Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jul 25, 2018 14:46:57 GMT
Anyone else on here like these? At the time I didn’t take much notice of them as they were pretty much everywhere but now I find them interesting. They did well in the 70s probably at the expense of British Leyland, and they were reliable and well equipped, if rust prone.
The ones I remember seeing most of were Datsun, and they had a great range, starting with the 100A Cherry, then the 120Y, 140/160J and the 200. In addition the 240/260Z coupe, which was a high performance sports car. Pretty much something for everyone.
Toyota had the Corolla, and a big saloon called the Crown, with the Celica as the sporty member of the family, Honda started with the Civic, and I think there was also a Colt, by Mitsubishi.
All of them had great, scaled down US like styling, and interiors, and were simple to maintain. Sadly, rust seemed to kill them off and they are now very rare, but if you look in the background on a Sweeney episode you will see plenty of them.
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Post by Cartman on Jul 25, 2018 17:52:12 GMT
Just remembered another one which was very common in the 70s, in fact I drove one once, the Mazda 1000. It was a small 2 door saloon with a fair sized boot. It was quite a nice drive from memory.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Jul 25, 2018 18:35:09 GMT
I was only watching The Sweeney episode 'Hit And Run' a few days ago, a yellow Datsun speeds past Bill the driver, Regan leans over, angrily hits the horn & shouts "get over, yer bastard! Drive a Jap car and they think they're kamikaze pilots!" www.imcdb.org/v074417.htmlWe used to have a white Nissan Sunny in the late 70s or early 80s, I think it was the only car we had bought from new.
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Bojan Scores
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Terry you’re very devious when a bird’s involved...
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Post by Bojan Scores on Jul 25, 2018 21:30:06 GMT
It seems looking back, Japanese manufacturers took awhile to get a proper presence in the market place, compared to Jap Motorcycles. The British Bike scene was nearly wiped out in just over a decade. Bikers and drivers alike would have liked unheard of levels of reliability, up to date designs, and betters levels of equipment and refinement. I suspect there was also a hostility towards the Japanese from WW2, even though we merrily bought BMWs etc from our German friends in the EEC. The emergence of Japanese cars was a sign of growing globalisation, and British firms were slow to take heed and learn the lessons.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jul 25, 2018 21:47:53 GMT
Yes, Bojan, British bikes seemed to have largely died out in the 60s, most bikes I remembered from the 70s were Japanese.
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Post by Steve Austin on Jul 26, 2018 8:37:12 GMT
I remember my old school teacher had one of these: in a nice 70's brown. I also remember seeing these quite a bit:
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Post by Sam Tyler on Jul 26, 2018 11:28:35 GMT
Although I've ridden plenty of Jap bikes I've only ever driven two Japanese cars, both circa 1987: The first was a Nissan Bluebird hatchback which I used once on an errand from work. It was a colleague's company car and I remember that it was crap. Although the car was new the power steering made a hell of a noise yet had been replaced twice within the first six months. Very much a bland car that was not my choice to use when there was a Cavalier SRi and a Manta also available. The other Jap car I drove was a Toyota Supra 3.0 which was the early pre-turbo version. Starting to look a bit dated now it was quite sleek for the time. Sam.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jul 26, 2018 11:54:18 GMT
I would have picked a Manta or Cavalier ahead of that too! The 80s Japanese cars were as bland and dull as the 70s ones had been quirky and interesting
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Bojan Scores
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Terry you’re very devious when a bird’s involved...
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Post by Bojan Scores on Jul 26, 2018 13:23:44 GMT
I currently own a 2008 Toyota Auris, that’s possessed by a Triumph Stag, and has similar service costs to the space shuttle. Steering, suspension, road holding, engine characteristics, gearbox etc, instead of being a cohesive whole just work independently of each other to make for an unengaging and underwhelming drive. Got a nice stereo though.
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Post by Dirty Epic on Jul 26, 2018 16:12:55 GMT
Liked that 70's Mazda Steve always reminded me of a shrunken Ford Granada in a wonky sort of way.
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