The Maxim Racing mystery hour..

Here's one I've been sitting on for a while.
...No, not literally obviously.. not that it needed clarification, but more as a 'yes, I see the joke.. and would have rather ignored it' kind of thing..

...

Bought these off Yahoo Japan sometime early last year. Listed (incorrectly) as a 15" pair, and were for sale around the same time as a blue-painted set.. impressive since these are otherwise very rare. 
Got them, cleaned them, and took these photos. This was back in July last year - the middle of winter - hence the total lack of warmth (colour) in these pics...
..but I still hadn't done anything with them.
I'd had to hold off as I seriously (and surprisingly) struggled to find out anything concrete on these wheels. No kidding.. short of knowing they're made by SSR for a company named some variation of 'Maxim', there's very little out there..
What I do know by this stage is hopefully enough to be interesting, and will get the ball rolling getting this sorted. I guarantee I WILL update this when I find out more.. and since it's not bloody magic, I know eventually I will...

Maxim Racing
Made by SSR for Maxim Japan. 
14x7.5", 'B' offset (+~9 measured)
November 1983.
3-piece, with standard SSR reverse-mounting and welded barrel halves.

'Spot Tune' or 'Tune Spot' alongside the Maxim Racing name around the centrebore.
These use a standard SSR castellated-style centre-cap from what I've seen, as used on the Formula Mesh in this era (and through to today). It's chrome, with the Maxim logo in red on the centre decal.
There is also quite possibly an aero-cover / 'turbofan' available (or simply missing here), with large 'MAXIM RACING' lettering. It's at the least not obvious how it is supposed to mount to the face, and doesn't otherwise give any indication that it's missing.

Impressively perfect fit between the head of the fasteners and the face. Beautiful..

In the style of the BMW M1.. and to a lesser extent the AME Turbo/781 or Advan A3C.
Concentric slots giving the vague image of a 5-spoke wheel. I really like this design..

Neat valve clearance cutout in the face..

..and I think the back of the face looks just as good.
This shows how the whole face is painted black, with the front then fully machined to highlight the slots and lettering..

Sets of 5 slots on the front of the face, but only 4 on the back. The outermost slot isn't cut all the way through, and its placement doesn't allow for a fastener in each of those 5 locations (despite there being holes for them in the standard SSR barrel). When function follows form...

MAXIM JAPAN

November 1983.
Standard SSR date code stamps, in the familiar SSR mounting pad design..

A face designed for standard mounting.
Reverse mounted in a flat barrel, the same face becomes a 14", as is the case here. This is how it had been accidentally listed as a 15" - A little annoying, but happens now and then..

Early Speed Star Wheel (SSR) barrel decal..

..and done - for now at least.
As mentioned above, I will come back an update this as I find out more.

..until then? Just try and enjoy the pictures I guess!

Cars as bricks | The wall of enthusiast pain..

Something a little different from the usual, and something I hope at least some will find as interesting as I do - despite being more than a little depressing..!
These photos are from one of the local wrecking yards, who have used cars to divide the main picking area from other parts of the overall wrecking facility. Where most wreckers would use regular fencing, this genuinely just has piles of cars.. which really is as unusual (and oldschool) as it is likely somewhat unsafe..!
As for the wall itself; I can't remember the first time I went to this wrecker.. or it ever looking any different.. but using the types of cars to date it shows major sections of it are likely only ~5 years old. Other sections seem to be well and truly buried in blackberries, but can be deceptive when those plants almost grow as you're looking at them!
The cars themselves look to have been hastily grabbed from the yard to build the wall when required.. as MOST are largely complete. Late 80's to early 90's Australian, Japanese, and Australian-built Japanese cars would likely make up 80% of this wall.. and I'm certain absolutely no thought was put into what cars were used. They would have been moved, pushed, flattened, and stabbed with the large forklifts that constantly move the cars in and around the yard.. which explains the large dints and occasional holes in the panels. Hey, there's likely a fair bit of skill involved in getting a stack of cars to sit right..!

Now the pics; starting from exactly where I had been standing and thinking about the wall of cars...

