Hirstのブログ一覧

The weather is very cold today, so I did some research indoors.

You may remember that one of my cars is a Nissan Laurel Taxi. It's a special commercial grade with a (very slow!!) 1.8L LPG engine. I got it a few years ago, but I didn't import it myself. It was built in 1992, but came to the UK in 2000. The last owner didn't know much about it. I know that it says "SARAI" on the side and. I was also able to find it was from Okayama, because the old numberplate was printed on the back of the "occupied/non-occupied" sign and it included the region. Since then, I couldn't find any more details about the company.



But today I tried again and used Google Street View. I found the company is still around. I can even see some of their taxis with the same roof sign! It's amazing!

Maybe I should contact the company. If the old driver comes to the UK, they can drive their old taxi, haha!

The photo is an old one from the 1980s. It's winter here, but the weather is unusual. Usually around now the temperatures are freezing, but it's about 50°F with a lot of rain. Many areas in northern England have heavy flooding. My region is quite bad now - there's flood water through the main city of Leeds, the historical town of York and a lot of smaller towns near me. Some areas have been evacuated and there's a lot of flood warnings everywhere, but my city (Wakefield) is OK at the moment.

There's a news story in Japanese: http://www.afpbb.com/articles/-/3071590

I haven't seen any flood water yet, but all the local rivers have flood warnings. If the water level increases, it would take a long time to reach my house, so I would have a lot of time to move my cars and protect the house. So it should be OK for me. But some other areas of my city can flood quite easily.

I can swim, so I'll be OK.

It has been a very big year for unusual cars.

First we have two Quintets... now I've found a Daihatsu Compagno for sale!! Unfortunately, I can't buy it, though I hope one of my friends will.

In 1964, the Daihatsu Compagno was imported to the UK for testing. The first cars were sold in 1965, so they were the first Japanese car to be sold in the UK. There was a small brochure advertising various models, but I think the only types sold were the Berlina 800/1000.



There was some problem with the importer, so we only got them for a short time. I don't know how many were imported, but probably only 10-20. Since there were no Daihatsu car dealers, it would be very difficult to get parts!

Anyway, the original press demonstration car was found and restored in the 1990s, it's still here. But I thought it was probably the only one left.



I did see a 4-door model for sale about 10 years ago, but I never heard what happened to it. I think this is probably the same car!



The paint is bad, but the body looks quite good! The metal of 1960s-era cars is quite thick, so they don't rust as easily as 1970s/80s cars.



The front end still looks good. The seller says the bumpers are missing, so the next owner may need to import some from Japan or see if they can find similar bumpers from a different car.



It's a 1000cc model. The engine hasn't run for over 20 years, but old engines are quite simple. It should be OK.



The interior is in quite good condition. I can see some rust on the floor, but it's not so bad.

I hope somebody I know buys it... the Compagno is an important part of car history for both Japan and the UK. Also, I think it's a cool-looking car!

I found an old copy of "Auto Trader" from May 1991. Before the Internet, people like me would buy cars using magazines like this. You can still buy Auto Trader magazine now, but they also have a website and most people use that.



The inside of the magazine looks like this, with a small photo and description of each car. Some people selling the cars were normal people, some people selling the cars were car dealers. Car dealers are known as "Trade".



If you wanted to get your own car in, you had to write out a description and send it to them. A man with a camera would come to your house and take a photo of the car. It seems so old-fashioned, although I think they were still doing this until around 5 years ago, haha! I'm looking at the "Cars Under £1000" section (about ¥185,000). For me, these are older cars and the most interesting.



Honda Quintet (Quint) Hondamatic! It's like my car, but the older type with a different front end. Also, it's the Executive grade. Because you had to pay more money for more words, there's some unusual phrases only used when selling cars.

Alloys = Alloy wheels.
All usual refinements = High level of equipment.
Full MoT = MoT is short for the annual inspection (Ministry of Transport), so full MoT means 12 months before the next inspection. ONO = Or Nearest Offer. It means you can offer less money to see if they accept it, so although the price is £675, they will probably accept £600.



