PODCAST GALLERY

"Pommie cars are far better built and more economical" Um........Say that again?

My love affair with the car industry started back in the mid 1960’s.

The first Japanese car that I can recall seeing in the 60’s, was a Mazda Carol.

I always thought it looked a little like a Hillman Imp.

It's strange to think that nearly all those English makes that dominated back then have disappeared and that Japanese cars now fill the market place.

Will they be replaced like the Europeans were, by the Chinese onslaught?

I've listed the cars from my Podcast here on this page.

So click on the photo and it will (THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS) reveal some of its facts and stats.

MAZDA CAROL.
The first Japanese car that I can remember seeing back in the very early sixties. The Mazda R360 was complemented by the more grown-up 2-door sedan Mazda P360 Carol in February 1962, the company's first 4-passenger car, and complemented the three-wheeled Mazda Mazdago. It was more substantial than the R360: although its total length of 2,980 mm (117.3 in) was the same, its 1,930 mm (76.0 in) wheelbase was considerably longer.
The Carol weighed in at 525 kg (1,157 lb), versus 380 kg (838 lb) for the diminutive R360.[3] It used the DA, a 18 PS (13 kW), rear-mounted water-cooled 358 cc 4-cylinder OHV engine. This is one of the smallest four-cylinder automobile engines in history, only Honda's 356 cc DOHC alloy inline-four unit (used in the T360 truck) was smaller. The four-speed gearbox was synchronized only on the top three gears.

MORRIS MINOR CONVERTIBLE

MITSUBISHI COLT FASTBACK. This little lift back was sold by Isuzu Bellett dealerships in the sixties. Check out the white wall tyres. The Mitsubishi Colt 1000F, which made its Australian debut in early 1967, had several distinctive attributes. But it was one of those cars that motoring journalists found easy to criticise. It now seems fair to suggest that the Colt fastback’s true character was probably not appreciated for several years, by which time it had carved out a brilliant reputation in rallying. It also acquired a higher level of refinement through the years.

One distinctive feature was that despite looking like one, the 1000F was not in fact a hatchback. That ‘F’ stands for Fastback, back in the day when ‘Fastback’ didn’t mean hatchback. From the debut of the Ford Mustang fastback in August 1964 (four months after the coupe and convertible variants), this body style became immediately fashionable. Volkswagen introduced its 1600 TL Fastback in August 1965, the same year that Renault revealed its radical 16.

ISUZU BELLETT. Great car that was very underrated. Launched in June 1963, the sedan used a 1.5 L OHV gasoline Inline-four engine and a 1.8 L diesel engine. The 50 PS (37 kW; 49 hp) diesel received very low gearing of 4.1:1 - optionally available to the 1.5 as well - resulting in a top speed of only 104 km/h (65 mph). In April 1964, they were joined by the 1.3 L OHC inline-four engine already in use in the Wasp pickup truck, at which time a three-door van/wagon version called the Express (in Japan) was also added to the lineup. In 1966, the a mild facelift featured a revised front fascia and the Bellett B model was added. At the very end of 1966, a 1.6 litre SOHC engine was added for the 1600 GT.