There are always about twice as many imported CCs as there are JDM classics around Tokyo. This time, we’re kicking off the foreign car double post with the Detroit iron. And what better way to start than with the incredibly big-in-Japan Buick “Regal” Estate? This is a rare pre-facelift one, but there were a few more to be found.
I often visit this garage (as will be quite evident in this post), since they routinely have cool American stuff either inside or out in front. Two more Buicks for the singles collection? I’ll take ‘em.
This one is looking a tad peaky. Looks like GM used the same “disintegrating panel” trick on the bumpers as they did on ‘70s/‘80s Cadillac rear fenders.
They have a thing for whales, in this country…
Even the Chevrolet version has its fanbase. Interesting that this behemoth manages to fit into the parking space width-wise, but the overhang goes way over the line.
There’s the usual C/K Series vehicles, which are just as bulletproof and as popular here as they are anywhere else.
And some are being used as work trucks, too.
Probably would not have bothered with this Corvette ordinarily, but the photobombing by the red W201 kinda forced my hand.
I’ve seen this Nova Hatchback (I’m guessing a ’74?) a couple times. It would make for a good CC post, but its owner was more interested in sitting inside browsing his phone than anything else.
Maybe someday the owner will step out so I can take a pic of the interior. Very cool survivor, with a typically ‘70s colour.
When is the last time you saw a ’64 Impala with stock wheels?
Lots of Cadillacs to go through for this edition, starting with a CTS-V Wagon.
Not exactly a looker, but with that grille emblem, how could I pass it up?
Same same, but oh so different. Bordello Bordeaux inside and out, fuzzy dice included, and wide whitewalls for the finishing touch.
Lovely condition on this Brougham, but it looks like the dash has had a little issue and is getting fixed.
Same place, similar car, but it’s had a few mods. That sound system at the back must be ear-shattering.
Customized early ‘60s Impalas are kind of boring, but these feel like the perfect candidate for a little pimping.
Looks like GM sold a few gen 1 Sevilles in Japan back in the late ’70s. Who knew?
This is just a sneak preview. I have caught this one (with its hubcaps on) at this year’s Nihonbashi show, so it’ll have its CC post someday.
Oldsmobile is the one GM marque that is almost never seen in these parts. But once in a blue moon, something like this 1965 convertible wafts by. Wow.
This thing gives me Nostromo (i.e. the ship in the movie Alien) vibes, especially the interior.
It has AC badges and it makes the right noises, but how “genuine” is it?
RIP, Taurus wagon. You were too big for this part of the world.
Where are all the Mopars at? All I’m seeing here is a Benz in (low) drag.
Well, I guess this was technically a Chrysler product when it was made. But also an AMC / Kaiser / Renault / Willys. Could use a little TLC, in any case…
The Harley fanbase is sizable in Japan – bigger than in any place I’ve been to, save for the US. I rarely take the time to document them, but this one had quite a plushy look about it.
Moving on to the Italian portion of the post, starting – in good alphabetical order – with Alfas. Many classic GTVs were seen, and for once, they weren’t all red.
I’m not saying none of them would be red.
Even the rain couldn’t keep this one away. Original Japanese market car, too.
I don’t think I had ever noticed the stylized Visconti serpent on these. It’s all about the little details…
I recently wrote up a coda tronca Spider and proclaimed how little I cared for this later Aerodinamica version. I stand by that.
Beige is only a bold colour choice for Alfas, Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Doesn’t work out too bad on a Giulia saloon though, does it?
Not the first 155 I’ve seen in this condition. These don’t age all that gracefully.
In the Encyclopaedia, under Alfa Romeo, this should be the lead illustration.
The traditional Lancia Delta Integrale – just wouldn’t be a T87 Singles Collection without one.
Save this 500, please! The checkered decal and the twin exhaust hints at a good source of Abarth aftermarket parts, too.
Bone-stock here, but with the usual Tokyo “just-like-new” sheen.
Same utterly pristine condition for this lowly Panda. Good luck trying to find one as spotless as this over in Italy.
Here’s something you don’t see every day. This Fiat-Abarth Cinquecento Trofeo was apparently raced at the 1994 Monte-Carlo Rally.
Only 900cc under the hood, but there’s not too much car for that little engine to haul about.
Why do I keep running into these boxy Ghiblis? That rear end is just the worst. Marcello Gandini may have been a genius, but he was on a off day when he penned this one.
A couple of more modern entrants to close the Italian chapter, starting with Maserati’s newest model, the MC 20. It has a 630hp twin turbo 3-litre V6 in the middle, so I’m guessing it’s no slouch. Can’t say I’ve seen many here – and this is the exact type of car that has a customer base, so maybe it’s not the best-seller its maker hoped it would be. Maybe the Japanese tifosi only bother with supercars sporting a V8 at a minimum.
I will confess that I was utterly stumped by this one. It’s a Dallara Stradale, the marque’s first street-legal model. These have been produced since 2017 and uses a 400hp Ford Ecoboost 2.3 litre 4-cyl. to spin those rear wheels.
Not a whole lot of French stuff, except for Citroëns. Get your bingo cards ready, cross out “H-van,” and let’s carry on.
Just one for the flat-twins, then. But the bingo card might get full with the bigger hydro cars.
The appropriately white elephant that was the C6… There might be more of these in active use in Japan than in most European countries (except perhaps France itself).
