CC Outtakes: T87’s Singles Collection (October-December 2024) – Part 1: Japanese Cars (Honda, Mitsubishi & Nissan)

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– Posted on January 2, 2025

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Happy new year to all! Check out what I have for your viewing pleasure: the best of last year’s Tokyo CC sightings. Autumn is easily the most classic-friendly time of year, weather-wise, so there were a lot of folks about parading their pride and joy. Enough for five posts, so let’s get started with the JDM and a seasonally-appropriate Honda S800. Blends in so well, it’s almost camouflaged.

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A beautiful S600 Coupé. Tiny though it may have been, it was still cut even shorter by my camera.

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Back to the S800, but in hardtop racing garb this time.

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Ran into a number of NSXs, so I’ll narrow it down to three particularly nice ones.

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This one looked like it literally came off the showroom floor yesterday.

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These easily have the same amount of presence as, say, a ‘90s V8-powered Ferrari.

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Whereas the Beat, which is also fairly common around here, is now a car I’m noticing less and less. They’re still objectively outstanding, but they blend in more, probably due to their kei car status. Seeing these two being wrenched on out in the open was a photo opportunity that could not be missed, though.

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CR-Xs definitely do not blend into the background. Love that shape.

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This one was even better – stock wheels, no rear spoiler, just pure Alfa Zagato Junior energy.

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I have a serious soft spot for these Legend coupés. I have yet to find one sitting still, but when I do…

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That’s it for Honda cars, but there were a few notable bikes about – as one might expect. This one looks like a Super Cub that’s had a few issues…

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I’m not a bike person, as I have often stated before, but even I found this one pretty compelling, looks-wise. A little online sleuthing suggests this would be a CB 400 F (1975-77).

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Any Motocampo sighting is a great occasion to ponder on the sanity (or lack thereof) of Honda designers in the ‘80s.

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While we’re talking two-wheelers, let me just add this poor Yamaha SRX to the mix, before it definitively returns to the Earth and we move on to the Mitsubishi part of the tour.

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The Minica Town Bee is still one of the ugliest retro kei designs ever…

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However, the Toppo Town Bee adds a couple layers of craziness and turns the whole thing into a legend. To quote Spinal Tap, it’s such a fine line between genius and complete BS. Mitsubishi have been known to straddle that line more than most carmakers.

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Nothing controversial about this good old 1983-86 Delica van, though. Does exactly what it says on the box.

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Big fan of these Mitsu-Jeeps. Love how this one was in the midst of hauling heavy-looking sacks of stuff, like they set it up for a brochure shoot.

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Might the hood vents on this 6th gen (1987-92) Galant make this some high-performance variant?

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At least, with this 4th gen (1991-95) Lancer, the GSR trim is proudly and loudly advertised. So we know it has a turbocharged 1.8 litre 4-cyl.

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Cool little GTO puttering about town on a fine autumn morning. Some days start off well.

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Time for a couple of Debonairs – albeit highly modified ones. We’ve seen this one before. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the rear door handle seems to be missing…

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Without those awful wheels, this one would have been a great candidate for the full-length CC post I’ve been mulling about these cars ever since I moved here. Foiled again.

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On the Nissan side, we’re going to kick things off with Fairladys. Well, this one barely qualifies…

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Might look like this one in a few months. Probably not that colour, though.

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We’ve seen this one before, standing still. Well, it was certainly able to move. Quite sprightly, in fact.

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I found a nest of ‘90s Japanese sports coupés, chiefly composed of Fairlady 300Zs, belonging to a specialist garage. There were a couple Honda Integra Type Rs in there too, as well as a Mitsubishi GTO way in the back. Interesting little timewarp area.

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There are plenty S13 Silvias around still, but many have fallen into the hands of boi-racers, with consequent ill-judged mods. This one, though pretty tatty by local standards, was bone stock.

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I visited the south Tokyo branch of Flex Auto Review – it was a bit of a let-down, a lot smaller than the one I found in Saitama a few weeks ago. Still had a couple of lookers, like this R31 Skyline hardtop saloon.

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Since we’re on the subject of Skylines, here’s the R30 saloon (1981-85), in turbocharged RS guise and the seemingly obligatory red and black livery. It looks great, don’t get me wrong, but a tad monotonous.

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We’re winding the clock back to circa 1973 here with this C110 coupé. I have grave doubts about whether this car’s GT-R badges are genuine, given how incredibly rare Kenmary GT-Rs are. Impressive machine nonetheless.

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Case in point: there was a nice alignment of silver C10s – all of them sporting GT-R badges. But unless I’m very much mistaken (and I may well be), a true GT-R should have a 160hp DOHC engine, not this 120hp SOHC mill. This is a GT-X, not a GT-R.

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Same with this one? Who knows. I see so many C10s with GT-R badges that a few of them must be the genuine article.

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I much prefer the lower-tier C10s, the ones that don’t feel like they have to pretend to be icons. Plus, those can be painted something other than silver.

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Far more satisfying, isn’t it? There’s still a 2-litre straight-6 in there, but none of the affectation and “Don’t you know who I am?” attitude displayed by those so-called GT-Rs.

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I don’t stop and snap every single Pao I see anymore – just the nicer ones.

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And that certainly included this one. The Pao came in four colours: beige, green, blue and this very interesting shade of ochre. I had glimpsed one or two before, but this is the first time I could see one properly. Lovely.

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On to the bigger RWD Nissans – the immortal Cedric / Gloria duo. In full profile like this, it’s very difficult to know which one of the twin nameplates we’re talking about. What is more certain is that this is a Y33 hardtop (1995-99) [Author’s note: Which it isn’t, as it’s a C35 Laurel. I hang my head in eternal shame].

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The Cedric/Gloria identity lies pretty much entirely in the grille. So here, we have a late model (1985-87) Y30 Cedric saloon.

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…And this is an even later (i.e. late ‘90s) Cedric wagon. Not sure why it’s missing its rear wiper, but it’s had a few mods here and there, as these often do.

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This well-worn but mostly original early model (1983-85) Gloria Y30 wagon is a much rarer version of this well-documented breed.

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The first-gen Y31 Cima (1988-91) was a surprise hit for Nissan. Nice to see such a well-preserved one joining the Flex Auto lineup. Yellow headlights? Why not indeed.

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Don’t see many Y31 Crews around Tokyo. This is about as basic and Plain-Jane as a JDM 2-litre RWD sedan can get. Most of them were pressed into taxi service, but they did sell a civilian variant in the mid-to-late ‘90s. Surprisingly, it’s related to the aforementioned Cima, at the other end of the Y31 platform’s spectrum.

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We’ll end this first part on a Sunny note – more precisely, a superb early model (1981-83) B11 coupé.

 

See you tomorrow for more JDM finds!

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