Super Silhouette..

This is something I was pretty damn excited to get my hands on. A classic SSR race wheel, and possibly the most ridiculous wheel I've ever seen..

SSR Formula Mes
19x15 -37
4x114.3
3/1984

Its a rear wheel off a Group-5 Super Silhouette race car - a racing series that ran in Japan between 1979 and 1984. These wild over-spoilered and over-powered race cars ran an assortment of awesome staggered BBS/Rays/Impul/SSR wheels - 16" on the front, and nineteen by fifteen inch on the rear!
I'm almost certain this wheel is off the back of the Tomica DR30 at some point; after the gold mesh it had ~1982, and before the rear wheels that are on the car currently were added.

The standard larger (and relatively uncommon) SSR mesh face, which was then stepped and stepped out to make the 19" wheel diameter..

Closeup showing how it was simply drilled and tapped for mounting of the aero cover...

Lonely valve sitting in 8+ inches of dish...

Tyre is a Dunlop Full-slick in 350/700-19

..a world of stepping..

Its seriously hard to show just how huge this thing is - on its own it just looks like a wide wheel.. as if it were a 14x10 or something.. 

..Put it beside something else for reference, and bam.. it makes this 15x7.5" (+20) reverse mesh look like a space-saver!

Whats crazy is that this is still a bloody big wheel today; but in an era when near everything ran 14's and 15's, and 15x6.5" aftermarket wheels were standard fare; this thing must have been absurd!
I seriously love it.

(If anyone has a better Idea what this could be off, let me know!)

Pre-evo...

Another now very-rare ride.. and a model I've never seen in person, regardless of trim level...

The 1979-1987 Mitsubishi Lancer (EX) - this one a high-spec 1800GSR Turbo version.
A simple 3-box sedan, longitudinal-mounted turbo inline four, and power going to to the ground via the rear wheels.
This layout, size, and power, lent the model (which then evolved into the 2ltr 2000 Turbo) to its fair share rallying in its day.. laying down the groundwork for the following decades of awesome Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions..

Its an interesting model, as visually it reminds me a lot of the Sigma/Galant/Colt from the same era.. which makes a fair bit of sense right?
But this one in this spec, with that front bar and round fog lights? it almost looks like a MKII Ford Escort RS..!
..maybe its just my eyes..

This one largely original, and in very nice shape.
Factory wheels have been swapped out for a set of Sprint Hart's..

...and some period advertising for which.. Courtesy of JDMEURO.com.

Good as new inside, and what surprisingly looks like a rather roomy cabin.
Love the hard-edged four-spoke wheel, and the bold diagonal striping on the cloth.

The large yet short window winders/cranks on the other hand.. they're just odd...!

Equally neat and original in here..
The 1.8litre 4G62 inline-four powering the show. SOHC and 2v per cyl, but a turbo (with an intercooler - introduced the year earlier) allowed the slightly-undersquare 1.8 to pump out around 120kw (160ps).. no mucking about for 1984!



Yet another impressively-clean example of a rare car, and currently for sale at a dealer in Japan. 

Pug...

Came across this for sale on Goo..
A 1989 Peugeot 205 GTi; the performance version of the small french hatchback introduced way back in 1983.. yet still running well past this cars 1989 build, and into the late 90's!
Yep, there obviously wasnt much wrong with this little rig!

This one has been thoroughly (..and tastefully!) modified for track use.

Hunkered down on bronze TE37 and some wide (for the rim) tyres... particularly those rears..!

Under the bonnet/hoot, the twin-cam 1.9litre has been modified to breathe through a pair of Webers...

..While inside this Peugeot has been stripped out; with not much more than a cage, bucket, and harness going back in!
The Momo (Mod 78?) has scored a Peugeot horn button.. a little attention to detail. ;)


Now part of me finds this a little bit of a shame. I'd happily drive the hell out of a stock GTi, and love the red carpeting and detailing on the interior (and around the exterior); But I absolutely appreciate how nicely this has been done, the condition its still in, and how much a hoot it must be to drive.
Very cool.

White Widebodies...

Two awesome examples of Mitsuibishi's high-end 80's sportscar, both currently for sale at different dealers in Japan. These look bloody fantastic.. always keeping an eye out for pics of good Starions available!
Anyway.. both GSR-VR spec Turbo widebodies, in white, and 1989-build... wrapping up 8 years of Starion produciton on a fairly high note. 

First car is neat and tidy, and sitting on a agressive set of rather large R-Type Watanabe's.

Other than an exhaust, Nardi, headunit, and some mats; is a solid and standard example. Sits really well on those Wats...

Change the wheels out for a set of Rays TE37V's, and here we are! Starion number two...

I think I prefer the Watanabe's to the Volk's (and I am a huge fan of the TE37V!).. but on a car that had such an awesome stock wheel? ..Always a little painful..!

(Love that shot..)

Very nice.
Yep, this second one is neat, and my pic of the two.


...But i do like a sunroof...