The second round of the photo-impression of the 2016 Japan Classic Day in the Netherlands starts with a row of classic Zippy Datsuns. The Datsun Z and Mazda RX-7 were well represented at the event, but there was much more to see.
Like this 1972 Toyota Crown wagon, one of the highlights of the show. Wonderful, simply wonderful. And clever.
1996 Mazda 626 1.8 LX. This generation of the 626 was a popular D-segment car in the nineties.
Fast forward 20 years, a brand new Mazda MX-5.
1991 Nissan Figaro, powered by a 980 cc 4-cylinder engine. I guess that Lt. Columbo would have liked this.
1973 Toyota Celica ST.
2003 Mazda 6 wagon with a 1.8 liter 4-cylinder engine.
1979 Mazda 121 L. The perfect Compact Personal Luxury Coupe.
1990 Mazda RX-7 convertible.
1995 Mitsubishi Sigma 3.0 V6. Mitsubishi’s executive car and top model back then.
A Belgian visitor arrived in this Honda NSX.
1992 Mitsubishi Colt with a 1.3 liter engine.
1976 Toyota Corolla 1200 Economic.
1988 Honda Accord AeroDeck 2.0 EX.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra with a 2.8 liter 6-cylinder fuel injection engine. The towing capacity is 1,500 kg. Crucial information for a car in this segment.
2005 Honda S2000, 240 hp from its naturally aspirated 2 liter 4-cylinder DOHC-VTEC engine. A simple calculation says that’s 120 hp per liter engine displacement. Stunning, then and now.
Imported from the US and restored and rebuilt by the young Dutch owner, this 1971 Datsun 240Z. Well done sir !
1969 Datsun 2000, powered by a 2 liter 4-cylinder.
1986 Toyota Supra with a 3 liter 6-cylinder engine.
1993 Honda Legend 3.2 V6, Honda’s executive car. What we call the E-segment these days.
Another one from Belgium, this Datsun 280Z.
2015 Suzuki Vitara 1.6.
Let’s have a look at some classic rotary engined Mazdas inside the main building, like this 1970 R100 coupe.
1969 Mazda Luce Rotary Coupe.
1973 Mazda RX-2 coupe.
And the last one, a 1977 Mazda RX-5.
We end the tour with an extra sporty 1970 Datsun 240Z. The Japan Classic Day in summary: High quality cars (covering the past 50 years), well organized, a perfect location and good weather conditions. That’s another well spent sunday.
Very nice, and I agree a Sunday well spent!
Seconded—all those old and not-so-old Mazdas, can’t make a coherent reply…
Interesting cars, I particularly like that Crown wagon.
Somewhere I have a photo of a Mazda R100 race car, which I saw run on a dirt track as a kid.
2 things:
1.) Why not a few pix of that Suzuki Cappuccino, instead of just a partial rear view?
2.) Is that green car really a Mazda 121 L. ? In other markets the 121 was usually a pretty small car. The U.S. actually got that car as a Cosmo. Oddly, when that series first appeared in the ‘states, with a different roofline, it was criticized. But this more “conventional” roofline looks pretty ugly, one of the few times a vinyl roof doesn’t look good.
OOPS, just looked up the “green car” on Wikipedia, it is a 121 or a Cosmo but with a piston engine instead of the “usual” rotary engine.
In some markets the rotary wasnt even available all Mazdas except for the RX7 had piston engines NZ got rotaries where applicable Australia only got piston engines in the same cars.
We have featured the Suzuki before:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-capsule/curbside-capsule-1991-97-suzuki-cappuccino-hot-frothy-little-thing/
Lots of great stuff here. Love, love, love that Toyota Crown wagon – I have never seen one before.
That Mazda 121 looks A LOT like a Chevy Monza Town Coupe.
The Z cars are always fun to look at. In the CC effect department, I was passed last evening by an 80s Celica or Supra liftback (it was quick and I’m not sure which) and the evening before caught a single picture as a young woman pulled next to me in an early Z. It was beautiful, but sounded like it was not running on all cylinders. I kind of liked the picture I got.
The 121 also made me think of the Monza Town Coupe. Perhaps re-imagined as an Oldsmobile, with quad lamps rather than dual.
Great car show; I’d love to be there. This series looks like my collection of Tomica and Diapet 1/43 scale Japanese model cars from the same era (the Tomicas are the better ones).
I’ve owned two of the cars in this edition: RX-7 convertible in same color and Mitsubishi Colt in same color.
