Car Show Classic: 1963 Hino Briska – Before The HiLux

Here’s something I didn’t expect to find at all, not even in a car show: a partially restored early ’60s Hino Briska pickup. A surviving relic from the early days of Japanese products spreading, trickle by trickle, around the globe. And while today’s Briska isn’t clearly all original, it’s –for a rare survivor– mostly all there. In some ways rather fitting for CC: a mix of modern preservation aided by local ingenuity to make up for the missing pieces.

So as we check out this Briska a little closer, I hope you’ll forgive the lack of originality on some of its cosmetics. After all, when talking about a 60+ years old obscure Japanese offering, factory trim is not something to be found in a local parts store.

What’s a Briska you ask? It was Hino’s light truck model from 1961 to 1968, based on the company’s Renault-based Hino Contessa sedan.

As for its parent company, it was one of Japan’s largest commercial vehicle makers at the time. Something that can be seen in this 1965 brochure, where the Briska FG makes a prominent appearance.

Like a lot of Japanese commercial vehicle makers during the postwar, Hino thought it worth it to extend its product line into the passenger car market. First, by assembling the Renault 4CV under license, and then taking that experience to develop their ’61 Contessa, which used a lot of Renault-derived reengineered technology.

Those Renault genes kept the Contessa as a rear-engine propelled vehicle, powered by an 893cc version of the Renault-based GP engine. Alongside the sedan, a sharp-looking coupé was created with styling by Michelotti.

Taking advantage of the newly available hardware, the light-duty Briska pickup was developed alongside the Contessa to debut in March ’61. Under the hood, the same 893cc mill was found, making use of Hitachi-stromberg carburation.

The early Briska came in three main formats: today’s light-duty pickup, a 2-bench crew cab, and a light panel van that was offered solely for two years. The light-duty pickup had a payload capacity of 1,653lb., while the crew cab of only 882lb.

(If you’re curious about this car show in San Salvador, I covered it a while back HERE. And the white ’65 Dart in the background, HERE).

Today’s find belongs to the model’s early run from 61-’65. As can be clearly seen, the current owner has cobbled up some of its cosmetics, like the grille. Meanwhile, the turn signal lenses have proved impossible to find (no surprise there).

If you wish to see a surviving Briska with the proper factory grille, one has been previously featured at CC. Not that the factory one looks that much more refined…

Like many other contemporary light-duty Japanese workhorses, the Briska has a simplicity of purpose in its bodywork.

The current owner spent quite a penny on a fancy respray, at least from the looks of things. Even adding graphics that respond to the usual flights of fancy locals indulge in. The “edición limitada” text at the tailgate’s bottom being one of them.

Talking about whom, here he is, looking as happy as could be on his –surely– non-brisky Briska. I barely managed to cross some words with him as he drove away when a downpour started mid-show. In that brief exchange, I learned not only this Briska’s year but also a bit about its background. Owned by the same family since new, the little truck has been going through a slow restoration in recent years.

And unlike many local affluent collectors, the fella is just a regular middle-class guy, just putting time and money into reviving an old family relic.

No idea if the vehicle still carries the same engine, a detail I didn’t get to verify. Curiously, it still has some of the rare to find factory badging.

And as per local custom, most of it is secured with rivets. And with an added Falcon and Impala badges below the official Briska one.

Those rims look original to me, and are covered in a thick white respray.

A detail of the pop-up ventilation lid. A rather common and straightforward feature on Japanese commercial vehicles of that era.

The interior also shows some obligatory creativity. From the added instruments below the steering column, to the Datsun-sourced steering itself.

No blame there. Really, how easy can it be to find an original Briska steering wheel?

On the brief exchange with the owner, I forgot to ask how truly brisky is the Briska. Back in ’61, the 883cc mill offered a modest 35HP, numbers that climbed to 39HP in 1963 thanks to some tuning. A larger 1.2 engine arrived in 1965, the year the crew cab line was dropped. The new displacement raised power to 55HP.

So, if going by cold numbers, nothing too brisk in reality. However, for the segment and its intended use in Asia and regions like Central America, it served its purpose.

Hino faced challenging finances by the mid-sixties and began a partnership with Toyota in 1966, which led to an eventual acquisition. The new relationship allowed Toyota to expand into new markets, mainly into the heavy-duty commercial vehicle segment. A new line of light truck vehicles arrived too, in the form of the 1968 HiLux. A model conceived by Toyota, but developed and built at Hino’s Hamura plant, the previous birthplace of many Briskas.

 

Related CC reading:

Cohort Outtake: Hino Briska – Now That’s A New One For Me

Curbside Classic: 1968 Hino Contessa (PD) 1300 Coupé – Deadly Sin In The Rising Sun

Automotive History: 1964-1967 Hino Contessa 1300 – The Japanese Corvair