There are two important thing in this world; going fast and looking cool and more often than not one has to take priority over the other. That is unless you happen to be Eddie M. from Old series garage. This is Eddies ’73 Toyota Mark II wagon: 

Mixing rat look paint, Boso styling and a massive drop over a set of meshies it certainly has the “looking cool” part of the equation nailed 

I’d be pretty pleased with myself at this point. Window down and crusin’ in the Lynnwood (Washington) sunshine, enjoying the unstressed burble of the original 2.3l six-pot 2M block. The problem is Toyota six cylinder engines have come on a little bit since 1973 so the old boat anchor had to go…

 

To fill the new gap between the towers Toyota’s finest 2.5l, 24 valve 1JZGTE engine was employed. For those unfamiliar with this engine, not only do you get lots of valves and just under a hat-trick of liters, you also get a pair of turbochargers!

 

I’m not sure of the exact specs of the engine, but in stock trim it was a little shy of the big 300 (bhp) so, with the addition of a filter, exhaust and intercooler...I’m not even going to guess, let’s just say it will have more than enough!

So there you go, speed and style all in one; got the cake and eaten it? Well, not quite. I won’t spoil it for those that don’t want to know, but nature can be a cruel mistress. I just hope Eddie and Old Series Garage can bring it back faster and cooler; now there’s a challenge!

Check out the Old Series Garage MySpace Page for more pics and other projects!

That’s it for Transplant week on RSM. I hope we have given you some inspiration to get out there with the tape measure and start weighing up those engine bays! Don’t forget the clocks go forward this weekend so light nights in the workshop are back on the cards!

Posted on: March 27, 2009 02:55

Here at RSM we love nothing more than the sounds and smells produced when you combine nature’s finest ingredients and apply the Otto Cycle. To celebrate this we will be documenting some really special engines, engines that have been born out of engineering ingenuity and the will to win both on the track and in the show rooms.

The first engine I wanted to showcase can be firmly filed under “motorsport rarity” in terms of its production numbers and intended use.

In 1965 Toyota launched its new K-Series engine; a compact 4-cylinder unit with a cast iron block and aluminium eight valve head. Opening and closing those valves was a single cam nestled firmly in the block and chain driven by the crank. This first instalment of K-Joy, the 1k, was the first of a long line of K Series engines available in capacities of up to 1812cc and was built right up to 1988.

OK, enough history, let’s get to the good stuff and start talking racing! While the K-Series engine is fairly special in its own right (though I am bias!) it’s the Tom’s 3K-R that is the real star of the line-up. Based on the 3K, 1166cc, the Tom’s engine was bored out to 1293cc and featured a unique DOHC 16 valve cylinder head. The engine also featured a Nippon Denso mechanical fuel injection system and dry sump lubrication.

A factory 3K engine was good for 45bhp @ 5600rpm. The 3K-R produced 180bhp at a frenzied 9000rpm. Just think about that for a second...180bhp from less than 1.3 litres! Did somebody say “volumetric efficiency”!?

During the early 1970’s Toyota was heavily involved with touring car racing in Japan, but could not penetrate the strangle hold of Datsun and their Sunnys. With the introduction of the 3K-R in ‘73 the 717kg (around 100kg heavier than the Datsun) Toyota Starlet went on to claim the 2 hottest spots on the podium at the Grand Champion fifth race at Fuji Speedway.

 

It’s this turning point in Toyota’s racing career that shot the engine to stardom. However, if you’re looking to fill the gap between the strut towers of your own Toyota project I wouldn’t get to excited; only around 20 of the engines were built and while one did turn up on Yahoo auctions a few years back (it was largely incomplete), it changed hands for a considerable amount or money!

 

Still we can dream, and to help with that you should check out this link:

KP30 Hiro – A great Toyota KP30 enthusiast site from Japan with some great pictures (as seen above) of the 3K-R, as well as a great build up section of the owners KP30!

Posted on: February 3, 2009 23:52

Following on from our recent article on Steve Kirk's conceptual drawings in Street Machine's Motorvation series we thought we'd bring you Japan's offerings along similar lines: 'Custom Dreaming' by Crazy Masaru.

 

My inability to read Japanese puts me somewhat on the back foot here, so the information I've gleaned is purely visual from the pages of Lightning Vintage Auto magazine where there is a Custom Dreaming section in every splendid issue. Cars are seemingly always domestic in origin (Japanese, that is) and themes are often influenced by American car culture with the likes of Bonneville styled RX7s, Cobra-ised Datsun Roadsters, surf bum Hiace vans and Suzuki Fronte Gassers! 

 

Brilliant lateral thinking here with a Lil' Red Wagon inspired Honda Acty pickup - the Little Little Red Wagon. 

