Car Show Classics: Japan Day Como Park 2017 – Front Clip Edition

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– Posted on December 20, 2017

I’m not much of a carshow attendee. But Como Park is just down the road, and sometimes I quite literally bump into an event. Like this one a few weeks ago. So I attended, and for some reason I decided to shoot front clips only.

Toyota Corona Mark II. The US influence on the body sculpting is quite obvious.

Whereas this angle makes the grille texture look like waves from a traditional Japanese print on this one.

A later MkII, also known as a Cressida or perhaps Chaser depending on spec. This one has a grille in International Jim Klein Gold.

Here in Australia the Cressida effectively became the top of the Toyota hierarchy after the S80 Crown finished its run.

And before the S80 was the S60 Crown – my favourite. This is a second gen version – detectable by the fully chromed bumper and lack of driving lights in the top step-grille (moved to the fenders alongside the headlights).

Before the S60 was the S50 Crown – seen here in second gen guise as well.

Crown-sized, but Nissan-made. Another favourite of mine, a 330 Cedric AKA Datsun 260C in Australia.

Datsun 120Y, AKA B210.

Datsun 510, AKA Datto 1600. This is (I believe) a later grille.

It was never called a 510 in Australia, so mesuspects this grille is ‘aftermarket.’

At a guess, the earliest grille of the three. I do remember this version over here.

Nissan C10 Skyline. Launched around the same time as the 510, the familial resemblance is strong in this one.

Nissan C110 Skyline, AKA Datsun 240K, AKA Kenmeri.

Another favourite and the intended subject of an overly-long hagiography by this author at some point. This example is a genuine racer, one of four Nissan bodies sent over by the factory at the time. Unfortunately the original body for this had to be discarded. According to its present owner, that original body was a lighter-weight glued version rather than its present welded replacement.

And yes. It did run in GL-spec trim as opposed to the (not available in Australia) GT variants.

Nissan R31 Skyline. Origami wedge done alrightish.

Datsun 240Z. Needs no introduction really.

Another one. This one has the faired-in light covers, but unfortunately there was no 240ZG (replica or otherwise) with the faired-in grille and longer sugar scoop light wells.

Whereas there was veritable feast of A20 Celicas. Our cover car specced as a racer with that distinctive nose fairing giving great abstract.

And here’s one in transparent. Note the spring-loaded mountings.

Yellow lenses always add a certain je ne sais quoi to any car. Even in LT spec.

Or GT spec.

Aaron Severson recently produced a comprehensive piece on these early models, and I digress from linking to CC pieces for this friend-of-CC author.

CC’s William Stopford recently asked of our favourite Celica, to which I say this one in this colour.

Here’s a great curiosity; a Honda City. This one is pure JDM, and is in fact a de-specced van according to its VIN plate. That stripage is original.

For anyone wishing to fill one of CC’s few gaps, this model appears yet to be covered here.

Autozam AZ-1 Mazdaspeed. Another gap in CC’s archives for anyone seeking authorial glory.

Toyota Sports 800 – as already covered by Gerardo Solis.

Mazda Cosmo L10B – as owned and driven by Jay Leno.

Mazda R100. Diminutive, handsome, fast, desirable, not covered properly on CC yet.

Mazda RX-2. As also not yet seen on CC along with its non-rotary sibling Capella.

Mazda RX-3 AKA Savanna. Another no-show on CC although Dave Saunders has shared his delightfully striped non-rotary 808 with us.

Mazda RX-3 with slight rhinoplasty evident marking this as a series 2.

Mazda Luce in 1800 guise.

And a scoop on those faux side-scoops. Had a wonderfully long conversation with the owner of this car – it’s her first Japanese car (and hubby is a hardcore Ford man) but she grew up with her mother owning one of these. This one is in original (but resprayed) factory hue and is a survivor with long history serving as a display car for a dealership.

Anyway, the reason Mazda put those appendages on the hood is because the last of the 1800 JDM Luces had a carby or air filter or something (can’t remember, sorry) that was too tall for the engine bay. An unattractive  bump had to be punched into the hood on one side to accommodate this accessory, and hence the faux-scoops added to cover this unsightly bump even on export cars not using this aforeforgotten accessory.

You read it here first on CC. Thank you ma’am.

Subaru Leone wagon. This one lives close by and will get deeper CC coverage at some point.

Toyota E20 Corolla.

The grilles flanking the headlights look like eyelashes, making this face appear quite feminine. Of all these images, this one has turned out to be my favourite.

So that’s the end of this front clip cavalcade. There were plenty of others, but I decided not to shoot cars with their hoods open.

I trust it hasn’t been too frustrating not seeing the rest of these cars’ bodies. Hopefully you and I both will experience these wonders in the full – whether it be curbside, street or track.