Datsun Cherry N12, known as Pulsar for Japan. These were quite popular cars, I would see them a lot. They're the main rival car to the BF Familia-323 I'm driving right now!

Y reg = Y registration. The year is shown on the numberplate as a letter, for old cars like (XXX 000Y). Some people prefer to think of the cars by the registration letter instead of the year. Y means August 1982 to July 1983. My Quintet is Y-reg.
Rad/Cass = Radio Cassette.
T/T = Taxed and Tested. You have to pay for Road Tax to drive a car, it's a small paper disc in the window. So they have "taxed" it already. "Tested" means it has already passed the annual inspection. So with a car that is "taxed and tested" you only need to have insurance and you can drive it immediately.



Datsun Stanza T11. The price is very low! It's a 4-door like the one I have. X reg means August 1981 to July 1982. My Stanza and Galant are X-reg.



Mitsubishi Galant A161. Until the mid-1980s, Mitsubishi cars were known as "Colt". The importer was called "Colt Cars UK". Some cars would have both Colt badges and Mitsubishi badges, but they would always have the Mitsubishi symbol. I'm surprised this has a 5-speed gearbox! I have a 1600 GL and it only has a 4-speed gearbox.

G/box = Gearbox.
Met = Metallic.
Tax = Road Tax.



Datsun Cherry F-Ⅱ Coupe (F10). Depending on the engine, this is either a 100A (1.0L) or 120A (1.2L). It's cheap because it needs some work, it would seem the head gasket has failed and the radiator needs replacing too. It's likely that the engine overheated due to a leak in the radiator. S-reg means August 1977 to July 1978. I wonder if somebody fixed it?

Rad = Radiator.
Spares or Repair = If you offer a car for "Spares or Repair" it usually means it is broken. You could "repair" it or you could take spare parts off it - "spares".
OVNO = Or Very Nearest Offer. Really, it means exactly the same as "Or Nearest Offer" from before.



Datsun Sunny B310. It looks like there's damage at the front, so it's very cheap. However, there is an unusual point in the advert It says "ask for Paul". Sometimes people pretend to be a private seller instead of a trader. If they have more than one car to sell, they would say "ask for (name)" so if anyone calls the number they would know which car the person calling was asking about. It's a very old trick!

Tatty = Rough, damaged. You can say many things are "tatty" but it's used mostly for cars.



Nissan Sunny B11. It looks quite good, but the bodywork is described as "tired". This usually means scratches, rust or bad paint. It's a strange expression, I think. In these tiny photos it's hard to tell if the car is in good condition.



Mazda 626 (Capella CB). These are very rare! Fitting a vinyl roof was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. I'd really like to buy one, but I think it's unlikely I will find one for a good price now.



Mitsubishi Lancer (EX type). This was actually a dealer advertisement. I would love to buy a Lancer like this, but they're expensive now, especially the Turbo version. I would be happy with a normal 1.4 or 1.6 model, though.



Nissan Sunny B310 again. This was another dealer advertisement. If you were buying a Sunny like this now, it would be much more expensive! Maybe £2000 or £3000.

New Shape = Usually means facelift model, or the latest generation of a car.



Datsun Chery F-Ⅱ Saloon. This is the 2-door model, not the hatchback. Even though it's an old model, it's for sale. Because automatic cars were still very rare here in 1991, even old 1970s cars were desirable if they had an automatic gearbox.

Mint = Excellent condition.



Toyota Celica A40. I think these Celicas are very attractive! I like this later type with the rectangular shape headlights, it has an aggressive look. It looks to be in good condition. I wish I could buy one for £775 now.

Any Trial = Usually this means they are happy for you to inspect and drive the car.



Datsun Cherry (N10 Pulsar). The body looks very rough! You can see that they have painted the bottom half of the car. Usually people would do this to cover rust. There's a vinyl roof too.