 

Here's that Suzuki Fronte SS (Sport Sedan) drag racer I mentioned. A picture of the front shows a gasser stance, some Cragar-esque mags and the legend 22 cu in on the fender (22 Cubic inches is 360cc for those that don't have their calculators to hand). It's the clever touches like that that make these ideas so neat. 

 

This MS72 Crown looks good given the circuit racer treatment.

 

Another fantastic concept is this Fairlady, as mentioned previously it's been Cobra-ised (or Shelby'd, perhaps?). Again, my lack of Japanese language skill holds us back, but I can clearly make out the numbers '289' amongst the text, suggesting that Masaru has a V8 in mind for this creation.

 

Further info? Despite the Crazy Masaru moniker (changed to Funky Masaru in at least one issue) the credit for illustration goes to M.Nemoto. I've yet to find anything on the 'net about the artist or the illustrations, but judging by this picture from Auto Otaku's Flickr pages there was a display of the works at the Tokyo Nostalic Car Show this year. If you know more let us know.

 

 

Posted on: July 24, 2008 02:00

Not content with travelling eight years into the past I've modified the time machine to travel thousands of miles too - in this case it's leapt all the way to the land where the world's wackiest automotive modifiers live - Japan. Think that statement is an exaggeration? Read on...

Those familiar with Young Auto magazine will know that it usually sports a not-particularly-attractrive young 'gal' (their words not mine) on the cover, but this issue is an exception. The big '20' on the front is a clue, this is their twentieth anniversary issue. What does that mean for the reader? It means that the first (or last, depending on whether you're used to reading magazines backwards or not) twenty pages are dedicated to showing all the covers of the previous issues. Here's the page for 1998:

Yep, that's a 240K and those are Hayashis! Believe me about the craziest cars now? Here's some more gems:

 

How about this Celica which is ticking all the Bosozoku boxes: crazy bodykit, upswept exhaust, reworked lighting, subway ring...it's all there. I almost hate myself for liking it. Pretty radical you'd think...until you see this:

 

I can't read the text but what we do know is that it's got four rows of seats including the rearmost row which located in what appears to be a trailer! Whether the gigantic 'X' at the back is a spoiler or an exhaust isn't clear. Enough sillyness I think, how about some tamer (but still riding high in the cool chart) vehicles?

 

  Just how smart is this Celica liftback? I wouldn't usually go for red, but you won't hear any complaints from me! 

 

 
Ah, much calmer. I've no idea what's under the bonnet, but I'm happy to believe there's some form of Turbo'd modern lump from Nissan under the bonnet of this 610 wagon. Whatever the motivation there can't be many better ways of hauling stuff around.

That brings us to the end of another journey through time , tune in again soon - I'm off to Cardiff to soak up some rift energy.

 

 

Posted on: June 2, 2008 06:05

Its easy to imagine that everyone loves old cars when you swim in a sea of blogs and forums devoted to them.  The reality is that more modern machinery has a much larger following.  I found this out first hand when I went to my first show of the year, JapFest at Castle Combe.

The show was vast, 2,500 cars were on show, of which only a small percentage were there to represent the more retro side of the Japanese scene.  What was there made up for what they lacked in numbers, in style and quality.  First stop was the stand of eight-six.co.uk, for a selection of Toyotas, not just AE86, but earlier Corollas and Racer86's fantastic KP30 startlet


















Moving back to the Paddock area saw a fantastic selection of traders and great line up of esoteric cars from Redline Magazine [link], including a bright pink VIP import;






It was good to see that people’s tastes in imports are moving beyond the latest hot Japanese car and onto some of the more unusual stuff.




By the time I'd worked my way through a sea of more modern Japanese machinery to Quarry I'd seen literally hundreds of cars.  Getting to the corner at Quarry I spotted an RX-4 standing out and being much photographed.






The 'flip' paint is a really unusual choice, but seemed to work very well.  It was certainly attracting a lot of attention.

I made my way into the final club area, another vast field, to go and hunt out some more cool retro machinery.  It was a treasure trove of cars, including probably the finest AE86 I saw all day.






Elsewhere in the field I found a gathering of cool Daihatsu' and standing out like a sore thumb a matt black Honda Prelude on TSW Venoms.












I ended the afternoon talking to the owners of a fantastic 240Z hillclimb car, a conversation which has lead me to sorting out the future of my particular vehicle and hopefully realising my own motorsports aims.




On top of the cars I met up with some good friends, which is what all this is about I guess, which made a good day into a great day.  I think I'll definitely be going back next year, maybe we'll see if we can get a bit more retro stuff there next year.  Bring on the J-tin army!

Posted on: May 19, 2008 04:01

It's about time we gave you some more influential cars to have a look at.