Can’t believe the condition of that Crown wagon; even the rear footwell looks fresh.
I wish the Accord Aerodeck was offered Stateside; I might’ve bought that instead of the less-roomy hatchback.
Question: What does it cost to ship a car from the States to Europe? Given our trade deficit, maybe there are a lot of outgoing empty containers, with good freight rates.
This example is from a year ago, scroll down for a calculation:
https://www.ikwilvanmijnautoaf.nl/aktueel/auto-importeren-vs-de-kosten
It says that shipping from New York to Rotterdam (the Netherlands) costs around € 800. That’s without transporting the car to New York and the handling etc. once the car has arrived in Rotterdam.
Thanks; it doesn’t sound unreasonable vs. the value of many collectible cars. We knew a trucker whose biz was private car shipping, but I didn’t think to ask about rates! Or one can pay someone to drive your car cross-country, which a friend did once with an old BMW.
Excellent photography!
For some reason my eyes are struck by the precise fit of every seam and door on those ’72 Toyotas. After 44 years of bouncing around on roads, opening and closing the doors every day, all gaps are EXACTLY the same width all around. The other Japanese brands aren’t quite as precise, and no ’72 American car would come close.
Wow good selection, I havent seen a Crown wagon in a very long time in NZ they rusted away within a couple of years, While wagons survived well in dryer Aussie Ive never seen the seven seat model and that one looks like new. I see your Mazdas have 1.8 engines all ours had 2.0L engines the smaller variety coming in later used ex JDM, Was there lots of headgasket/head cracking issues on your 626s/Telstars like ours or is their rep good?
I dont see enough 240 Zs here yet they used to be quite common, that blue one is gorgeous.
In Europe the first gen Mazda 6 was available with 3 gasoline engines (1.8 / 2.0 / 2.3) and a 2.0 turbodiesel. I don’t know anything about specific Mazda engine-issues.
My 626 was the 2.0 and the engine never caused problems. The automatics had transmission issues but mine was a manual. It did OK for a few years but not a very exciting car. I gave it away in the end.
Nice collection. We had a 2004 Mazda 6 sedan (2.3 4 speed auto) until it was totaled a few months ago. Nice looking and driving car. FWIW it had around 180k miles on it, ran good but used a quart of oil about every 700 miles. No smoke or leaks, though.
Traded use of a ’72 RX2 coupe for a couple of weeks (back in the mid ’70’s) with my ’66 VW Sundial camper. Could have made it a permanent trade, decided to keep the VW. The Mazda had wide for the times 13 inch Amercian mag wheels, don’t recall the exact tire size. It was a lot of fun on twisty roads, but felt like it was made of aluminum foil and cheap plastic. The little 4 barrel carb on it was interesting, it was pretty quick once the RPM’s got up on it.
These cars look so much better minus the US 5 mph bumpers. I wouldn’t kick a nice 240Z or S2000 out of the driveway.
Splendid. great to see some models that were never sold in the US. That 121 coupe is a total surprise to me; did not know existed. Looks like a LeBaron or Diplomat coupe.
Thanks for these great tours.
Was the aerodeck Accord a factory model? It looks like something conjured in the UK with a shooting brake label. They were tied up with Rover then.
It was a factory model. According to Wikipedia the Accord AeroDeck was sold in Japan, Europe and New Zealand.
Yep, factory model. I was 11 when they were released here in New Zealand, and my Dad worked for a Honda dealer at the time, so I remember them new – I thought the tailgate was really cool the way it was hinged by the C-Pillar instead of the D-pillar. Not many left here now though.
Great photos and cars – looks like it could have been a car show here in Tokyo…
Lovely stuff, Johannes. Of course that Toyota Clown steals the show — but the Mazda Luce is another top contender.
Beautifully shot as always.
Great selection. Maybe the date is based on first registration, but I’d say the Crown wagon is a 1967-69 version of that generation.
That’s right, the Crown’s date of first registration is December 29, 1972. That was in the Netherlands. Model years are not registered, so I always mention the year of first registration. The latter can be checked easily. (in case of Dutch plates)
Alas, too much work to find out what the exact model years are if you’ve got dozens of pictures of all kinds of vehicles, built all over the globe.
This wagon is an S50 which came in two stages. The first stage from 1967-69 was the ‘Triumph face’ version as per your example, and the 1970 version had a more conventional front clip (see pic). It’s pretty hard to find info on these and I also got it wrong in my S60/70 Crown piece (which reminds me that I must amend it).