How’s about going to a Japanese junkyard on the outskirts of Asahikawa, a town nestled in the middle of Hokkaido Island, for a little visit? Just head south for a few kilometers on the road to Furano and you’ll see it, literally by the road. Whaddaya say? Knew you’d be up for it. I advise putting a hat on – it’s pretty warm and sunny out there.
The place is active. There are a number of people in the garage(s) working on cars, and a couple outside with a tow truck, so one has to be quick and discreet. Just walk, take a few snaps and be on your way. We wouldn’t want to intrude.
There are quite a few Mazdas in this place, which is great, as it’s probably the most interesting Japanese marque. Also, I’ve not been seeing many interesting ones on the streets. Take this Savanna saloon, for instance (a.k.a RX-3). No idea if it has a Wankel or a standard piston engine, but judging by the other cars here, rotaries seem to be a house specialty. [Edit: it’s a rotary, as it’s badged as a Savanna. Standard piston cars were called Grand Familias in Japan.]
So let’s start off by taking a closer gander at the Mazdas. Quite a few RX7s (of all generations) present, of course.
This is a 1990-95 Eunos JC Cosmo, one of two I saw there. It’s the last Mazda product to bear this legendary nameplate and the only triple-rotor car ever marketed. The optional twin-turbocharged 2-litre 300hp Wankel was akin to a 6-litre V12, or so Mazda liked to claim. It was the most expensive car they ever made, but it was mistimed to coincide with the Japanese bubble bursting, so only something like 8000 units were built.
I’ve not been seeing many of these 1986-91 Luce hardtops, either. These had Mazda’s first V6, though a 1.3 twin-rotor was also available. Contemporary Nissan Glorias and Toyota Crowns are still about in fairly high numbers, but Luces are really rare now. First one I’ve seen, anyway.
Here’s something you don’t see everyday either: a 1970 Daihatsu Fellow Buggy. I now wish I’d have taken a couple more pics of it, as it appears only 100 of these oddball keis were made.
This one is more familiar to me. It’s a 1977-82 Suzuki Cervo, one of the most distinctive-looking kei cars of the ‘70s. Giugiaro design, two-stroke engine in the tail, red paint – this one wants to be noticed, and it certainly is.
Nearer the garage buildings, this superb Datsun 311 1200 Deluxe looks like it just needs an oil change or a new battery to get going again like it was 1961 all over again.
There are two forecourts about the place; the busier of the two has a lot of interesting metal within. I’m drawing a blank on that silver coupé with mismatched wheels – but this is CC, so I confidently predict that this mystery will be elucidated soon enough.
Aside from said mystery car, a lovely Datsun 510, more RX7s and another rarity: a Honda Life.
Let’s zoom in on that one. Those took over from the N360 in 1971 and lasted until 1974, when Honda pulled out of the kei class entirely for over a decade. Just ahead of the Honda, an R30 Skyline, a Ferrari and something up on a lift with lots of headlights peeking from within the garage, like some deep-sea creature…
The next building also has a few cool cars. The damaged R32 Skyline GT-R and a “Fairlady Z” coupé (as these are known in this part of the world) are easy enough to identify, but that gray pickup is intriguing.
Looks like an old Toyota Stout. These were popular in other parts of the globe, but sold slowly in Japan, so they were only made for export or CKD kits once Toyota swallowed Hino, in the late ‘60s.
Speaking of Hino, there’s a nice classic one next to a Nissan Cedric / Gloria Y33 that might well belong to one of the mechanics.
This Mercedes W126 coupé also looks suspiciously pristine and mildly customized, though it has no license plates, so it might be a newcomer to the yard. Thinking back on it, there were not many foreign cars about. A Cadillac Escalade, a Ferrari and a Benz. Sounds like the start of a bad joke set in south Florida.
Oops, make that two Benzes, then.
Oh, and there’s this, over in the wooded area. Yes, that is a GAZ Volga M-21 and no, these are not a common sighting here. But then if you look at a world map, you’ll see that the Russian Far East is right next door to Hokkaido, so perhaps a few Soviet relics are to be expected.
