enjoying surfing it too. And I'm glad it features your favourite cars. :)

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[bill937ca]

[railsquid]

Classic Volvo, literally next door to where I took the picture of the Datsun (?) pickup:

volvo-tokyo by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

(yes that is the Squidlet pointing at the orange indicator).

[marknewton]

Yeah, but it's not a classic Volvo unless there's a brown towelling bucket hat prominently displayed in the back window.

 

(My father had both! :) )

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[serotta1972]

I attempted to take my first driving test in a Volvo - didn't happen because the horn decided to not work that day. :)

[Suica]

Looking through my 2012/2013 photos, I found a few old cars

 

     

     

 

I especially like that white Hakosuka in front of Senso-ji.