Feeling down? Need some comfort food? Don’t worry, the Yaki Imo man is here to help. In this flashback, we take a trip through the OldMotors archives to Japan, circa 1976, and this Suzuki Carry…
Posts tagged JDM
Acura Integra Mk1: The Social Climber
It’s fair to say that nobody was quite sure how American customers would react to luxury cars from Japan in January of 1985. In the works since 1981, it was that month that Honda introduced…
The Malaise Mazda: Cosmo AP/RX-5
It was planned when Mazda was riding high on Rotary success in the early 1970s. That decade was the golden age of “personal coupes,” be they Toyota Celicas or Lincoln MkIVs, so it made perfect…
Honda Beat: Slave to the Rhythm
By itself it doesn’t look so small – but when it’s parked next to something like that towering Vanagon, you realize how tiny the Honda Beat really is. Taken with a wide angle lens (10mm),…
A Van By Any Other Name: Mitsubishi “Wagon”
The Mitsubishi Delica name dates back to 1968, but it was in the 1980s that the van became famous as a go-anywhere overlander. Today, 1980s and 1990s JDM AWD Diesel Delicas are popular enough in…
Nissan Figaro:
The Retro Ride
All four of Nissan’s March-based “Pike cars” had their origins in the 1980s revival in Japan of old cars still in production. The Mini, the 2CV, and the Autobianchi A112 were popular with young Japanese…
In the Beginning: Toyota Corolla E10
There have been millions of Corollas since, but this humble little car is the original – the very first generation, the E10. Despite many technological changes, the Corolla has hued fairly close to the original…
Modern Vanning: Toyota HiAce 4wD
In its first few years, it was only a Toyota, but the 4th-gen HiAce van has been in production in various countries since the spring of 1989 and is still being churned out in fair…
E70: A Tale of Many Corollas
Until 2018, in North America at least, it had been decades since the Toyota Corolla was available as anything except a workaday 4-door sedan. In 2018, Toyota brought a 5-door E210 Corolla hatch, the first…
Sporting Modern: Honda Civic CR-X Mk1
It wasn’t quite a sports car, it wasn’t quite an economy car, and it wasn’t quite a hot hatch – but cleverly, Honda’s original CR-X could be all three.
Ford Festiva: The Cult Favorite
When it was new the Ford Festiva was often regarded as a bottom-feeder – a cut above a Yugo or a Hyundai Excel, maybe, but a bare-bones economy machine, not something to be coveted. Over…
Japan’s Jimny JA11
Suzuki’s first U.S. model (aside from some early imports to Puerto Rico) was the Samurai, aka the Jimny SJ413 – and it was an instant hit when it debuted in 1985. Just as it had…