By the way, the very last Citroën available with hydropneumatics was not the C6, but the second generation (2008-17) C5. Which, unlike the C6, was not sales poison.
Skipping over the XM, we find a lovely pre-1985 CX Pallas.
Aha! Not only another 2CV, but there’s a DS up there. Bingo! But I think we can do better than that…
That’s the ticket! This is the base model DS 20, and I’m going to guesstimate the model year at 1971.
Beautiful thing, to be sure. Why would it not be a candidate for its own CC post? Because there was this one time, a couple months ago, when four DSs rolled up on that very street. My nitrogen and LHM sphere runneth over.
Just one Peugeot to report for this edition: a fine-looking 405.
The last Frenchie (and final car for this post) will be this 1985-91 Alpine GTA. I’d really like to see in more detail someday. At least we know there’s one out there. See you tomorrow for some British and German stuff.
’64 Cheverolet Impala:
My Dad had an ’64 Impala wagon in the same color. Road many a mile in the back of that wagon on vacations to Grand Isle.
A long time ago!!
That 405 looks better than the new one I bought. Only in Tokyo, indeed.
Oh, has there been a CC on the Citroen C5? I can’t find one in the index.
Im possibly the only reader who owns one, its my daily drive and they are Hydra-active not the previous version from 1955, its very clever an earlier rudimentry version was in the Xantia that blitzed everything on the moose test 30 years ago its now a completely reliable computerised system, Yeah you dont believe me but this is my second C5, the first one was reliable and so far this one is too.
That’s great to hear!
Buick Regal Wagon:
My ex and I bought one of these for her son to hall his band equipment around. It served him well. I think his was an ‘84 or maybe an ‘85 or ‘86.
It looked like the ones in the 2nd picture, but I think it was badged as a Buick Century. Either way, it looked just like one of those pictured.
It was black with the woodie sides.
It lasted him until he got his first T-Bird, a red 1988 V8 Sport.
These were all badged as Century in North America. Buick couldn’t call it the Century in Japan because Toyota had long used that name on their big luxury sedan there. The rear-drive A/G body sedan and wagon that the FWD Century supplemented and later replaced was initially badged as a Century in 1978, but they became Regals in 1982 when the FWD Century went on sale.
You’re starting to get me moving to your side just a little by featuring the worst angle of the Brazilian Butt Lift of the Ghibli. The best angle for that one is when you stand right in front of the car. Somehow the silver color makes that part look worse, like silver tights maybe? It’s what’s on the inside that counts, anyway.
It’s redeemed by the Alfa Spider, one of the later ones of that series with the redone interior. Takes me back to my teens.
The blue Taurus is a perfect example of how Forbidden Fruit is not always as ripe and juicy as it may appear. Sure you could buy it, but besides being different, how is it objectively “better” than any other choice available at the time? And now it’s just another car, a bit weird in that place, with nothing to recommend it besides a storage location. As opposed to the Regal/Century which has the Di-Noc going for it. Are there any without the woodgrain?
Another good show!
There are a surprising number of mundane JDM cars in the US. I don’t know why someone would want an RHD Camry but someone did. Vans make more sense and I have seen some Toyota Estima Lucidas (narrow RHD Previa) delivering mail as well as the occasional Suzuki Escudo (Suzuki Vitara 4 door) around.
The Ghibli tail reminds me of the ’57-’59 Ford Skyliners, which had to have such an oddly tall and ungainly butt for the folding roof.
There are some interesting color choices. That is the first Delta Integrale I’ve seen that wasn’t red or Martini replica colors. The Alfa Giulia looks fine in beige but I prefer the dark green of the police cars in The Italian Job (the original with Michael Caine).
American cars are Big in Japan (not sure if it’s the Alphavile or Tom Waits song), my son was in Yokahama and his pictures showed lot of US rides including a purple Challenger. I’m not surprised that Cadillac Sevilles were imported, they were popular with Japanese expats in the 70s
I can remember in the 80’s when these Buick Wagons were very popular here – I think Yanase (Independent dealer) brought a bunch of them over – they all seemed this same color and all had the fake wood Di-Noc. I guess it was a “bubble-jidai” thing…
That DS has had a small GDP spent on it. It also has the neatest-looking a/c install on one I’ve ever seen. Even the factory one, where there are eyeball vents let into those dash-end square ones, has a more ungainly centre bit than this. This isn’t factory, btw, because the car doesn’t appear to have the extra vent thingys down low on the front valance.
I can say all this because many Oz DS’s have a/c systems, some more elegant than others, and this led me to a rabbit hole about the fitting and re-furbing of such systems. Done properly, you have to take half the bloody engine bay apart!
Am I alone in thinking that the last hydro C5 is a particularly nice-looking machine?
No Justy I like em and am on my second one, not quite that model mines a MK2 previous was a MK1 HDi 2.0 5 speed, my new one is auto 2.2 HDI, test drive one Justy whale the snot out of it over Bells line of road or a spin through the Dandenongs and be amazed..Mine is the last of the hatchback bodies before they used the 407 black metal to build them, Mine has the MK3 engine Ive discovered and built right at the end of production. C5s could be had in all models with steel suspension from the 406/7 Peugeot.cheaper than hydra-active but mt C5 is much nicer to drive than my mates 407
I don’t have a favourite, they’re all so cool, with one exception.
That awful Maserati Giblet.