Suzuki Alto (SS80S). Instead of a 550cc engine, this is the export type with 796cc. Although they aren't very fast, they're a cute-looking car. I would like to try one, because I really like K-cars. I haven't seen one for a few years.



Mitsubishi Cordia. Wow!! This is extremely rare! This Cordia has the 4-speed gearbox with separate gear lever for "Power/Economy". Some people call it an 8-speed gearbox. I don't think I have ever seen a Cordia for real, only photos. One day I hope to see one.



Datsun Cherry (N10 Pulsar). The stripes are quite cool! People would buy stripes like this in car accessory places to make their car look more interesting. It's quite rare to see anything like this today, though.



Mazda 323 (BD Familia). This is the later type. 5-door version is quite rare for the BD, they are usually 3-door. My friend had a BD like this for a few years. They're great cars!

VGC = Very Good Condition.
Bargain = A low price!



Nissan Cherry Europe. It's a Pulsar with an Alfa Romeo engine. Although they're very rare and cool now, in 1991 it would be difficult to sell. People would want to buy the normal one with the reliable Japanese engine. My friend Ratdat has the Cherry Europe GTi. You should take a look at his profile.



Toyota Celica A40, but the Coupe version. It looks like somebody has painted a lot of the car black, so it's probably very rusty!

Non Dating Reg = Non Dating Registration, means a "personal" or vanity numberplate. You can buy a personal numberplate to show your name or something like that. But a lot of people would fit them to hide the age of the car, since the year is shown on a regular numberplate.



Toyota Carina A40. The later type Carina in Europe used the Japan model "Celica Camry" front end. I really like these, but they're too expensive for me now. In the advert he mentions Japanese engineering - that's because Japanese cars were known as very reliable, especially 1970s and 1980s era models.



Mazda Capella GC. This is very cheap at the time, but he says it has a problem with the clutch bearing. That's quite cheap to repair, so I'm not sure why he didn't fix it. Even though it's in the "Under £1000" section, the price is over £1000. I'm not sure why the magazine would do this, but people could ask to put their car in any section.

Anyway, that was a long update, but it's cold and raining outside so I'm happier to sit inside and read this old magazine. Maybe later I will look at some of the other sections like Sports Cars and post them here. I wish I could buy all of these cars.

Lately, I've been very busy!

My friend with the Quintet and BF Familia-323 (5-door) has just recently repaired another vehicle, his Liteace Diesel van. It took him a while, because he had to fit new suspension parts at the rear. He had to renew the Leaf Springs, I'm not sure if there's a different saying in Japanese. It's the type of suspension you usually get on older vans and wagons (and really old cars). Anyway, he's driving around in it now.



However, he says with all these and his son's car (K10 March/Micra), there's no room at his house for cars. So he has sold his BF 323 to me, so I've got another one to drive!



Here's how it looks now. It's the 5-door BF5P 1.5L B5 8-Valve belt-drive engine with 3AT. The bonnet paint looks flat, because we haven't put the clear coat lacquer on there yet. There's some other repairs to make, but it's still a good car. It's the "GLX Executive" grade.



I already have my 3-door BF3P with the earlier 1.3L E3 8-Valve chain-drive engine and 5MT. Since this is only the "LX" grade, it doesn't have many features, but I enjoy basic cars. However, I think after winter, I'll probably sell one. I have a lot of cars already, so I don't need two types of the same car.



But today I was helping another friend with his car, an early BG Familia-323! He has owned this car for many years now, but he stopped using it about 5 years ago. It's just the basic 1.3L model, but I have driven this car before and it's good to drive. It needs some repairs and a new side window, but he's going to fix it soon. I helped him to move it to the garage workshop. The weather was terrible, raining all day... it was still daytime when I took this photo, but it looks like night.

Anyway, I'll be doing some work on my new BF5P later, so I'll take some photos.