80s Friends...

You're going to have to excuse the blurry and grainy/100,000ISO photos here; and try and appreciate the pics anyway!

The photos are a couple years old now, and are of..

.. my AW11 MR2, looking mighty stock...

...and my brothers now-long-sold R31 Skyline.

I've posted pics of my AW11 here before - maybe a little too frequently (!) - so we'll ignore that, and focus on the Skyline.

This is one of the Aussie-made R31's; and the light silver lower paint and orange pinstripe give it away as originally being a Silhouette - the 'sports' model. 
The bonnet/hood has been swapped out for one off the 'Ti' model, along with the taller grille. it has the off-centre intercooler intake from the Japanese Turbo models, and the standard series 3 (late 1988-onwards in Australia) headlights changed for the much nicer black-backed projector units.
Its shown here lowered fairly dramatically, done using coilovers out of an S13 Silvia/180SX. A common choice, and always very obvious thanks to the ridiculous negative front camber (looking mighty dramatic against the Aussie solid-axle rear-end!). This is because of the fixed uppers on the strut front-end, combined with the longer S13 lower control arms needed to run the S13 struts. Interestingly, this would be as high as the setup would have gone - the R31 strut towers are just much higher than the S13's.
Another interesting side-effect of having to get the strut, knuckle/hub, control arm, etc; is that you usually end up buying entire strut setups - as a result this car also ran the SR20 S13 front brakes..

One more shot, and awesome front rake.
I absolutely love the original Silhouette wheels here - a 15x6 alloy wheel with a almost full-size aero-styled hubcap. The centre-lock area may well be a bit of a lie, but its impressive to find factory alloys almost completely covered with a hubcap!


It needed a little tidying, but I really liked this car. I saw it very randomly ~2011 sometime.. amazingly still around... and really really hope it still is today. :)

So much more to go...

... But I cant find decent examples of these cars to share pics of..

I'm constantly, casually, browsing the market for interesting cars. Its just something I like doing - it's nothing but damn interesting.
..But even after posting so many different types of car, there's ones that I'm repeatedly searching for.. seemingly unsuccessfully.

Why i browse car-sales websites for pictures? Because they're (usually) attempting to simply and clearly show the actual car. Nothing flashy, nothing artistic. They'll be covering all the angles you usually wouldnt see... in the boot/trunk, the engine bay, the rear seats. The alternative to throwing.. say.. 'Ferrari Enzo' into google, to predictably be bombarded with 100,000 front 3/4 views.
99.9% of the population are only ever going to take photos of cars and put them on the internet, when they're trying to sell them. There's every chance that this will be the first and only time ol' nanna's carby Nissan Pulsar hatch gets a photoshoot.
So theres the pictures.
Theres the variety.
Theres the thoroughness of informative angles.
..and there I am.

The cars I search for, but just get nothing..?
As in the picture above - the once-awesome first and second generation Ford TX5 Turbo's. The same obviously goes for the equivalent 626 Turbo's, the earlier 626 coupe, the MX6 Turbo and the USDM first generation Ford Probe Turbo's..!
How about the Familia/323 Turbo's, and the classic TX3? Despite being a little on the sloppy side, the 323/laser based Ford Capri even deserves some love.
On the Nissan side of things, I'm always hunting for pics of N12 Pulsar ET's that have managed to survive the 90's; and more of the N12 Exa Turbo's I love too much!
R31 Pintara, S12 Gazelle, U12 Ford Corsair, Sigma Turbo, 910 Bluebird TR-X, 121 Shades and the N13 Pulsar Reebok. A fleet of Honda Accords, Integra's, City's, Civics, and the first generation CRX..!
.....Theeennn there's everything else.



I guess I'll just have to keep searching.. :)

Regular '86 posting..

..But its a super tidy and original. Its too pretty not to share..

'1985' build, AE86 Toyota Corolla Levin coupe, in the classic panda paint scheme.

A later, 'Kouki' version of the levin coupe; with the main identifying changed being the revised front bumper (with wider, wraparound indicators), and updated tail-lights with more thorough surrounding trim.

The original wheels and caps. Couldnt complain about the wheels' styling.. its a good looking unit.

Equally tidy in here too, and ignoring period aftermarket headunit and speakers (again, cant complain!), all looking to be very original.