We're going to cover the whole budget range this time, starting with a couple of VW's that really turned heads when they came on the scene.

Brian Burrows Squareback

Why is it important?
I could write a lot about this car, in fact I did once, although due to various circumstances it never ended up printed, which is why I think this car isn't as famous outside of VW circles as it should be.  This is another of those uncompromising vehicles, built to one mans specific vision of what he wanted.

Take one relatively obscure end of the VW scene, a Type 3 estate, add the power unit from a Porsche 993 GT2, strip down to the bare essentials, smooth, then drop the whole lot on a custom build chassis.  In a scene that has been around for twenty or thirty years it can become difficult to cause a stir, this car did that.  Taking it initial look principles not from other cars but from the Bauhaus' design principles of making no distinction between between form and function.  From this jump off a whole series of design decisions got made outside of the scope of traditional car modfication, which made for a really fresh car.

 

Not only does this car look great, enough to win the Volksworld Show best car, but it went well and was driven on the street, no trailer queen this.

 

Where is it now?
The car has changed hands a few times over the past couple of years.  It has appeared in the odd auction listing recently so you may yet have the chance to own it.


Linde Bus

 

Why is it important?
Even though Bug Jam had Rust & Prime events for many years (instigated by our very own Rmad) it took a car from Germany to really set the wheels of full patina'd rat look to full speed.
When Bug Box's Linde bus first appeared in Volksworld magazine it was the first time a lot of people had seen an intentionally ratty looking car that was aimed at the street and went like stink!  It wasn't the first vehicle to be done this way, but it was one of the first to get such a high level of exposure.  Arguably it became the benchmark by which all the rat look VW vans that followed got judged by.

The bus is the very definition of rat look as well, the outside is scruffy, rusty with a lovely patina, the underneath is perfectly solid, well screwed together with power to push it along.  It caused a fair amount of internet based debate when it first came out, some loved it, other hated it.  We'll let you make your own mind up, but there is no denying its infulence on a generation of modified car builders.

There is a write up in English and German here about its history.

 

Where is it now?
The bus has made its way to the UK and now lives in the hands of Type2Detectives.


Rmad's Cressida

 

Why is it important?
If the Burrows Squareback is a car built to a vision then Rmad's Cressida is a car built to a budget.  A relatively tiny budget.  Up until a couple of months ago the car had cost a total of £700.  It may have been built with budget in mind, but it has turned heads at every show it has been to, it has caused a stir.  The base model was chosen for practicality rather than having one eye on the emerging Japanese car scene, in fact it predates the current trend by a year or so, this was always intended as a car that could drive the family to the shops if needed.  4 doors, reliable, cheap, bland?  Some would think so, but not Rmad.

This is a simple build, lowered on a cheap set of wheels and some nice details (stickers, seat covers and the like).  It is important because it shows that a diverse taste in cars and the ability to look at anything with an eye for its potential could mean your driving around in a scene defining car for as little as £700.  It just requires that you keep your eyes open at all times.  This could happily be parked along side any of the other cars here and still turn heads.  It proves your budget isn't a limit, in fact you can use it to your advantage.

The car has had an actual measurable impact, directly on the price of Lotus Eclat wheels, as well as influencing others to just get on and build rides rather than sitting around planning them.

 

Where is it now?
Currently undergoing a facelift and will be back out this year in a new guise.  The current build can be read here

 

There are more influential cars to come, in fact there may even be an actual theme for the next one.

Posted on: April 23, 2008 04:13

 

Take a look at this picture:  

Depending on your interests there's a few points that might grab you. Old school BMX fans will have no doubt spotted ex-BMX legend and MOBO boss Andy Ruffell polishing off a pint, others may have been instantly scanning the street for early Estelles and Maxis but that's not the reason I'm posting it. Check out that T25! Some original livery can make an otherwise bland ride something really special - how much would you want to roll up at Bug Jam, Vanfest or even the Backyard Jam in that beauty? To take things further, how about a replica complete with appropriate aging and the occasional rat-look inspired detail? A couple of old school Mongooses (Mongeese?!) on the roof rack, faded paint, the obligatory lowered stance and maybe a set of BMX inspired rims; some five-spokes painted to look like (Skyway) Tuffs or Moon discs with a Motomag stencil! Perhaps you could apply the same principal to another vehicle...a Kuwahara Honda Acty (with a white to burgundy fade paint scheme from the ET bike!) would rule!

 

Finds

You might find the original Ammaco/Mongoose team bus, but it's unlikely. That's not to say that liveried vans aren't out there, find the right one and it could be your admission to the VIP room reserved for retro heroes. These guys are inside right now, sipping champagne delivered by busty bunny-girls: 

 

Q-Vans

The perfect disguise - Robin Beardmore's inconceivably cool GPO van replica packed a Fiat Twin Cam, but could've easily performed duties on the set of Heartbeat. Incidentally this van went on to win the 'Street Machine of the year' award albeit in it's later guise as a new-school turquoise roadster pick up. Take a trip to www.beardmorebros.com for the full story.

