There was an article in 'Unique Cars' magazine (May 24 2018) about the rise of the classic Japanese car.
They highlighted as good project cars with good shape, popularity, easy mechanics and holding their value:
- Toyota Celicas (commonly known here in fun as cel i ca... sil ly car
)
- Datsun Z cars
The article claims that the Celicas popularity in Australia in 1973 saw the demise of the Capri being purchased out here.
"Nothing else of its size on the Australian market came with a pillarless two door styling, yet within a few years we had similar designs from Datsun, Mazda and Subaru.
The Celica was expensive when pitted against local models like the six cylinder Torana and even V6 versions of the Capri. However Toyota's sights were set on the emerging 'personal' car segment where style and features were big selling points than how quickly you could screech away from the traffic lights.
Of course the TA22 Celica wasn't without fault. Performance from the single cam 1.6 litre was a bit lacking, particularly noticeable when it was teamed with automatic transmission and the steering via a clunky old recirculating ball system wasn't sporty at all.
The stylish elements included full carpeting even in the boot, a standard five speed manual gearbox, reclining seats and cleve ventilation.
The TA22 was AUD$3600-, which was $650- dearer than a Holden GTR Torana.
The RA28 Celica made its Aust. debut in 1977. This version had a 1975 restyle but arrived here with just the single overhead camshaft engine. Some overseas markets managed to snare the 100kW twin cam and cars that had been retrofitted with that engine certainly are a lot sharper in performance than the standard. RA23 versions of the coupe sold here after 1976 alo had the 2.0 litre engine.
In 1979 a conventionally shaped Celica twin cam became the unlikely hero of that year's Bathurst 1000 enduro.
The Celica took back to back victories driven by Peter Williamson and Mike Quinn, though the second time it was Graeme Bailey and Doug Clark behind the wheel knocking off Alfa GTVs and Triumph Dolomites.
www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/classifieds/index?a=15&b=6878Datsun Z cars, the Z was announced late in 1969 and Australia saw its first cars a year later. All were five speed manual but later arrivals included three speed automatics. At almost $5000- the 240Z cost more than a typical V8 Aussie muscle car.
Put it down to cost saving but the only deficiency in 240Z design was drum brakes at the rear where a European brand would have found the money for discs."
www.tradeuniquecars.com.au/buyers-guide/1506/datsun-240z-260z-(1970-1975)-buyers-guideOther cars noted in the article were:
Honda S2000
Datsun 1200 ute
Datsun 1600
series 4/5 Mazda RX-7
Subaru WRX
Nissan R32 GT-R
Chrysler Mitsubishi Sigma
Nissan 200SX
