Rare Bosozoku cars: Toyota Crown S6/S7
This week we have a real oddity: a Toyota Crown MS65 sedan carbio:
Rare bosozoku car: Toyota Crown MS65 sedan cabrio
I only saw one picture of a bosozoku styled Toyota Crown before, but that was the same car before it became a cabrio:
Rare bosozoku car: Toyota Crown MS65 sedan
This is just the same as with the Galant Lambda: the car looks bonkers, as the Brits would call it, and it really makes a beautiful Bosozoku styled car. Als the MS75 hardtop is a good counterpart for the superfluous Ken-Meri Skylines we see too often… However it just doesn’t make it as a typical Bosozokus styled car because the car is lacking something: it wasn’t really meant for sports and racing!
Factory stock Toyota Crown hardtop coupe MS75
The Crown S6/S7 was the fourth generation of the Toyota Crown, however it was the first Crown to be marketed as Crown in Japan: previous generations were called Toyopet.
Factory stock Toyota Crown sedan MS65
This new crown featured the new 4M 2600 engine, which was the 2.6 liter version of the M engine. The older 2 liter 1M was also still available.
The Crown was meant as a luxury car and the Hardtop coupe was meant as a “personal luxury car” before that term became a hyped thing in the late 70s.
Factory stock Toyota Crown Estate (van) MS63
The Mark II (and later on the Chaser) were meant as the sporty cars between the Corona and the Crown. The Mark II did feature the 4M engines later on so it is understandable why the Crown hardtop coupe never really became a sporty car.
by banpei with no comments yetPopular Bosozoku cars: Nissan Fairlady S30
This week we have a very popular Bosozoku style car and I really had trouble with deciding which pictures would feature this item. This week we feature the very popular Nissan Fairlady Z S30:
Yanky style Fairlady S30 (with stars and stripes)
Most of the Fairlady Zs I came accross were Yanky style like the one above. It reflects how the Bosozoku cars were styled in the late 80s!
Especially this one is very well known:
Yanky Mate! Fairlady S30 replica
This is a Yanky Mate! replica of the Shakotan Boogie manga/anime. This Fairlady S30 featured in two colors in the manga: blue (early) and yellow (late). With the craze around Shakotan Boogie in the early 90s you can imagine that replicas of this car are very popular.
Another style which can be found in many numbers are the Gran Chan styled Fairladies:
Gran Chan style Fairlady S30
With big fender extenders, headlight covers and the bonnet/lip having smooth aerodynamic lines it really reflects the Fairladies used during races in the late 70s. Very beautifully styled!
And of course we have the Bosozoku styled Fairlady, but they are bit rarer than the other two styles so I only post a 280ZX:
Bosozoku style Fairlady 280ZX
This 280ZX model has a lot of fins, spoilers, ventilation holes and a really nice horn! With its paiting scheme it really looks bad ass Bosozoku styled, but its styling is not over the top. Good example in my opinion.
The Nissan Fairlady Z S30 (also known as the 240Z, 260Z and 280Z overseas) came out in Japan as the successor of the 60s Nissan Fairlady. This was a small compact roadster competing with European roadsters and it sold quite well in Japan and overseas. Nissan decided it needed a replacement for the roadster and teamed up with Yamaha. The Yamaha prototype did not meet the expectations of Nissan and Nissan terminated the cooperation and Yamaha turned to Toyota and created the 2000GT out of this prototype.
Nissan then decided it needed a more Americanized GT car which was stylish, innovative, fast, reliable and most importantly sharing parts with other Nissans to make it inexpensive! This became the Fairlady Z and in 1969 the production of this car started:
Factory stock Fairlady Z S30
As you can see: in stock form it may look awfull today, but back then it was one of the most stylish GT cars ever!
In Japan the car was launched with two engines: a 6 cylinder SOHC L20A (shared with the Bluebird) outputting 130hp and a limited run called Z432 featured the high performance 6 cylinder DOHC S20 (shared with the Skyline GTR) outputting 160 hp.
Later in Japan the limited run of the 240ZG appeared: a L24 (initially used for export market) powered Fairlady Z with a new aero dynamic nose, wide overfenders, acrylic headlight covers (like the one in the first picture), fender mirrors and a rear spoiler. This 240ZG was meant to homologate an uprated version for Group 4 racing. The nose was later on sold as a seperate option called the “G-nose”.
The Fairlady Z S30 appeared in many rally and circuit race events and became just about as famous as the Hakosuka Skyline GTR.