Continuing on the random theme, that wooded area also has a couple of late ‘70s Nissan Civilian buses.
Many more interesting vehicles, such as this ancient ToyoAce truck, are sadly out of reach, either because they were parked behind others, or because of the vegetation. Still, hope you enjoyed this little tour.
I want the Fellow Buggy. Perfect beach cruiser.
I instantly recognized the Honda DNA in that Life looking like a bit of a cross between the first gen Civic and the 360/600 but didn’t know what it was. Now it makes sense knowing where it fits in the timeline.
Great stuff, I know about Hokkaido from Kintaro Walks Japan
Thanks for posting the Kintaro video – my year as a teacher in Japan occasionally needs supplementing with other people’s tales. Am queueing it up tonight with some okonomiyaki.
Just the place I would happily spend hours scratching around in, I like how in Japan even the junkyards have a semi-methodical orderliness to them, with a side order of improbably green wild overgrowth.
The silver coupe is a Mazda MX-5.
The silver car with the mismatched wheels was once a Mazda Roadster Coupe NB8C, but the front end has been modified.
Correct:
The Cervo by far and away is my favorite. Great shape the size of a roller skate. The Escalade takes the cake, if it is indeed junked, however. Too fitting.
3rd photo from top is a Mazda Savanna aka RX3′ piston engined versions are known as 808 in Australia and NZ and Grand Familia in Japan.
Shocked to see one in long grass, arguably the most valuable car shown.
A solid RX3 with mild period modifications such as IDA webber etc are valued at $US25-35k here in NZ.
That car in that condition would be worth anywhere between $US 5-10k in NZ.
People spend a small fortune on Rocket Bunny Savanna body kits to make FD Rx7s look to like 70’s Savanna’s.
Have fond memories of being a rear passenger in a $US500 RX3 coupe racing a then new Lexus LS400 on the motorway in the early 90’s, at 200km/h we started to pull away with the 12A bridgeport humming away.
Not sure if other guy lost his nerve or some speed cut happened perhaps, all Japanese imports are limited to 180km/h and most automatic cars have some sort of speed cut to prevent transmission damage.
I’m also shocked at the current value, I remember a local Mazda dealer selling off his small collection of 4 Wankel Mazdas, you could have brought the entire lot for $NZ30k, would be valued 10 times that now.
Most of the cars still had the protective plastic on door cards.
Thank you for that! I had misidentified it as a Capella / RX2. Corrected the text now. Obviously, early 70s Mazdas are not my strongest suit, even though I really appreciate these cars. In Europe, they were never very common — certainly not the way they were in the US or Oz/NZ.
That Savanna (RX3) is a 1974 or 1975. Someone has taken the exceptionally hard-to-find radiator grill and headlight surrounds. These were not uncommon in the U.S., a long time ago, and one could buy one for anywhere between free and $100 if they were not running properly (sometimes an engine rebuild, and sometimes simply replacing the electric fuel pump, or installing a new condenser and point set). Pre-Internet, there was no market for these. Given the difficult California registration, transfer, and smog check regimes, about 1990, I lost my storage space, so I simply got out my Sawzall, and chopped my collection of half a dozen RX3s and RX4s into small bits, filling up a bunch of neighborhood dumpsters, and saving one nice RX3 to keep. Still have it, at least I saved one of them. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
I believe the Mazda Luce was also sold as a Mazda 929 in Europe – maybe even in USA but I am not sure. Somewhere I may have a Mazda 929 model of this vintage in 1/87 scale by some odd German producer like Praline or Rietze or some other obscure model car company but I do recognize that “Luce” as a “929”
Our (US-market) 929 wasn’t a hardtop, i.e. it had a small window in the rear and a center pillar but the lower body is basically the same as far as I can recall. Started here in around 1986.