Otherwise its all original AE86 fare, right down to the 16V 4A-GE moving it along..


Solid car.. and looks to be a good example. Seems as though these don't get as much attention as a Trueno hatch, but that would just be leaving the Levin coupe a little more special.

AWD Works..

A 1987 CC72 Suzuki Alto Works RS-R.
Similar model to one I posted a couple months back, but in 'RS-R' AWD form.

I prefer the (CA72) RS-X FWD-only version, because of the weight penalty the AWD gear adds to an otherwise hilariously light chassis. But its the over-the-top styling of these cars that I love the most..

While a little rough around the edges, this car appears to be very original. That's half the battle with 25+ year old cars.. and you can still get an idea of how it would have been when new.

..Including on this particular car, the phenominal decal work!
love it. lovelove it.
This one has the full decal set that the car I last posted didnt have. I'm going to have to assume the difference is a production-year thing. Maybe only the '87 (first year of the 'works' model) cars had this large decal set?
Among the scrambled information along the side of the car - 'FULLTIME 4WD', 'TWINCAM TURBO', etc; are the small ones on the front wings/guards, which read:
'This model was developed through the teamwork of enthusiastic Suzuki engineers. It's certainly worthy of the name "WORKS"'

that's fantastic.

Also unlike in the last one I posted, is the much louder black/PINK interior in place of the blue/grey. Fairly wild stuff for a factory car..
The fantastic RS WORKS labelled seatbelts are here too, as is the 12,000rpm tacho. Nice.

The rest is very much the same as the last one I posted, including the same fiery turbocharged+intercooled Twincam 3-cylinder.
Overall, again, a solid original car.

Like I said; I'd be wanting exactly this colour/trim/etc combination in RS-X form, but you wouldn't turn down a nice one of either! I just love these..

Before the Evo..

Another later 80's introduction here, so subsequently is missing a bit of that boxy, classic, 80's charm; but a great car nonetheless..!

Its a 1990 E39A Mitsubishi Galant VR4; The top-spec version of the sixth generation Galant, introduced in 1987 (and Japans Car-Of-The-Year for 1987 too!).
The sixth generation Galant ran until 1992.

This was the chassis Mitsubishi used for the 1988-1992 World Rally Championship, before switching to the Lancer chassis.

Awesomely, this collection of decals on the rear passenger door is saying a LOT about whats going on..
Two litres, Fuel injected, Duel Overhead Cams, 16 Valves, an intercooler, a turbo, and four-wheel-steering.
Oddly, the 4WD doesnt get a mention.

The drive-train those stickers are advertising so proudly.
Mitsubishi's 2litre 4G63 DOHC Turbo four - and early days of this configuration - before it was redesigned to flow (and sit) in the opposite direction to as it is pictured above.
This drove through a 5speed manual, or four speed auto; and on the VR4 like this one, to the ground via all four wheels.

This particular car is a 5speed, just how i'd want it. 

As with the rest of the car, the interior is really VERY nice. Totally original, and free of any obvious imperfections.
All very business-like in here though.. even to the point of being a little drab. Looks like it was built to appeal to a different market to the later Lancer Evolutions, with more of an executive-express feel to it.


Great example of VR4 Galant overall.
It looks to have sold since I saved these pics, and its not hard to imagine why! Hopefully whoever owns it now keeps it as nice as its managed to stay for the last 23 years..

Aerocabin.

The Soarer Aerocabin, again.
Something I find fairly quirky and interesting.. the second generation (*Z20) Soarer with a folding hardtop roof.
Although the Second generation Soarer was produced between 1986 and 1991 (with an update ~1988), I understand the Aerocabin was a limited production model ~April 1989 only.
All were 3.0GT(Limited) spec cars, in Pearl white over tan leather (and 2 seater only). They were powered by the 3litre Turbo 7M-GTE, shifting through a 4spd auto.

Although they honestly look somewhat awkward in profile to me (compared to the regular hardtop/coupe model); They're too interesting not to love.
So here is an unnecessary amount of pics - The folding roof in detail.

It would be filling the 80's-convertible spot in my imaginary garage, otherwise filled by an E30 325i, S5 RX7, or S13 Silvia convertible; but it would be cool as the unusual choice.


Just realized how much the remaining roof section reminds me of the E30 Baur...