 

Something's Not Quite Right Here....

Taking Robin's example above and adding a humourous or clever twist might get you in our fictitious VIP room too, like the Rover V8 powered 'Royal Male' van, or the 'Bun In The Oven' pro-street MKIII Escort: 

 

I've always fancied a nose-in-the-air Bedford HA van with 'British Gasser' on the side!

 

Not Just Vans

There's no reason why you should restrict your ideas to just commercial vehicles, a 'Croydon Social Services' MKIII Escort Estate would still get you noticed. This Japanese Carina wears original fire service livery: 

Get your thinking caps on, and get into the VIP room. Whether you resist re-painting that barn find or mock up a humourous rat-wagon rollin' with the retro scene's A list could be just one cleverly executed idea away.

 

Posted on: April 22, 2008 02:53

It seems like we aren't the only ones who spend half of our time trawling ebay for tat - apparently Madonna has been buying up budget classics for use in her latest promo vid! I've just caught the lastest Madonna video on BBC Breakfast and it's a four minute retro-fest in which Madonna, Justin Timberlake and annoyingly prolific R'n'B producer Timbaland (along with some blokes in red overalls - mechanics, perhaps?) leap over various overpriced UK registered retros including a Cressida, a Mercedes W123 Coupe, a Dolomite, a Hunter and a Volvo 240! 

£7000? Crikey! I'll get mine on ebay straight away. I can see it now...we'll have 'Madonna video' added to ebay listings within the week. 'DRIFT, Ashes to Ashes, Life on Mars, Rat Look, Madonna'. 

Renault 25, MKIII Cortina (Life on Mars, Madonna video) Triumph Dolomite, Hillman Hunter (or Singer Vogue - that would make more sense, as she wrote a song about one!) and Triumph 2000 (Levis ad, Madonna video).

That's no way to treat a classic!  * "c'mon vogue - let your body move to the music" * etc.

Obviously her red-suited mechanics couldn't fix the Cadillac and left Madge to push it while they danced on the roof of the Cressida. Retro enthusiasts might find this video difficult to watch because of the way the cars are treated. People of a non-retro persuasion will just find the 'tongue' bit rather lacking in taste...eeuugh! There's a preview of the video on madonna.com for those of you with a strong enough stomach, the song is called '4 minutes'.

Posted on: April 6, 2008 09:07

We put VW Split screen vans on the way down in our Trends for 2008, mainly due to a saturated market combined with continued high prices.  For those with tighter pockets and those that want to stand out from the crowd, we thought it was worth showing you some of the alternatives on the run up to summer (in Europe at least).

Lets start with the older vans.

A good start is the Commer PB van, there are many many camper converted ones around already, they are more spacious than an equivalent VW van which makes them a very practical solution for all those show trips.  What's more they come with rear wheel skirts, which is always a great thing.  There are a few modified ones floating around, one of the most inspirational being this one that lives in New Zealand

They already have a following so you can jump right in safe in the knowledge there is a support network!

If you fancy a trip to Germany to pick up a camper then eschew the usual Bavarian choice and go back to a time when Ford made different cars in different European countries.  The Transit FK was the van that Germany got when we had the Mk1 Transit Thames*.  They can certainly look cool with a little bit of work

The joy doesn't stop there.  If we cast our eyes Eastwards (at least from where I'm sitting) you get a great selection of campers and mini vans from the land of the rising sun.

The Toyota HiAce is by far the most populous of these now days with many camper converted ones from the 70's still floating around which have a reputation for reliability and can certainly be made to look the business.

We're just waiting for someone to stuff a 1JZ engine in one and take it down the strip.

The HiAce badge carries on till present day and the eighties ones really look the part as well.

Nissan offered us the Urvan and the Caravan which are both around in limited numbers in the UK and Europe and in more plentiful supply in other parts of the rest of the world.

For our money though the Toyota Space Cruiser is where its at, cheap, plentiful with parts available, can be made to look awesome, can be used as a day van or converted to camper, we'd just love to see more modified ones.

No list of cool alternative vans would be complete without the guys from Barracuda and their funky vans

 

 

This isn't even half the tip of the iceberg, you've got Transit, Liteace, Mazda E2000, Morris J and a host of others, so next time you fancy a comfortable place to sleep with wheels, have a look further than the VW classifieds, blaze your own trail.

 

*edit : Thanks to Dave who owns the lovely blue Transit FK for the correction

Posted on: February 26, 2008 05:25