As I understand it, the pillared saloon that was exported to places like the US is slightly narrower. The hardtop seen here is over the 180cm width limit — more prestigious / expensive. The styling is similar but not exactly identical. In Japan, only the hardtop could get the 3litre V6.
What is that in the background of the first Benz photo with the broken out windows? It looks like some type of minivan but to my eyes is has a really odd shape. The greenhouse is really tall and I could be easily convinced the rear door is rear hinged and not a sliding door.
Edit: Upon closer view I was mistaken, the windows aren’t broken, it’s the reflection of the trees. And I’m even more convinced the rear doors open in reverse.
If it’s the Benz coupe photo, those aren’t rear doors. Those are the passenger side doors to a 2017+ Daihatsu Thor or one of the variants from Toyota or Subaru.
That octopus snorkel intake on the 90’s MR2 in the background of the Stout is interesting, although it’s a non-turbo car since the engine cover isn’t raised but flat. Of course it could well have a non-original engine.
Lots of great finds here, I too could spend a few hours here just making my way through the brush. Thanks, I know it’s hard to decide what to snap and when to stop…
Definitely spared a thought for you while I was there. “What would Jim do?” Hehe….
That Daihatsu Fellow Buggy is fantastic and what a find. Ap real shame these are in the scrapyard. It amazes what others throw away.
Thanks for the tour, I love old car boneyards. Matters not where!
Very hard to imagine how the GAZ Volga – I can only ever read that as “Gas, vulgar”, and it IS about as attractive – swam to shore. Not the tightest of friends in the north there, Russia and Japan, certainly not when a WW2 dispute (about islands) still isn’t settled after 75 years! Perhaps that’s why it lurks, doomed, in the undergrowth.
I wonder if this place qualifies as a junkyard or the out-spreadings of a resto-type joint? It seems very little is disassembled, but gathered more in hope (of restoration) than expectation (of it ever happening) by an eccentric owner.
Japan has border disputes with all its neighbours, I believe. But then, most of Asia is like that. The real “enemy” is not really Russia but China and Korea. This is probably the only country where you never ever see Kias or Hyundais anywhere.
Used-car traffic is mainly in the other direction, FWIU at one point around the turn of the millennium there was a serious proposal for Vladivostok Oblast to switch to driving on the left since almost all private cars were JDM Japanese cars exported used.
Just want to remind everyone that those FD RX-7’s are over 25 years old.
Speaking of which, someone in the New York area is importing interesting JDM cars, which you see for sale on Craigslist every so often. I just saw a Z32 model Fairlady Z 300ZX Twin Turbo, right hand drive and all. Previously, I’ve seen a couple of R32 Skylines on the road.
I wonder if the RX-7’s are as prized there as they are here.
Mazda Luce that model was a 929 out this way but of course the genuine article emigrated used in small numbers the V6 was quite good but its a lot of car for a rotary there was a 2.0 four banger in them too at on spec level, interesting what is still lying around in Japan not all their junk gets shipped out.
What an enjoyable walk. I wished that we had packed a lunch and spent more time, as I could get lost in there for quite some time… Thanks!
That Acura on the left in the lead in photo looks road-ready. Just please have them swap out the large exhaust pipe for a stock one.
Very interesting for a novice from The U.S. I look forward to these tours of Japanese cars, junkyard or actively on the streets.
Almost every car in that place has some interesting or unusual element to it (for example, that black first-gen RX7 is a special edition-B pillar emblem). It looks like the owner of this operation likes to stick unusual finds into the nooks and crannies of the joint.
Is it a coincidence the plate on the Datsun 1200 Deluxe is 3 11?
No, that’s the sort of numerological pun Japanese classic car owner like to do. See this one, for instance: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/in-motion-classic-1967-ferrari-330-gt-lightening-strikes-twice/
putting the year is a bit too “on the nose”, though some also do that one (e.g. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/cc-capsule-1956-ford-f-100-panel-truck-feeling-kinda-low/)
Another one you see is 23-32 on Nissan Sunnys. 2 is “ni” in Japanese and 3 is “san”.