Japanese Car Day: Parliament House Lawns, Hobart, 2nd of March, 2019
I have a thing for 1970s' Japanese hardtops and coupes, quite possibly because they were what I could afford - and thus aspire to - in the early 1980s when I first got my licence. But also because they are very, very beautiful, well-made, and handled and performed pretty well, especially when compared to some of the stodge that was manufactured domestically and in the UK around the same time. If they lacked the cachet of my other love - Italian sports cars from the 60s through to the early 80s - they certainly made up for it in reliability and build finish. Having said that, I only ever admired Mazda's rotary line-up - the R100 and RXs 2 to 7 - from the passengers seats of mates' cars because early versions did have a few issues with their engines, notwithstanding that when they went, they really, really went! And when they didn't, my mates swore a lot, got progressively poorer and not uncommonly ended up in the passenger seat of my 1975 Galant hardto...