Factory racing Fairlady Z S30
Nowadays the Fairlady Z still has a huge following, especially after the animation version of Wangan Midnight featuring a blue Devil Z and Hakosukas suffering from insane price increases. Popular engine swaps are either the bigger engines L24, L26 and L28 or the whole drivetrain with the RB25 of a Skyline GTS.
Personally I really would like to own one someday: those Z cars are just awesome! 🙂
by banpei with no comments yetHow deep is your dish?
This week I found a set of SSR Mk. I for you:
Deep dish SSR Mk. I
This Skyline Japan has 215/40/15 tires on the front and 245/35/15 on the rear. The tires are not stretched much so most probably these Speed Star Mk. I rims are at the front 8 inch wide and at the rear 10J wide.
Here you can see them in full glory on the shark nosed Skyline Japan:
Deep dish SSR Mk. I on a shark nose Skyline Japan
Rare Bosozoku cars: Mitsubishi Galant Lambda
This week we feature another rare Bosozoku styled car. This time I did find two Bosozoku styled examples of this car in contrary of the singular examples I previously posted.
This time we feature two Mitsubishi Galant Lambdas in different styles:
Mild Bosozoku styled Mitsubishi Galant Lambda
This Galant Lambda is a bit of a Kyusha styled car. Very nicely slammed to the ground with some phat rims and a nice oil cooler sticking under the bumper.
Wild Bosozoku styled Mitsubishi Galant Lambda
This wildly bosozoku styled Galant Lambda has it all: big overhanging lip at the front, big fenders, spoiler on the boot, 70s paint scheme, chromed mirrors and bumper, a hood ornament and let’s not forget the Astron 80 badge on the grille!
The Mitsubishi Galant Lambda was also known as the Mitsubishi Sapporo in the EU, Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Sapporo in the US, Chrysler Scorpion and the Mitsubishi Scorpion in Australia and the car was also known as the Colt Sapporo in the UK. That’s a lot of names!
Almost factory stock zenki (1976-1980) Galant Lambda
The Galant Lambda was marketed as a “personal luxury car” which meant it was not considered a coupe. It was supposed to be a two door luxury vehicle based on a car from the larger model lineup. Most likely to match the “hardtop” designation by Toyota for the Crown and Chaser which were immediate competitors.
The car had a facelift in 1980 which resulted in a new grille with fixed lights, B pilar going into the roof lining instead of being a seperate beam, new rear lights and a set of spoilers to get it into the 80s era.
Factory stock kouki (1980-1982) Galant Lambda
The Galant Lambda featured several engines but the 4 cylinder Astron 80 was the most favorable engine of them all: it featured the “silent shaft” system. The “silent shaft” system was an improved version of a single balance shaft which counter balanced the vibrations made by the inline piston engine design. This system was the first use of twin balance shafts which enabled Mitsubishi to improve stability in the Astron engine and enlarge the engine over 2 liters. The Galant Lambda Astron 80 featured a 2.6 liter engine, a figure which was in the 70s normally only obtainable by adding at least two extra cylinders!
The Galant Lambda featured a futuristic design both outside and inside. It features a single spoke steering wheel and a wild spaceage interior. This interiour looked just as good as the interior of a Citroen SM back in 1976!
Factory stock interior Galant Lambda
On one side I understand why the Galant Lambda is a rare Bosozoku car: it is already a very wild styled car, on the other hand I don’t understand it: it reads potential all over it.
Perhaps it has to do with the brand Mitsubishi: Mitsubishi focused primarily on smaller cars during the 60s and early 70s while Nissan and Toyota already sold the larger saloons. Resulting in Mitsubishi’s being the 5th largest car manufacturer in Japan. Also Mitsubishi focused on Rally and not on circuit racing so they missed the Granchan followers.
As an ex-Mitsubishi owner I always wanted to buy a good condition Sapporo, however an AE86 came in between. Who knows, maybe I’ll own one myself one day. One thing is for sure then: it won’t be Bosozoku styled! 😉
by banpei with 3 commentsOriginal footage of #23 Nissan Silvia Turbo Super Silhouette
I found this great video of the #23 Nissan Silvia Turbo Super Silhouette today. These Super Silhouette formula races were held as introduction to the Grand Championship races. During the 80s these cars inspired a lot of people to copy its style and created the Granchan style! According to sources this particular race was attended by 35600 people, so there should be at least a couple of these spectators who owned a Granchan car copy back then! 🙂
This particular footage is located at the Fuji Speedway Grand Championship and shows the victory of Kazuyoshi Hoshino: the driver of #23.
I really love that period music, 80s haircuts and those old original Impul Hoshino deep dished rims! 🙂