..and this mint-green AL25 Toyota Tercel 4WD wagon. So rare to see these on the road these days. I'd actually taken a photoset of another one a month or so ago at another wreckers.. which I mentioned here... and which I'm still meaning to write a post on. But ehh.. car-wall priorities!

..that fine decal work. Brown-to-terracotta-to-gold-to-brown-to-terracotta-to-gold..

Under an '88-on 2nd-generation Suzuki Swift/Cultus; the same shade of pale green on a GC Mazda 626/Capella Hatch. Nice colourway on what looks to be a tan interior.
Actually did a post on a Ford-badged equivalent of this chassis recently, an '84 Telstar TX5, here.

Whats left of a less-than-impressed R31 Nissan Skyline. An early, base (GX) in the surprisingly common solid custard...

A 1986-on N13 Nissan Pulsar (Vector) Sedan...

..sitting on a 1989-on U12 Nissan Pintara (/Bluebird) TRX. I have a definite soft spot for these.. as they just have some of the most tastefully subtle aero. Always see them at the wreckers, largely complete.. and it bothers me. They get no love.

The TRX skirts, with small logo'd section on the rear doors..

The spoiler is missing/crushed, but the stylin' original decals are there. One of the best.. I'll have to do a post on a cleaner one of these another time..!

Decal on the front door, for the single-cam KA24E that drove the front wheels. Usually have an ("viscous!") LSD too from memory...

The sports seats with their unique trim. The fabric looks to be holding up well at the very least.

Below the TRX, another red N13 Pulsar - this time a hatch. I posted a bit about these last month, here.

Back-to-back with the Pulsar; a nice two-tone Subaru Leone sedan. 3rd generation, 1984-onwards. Also fairly rare to see these days...

Above the Leone, another R31.. this time what looks to be a Pintara (CA20E) wagon.

A silver 3rd generation Honda Prelude..

Another Suzuki Swift/Cultus, this one a fairly late GP Encore 3door.

Impressively rusty first-generation (1985-) Mitsubishi Magna sedan. I'd say this one spent some time under a tree somewhere...

Powder-blue slant-front E70 Corolla sedan. I usually lazily over-simplify this generation to Square-front being 4K-C KE70's, and slant front being 4A-C AE71's; but the Hi-Cam badge on the quarter here puts this one as a crossover car.. a 4K-C KE70 with the later setback front.

Another GC 626, this time a sedan.

A Stormy Glow metallic R31 Skyline Ti. Top of the line for the Australian cars, and in a great colour. This one has the dark blue buttoned velour, power windows, and so on. Really nice car..

..and another early Nissan that saddens me to see here. A silver 910 Bluebird TRX (TR-X), like the one in this post from Classic Japan 2015.

Surprised the lip spoiler is still there.
Classic 'straya towbar bolted through into the rear panel..

Crushing the TRX into the dirt below, is this nice dark-gold Mitsubishi Sigma wagon. Also getting pretty rare to see these days...

N13 Pulsar Vector SSS, similar to the yellow one in this post from the other day. Another great decal..

Subaru L-series wagon - a classic country car..

The second VL Holden Commodore in this post so far. Anyone spot the first one? ;)
HUGE fan of these. Factory-fitted with a 3litre version of Nissan's RB straight six - the RB30E - with the Turbo RB30ET optional across the range. A non-intercooled setup, as on the 2litre RB20ET in other markets..

..and speaking of seconds; how about another mint-green GC 626 hatch..? This one looking to be doing a little better..

Another N13 Pulsar hatch - this one a 'Sport'..

Predecessor to that N13, a very basic N12 Pulsar hatch. Looks to be having its best shot at putting a poor first-generation Ford Laser 3dr (Mazda 323/Familia) out of its misery..

..and finally, behind that little Laser...

A late C32 Nissan Laurel hardtop. Damn shame - anything Pillarless gets huge bonus points from me..!

 ...probably wouldn't have used a pillarless car for the base of a car stack...

..as the doors still open! Somehow an E46 3series headlight has snuck in there..

...and done.

That's all for now..
There were obviously plenty of other interesting cars making up the wall there, but its hard to keep focused in these sort of places! It'd be easy to add an hour to my trip around the fence-line once distracted by an Alfa 75.. or a white 1983 Renault Fuego...


..uhh.. hypothetically of course...!