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things-about-cars-in-posts · 8 months

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Suzuki Cappuccino :) or other baby roadsters

Oh, I had a post in the chamber about exactly that! :D

So, Japan is pretty densely populated. Let's put it this way: one reason the Tokyo metro area couldn't do a huge and extremely weird cultural exchange where every citizen trades place with someone from Australia, Belgium or Slovenia, is there aren't enough Australians, Belgians and Slovenians combined to do that. So you can imagine it would be pretty advantageous to public life for people to drive small cars - hence the popularity of kei cars, a car class with huge tax benefits and tiny engine and dimensions limits. Those limits, positively minuscule when they were introduced to push bike makers to use their parts to make small cars, eventually increased to a 0.66L engine size and the dimensions below...

...and in the late 80s there was a "gentleman's agreement" whereby no one would make a kei car more powerful than 64hp, similar to the other gentleman's agreement whereby they agreed not to make cars with more than 276hp - which they cleverly addressed by equipping more powerful cars, like the Skyline GT-Rs, with unusual little devices called lies.

But now it's the 1990s -contrary to popular misconceptions- and Japanese businesses and customers have a problem: what the fuck do we do with all this money?

To truly convey the desperation with which cash was being thrown around like primate feces, Mazda created FIVE sub-brands (Amati, Autozam, ɛ̃fini, Xedos, and Eunos, brand under which they sold the Miata as Eunos Roadster) AND gave the SIXTH sub-brand M2 separate headquarters - these headquarters. In Tokyo.

M2 only ever made parts and some fringe prototypes, the most it produced were three Eunos Roadster-based limited versions - they cost twice as much as the original (and for good reason - one of them used leather deemed too expensive by the only other automaker to ever use it, Rolls Royce), but because economic bubble, they were so sought after they had to set up a lottery, Andrea was telling us, and as he got to the uber-limited production numbers (a combined 780), he explained that, since of course they were only sold in Japan, there were only five in the whole of Europe. He then raised his finger and, in one of the greatest flexes I have ever witnessed, pointed it around his huge, Miata-packed shed, counting "one, two, three, four, five".

S'yah, it turns out the world's biggest Miata collection is just owned by Some Guy in the middle of Italy, and if your kid ever gets dumped it is a wonderful place to take him to cheer him back up. Thanks, dad.

So clearly, this was a point in time where even people with no need nor wish nor space for a large second car, or a large car at all, could still be interested in a sportscar, thus spawning some briefly-lived but oh-so-brightly-burning kei sportscars, nicknamed ABC.

One of them being, indeed, the Suzuki Cappuccino.

Please remember, this car is positively lilliputian. It's 3.30m long. For the yankees in the audience, that's just 0.03 football fields. Here are some fun size comparisons.

The engine was front-mid and turbocharged...

...the roof was a fun puzzle that allowed you to have a T-Top coupe (with just the sides off), a targa (with the top part of the roof removed but the rear pillar of the roof still in place) or a spider (by folding the rear pillar and window down)...

...and it was NOT exclusive to Japan, with 12% of units being sold in the UK!

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But since this was clearly asked by someone quite familiar with its generalities, some less-known quirks for the geeks:

It was the first kei car ever with double wishbones all around

The indicators changed between JDM and UK versions so if you've got the latter finding spares is 10 times harder

The hood release is in the glovebox and the fuel release is in the center console storage - the latter locks with a different key than the ignition uses, so if you hand just the latter to the valet you can keep them from siphoning your gas, but I'm yet to hear whether that also goes for the glovebox, so stay tuned for updates on whether you can also keep them from siphoning your washer fluid

Air gets to the engine (well, to the turbo) through the frame. Like, it gets into the frame, it travels inside the frame, and then gets out and is filtered. Now, you may ask yourself why they would do that.

While most cars had front disc brakes at the time, the less effective but cheaper drum brakes were usually used on the rear, which was fine since when a car brakes weight transfers to the front so the front wheels are the ones that get more grip and can thus brake harder anyway - so not only do you not need the rear wheels to have the same stopping power, you don't even want them to, because then the rear wheels would lock up before the front ones even got to their full braking potential. So when the Cappuccino got four wheel disc brakes, like every other car with four wheel disc brakes, it didn't put four discs of the same size all around. Unlike every other car with four wheel disc brakes, however, they put the bigger ones at the rear. A friend who owns one called the brakes "not amazing".

Then again, let's cut them some slack, it was the second kei car ever with four wheel disc brakes! Second, yes, because the Cappuccino was not the first kei-sized sportscar.

So, remember how with Ferrari, the last car to be signed off by its founder was a mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, manual, record-setting, no frills two-seater sportscar? Well, the Japanese being famous overachievers, that goes for Soichiro Honda's last two.

Supposedly, Honda decided that its F1 engines hadn't kicked Ferrari's ass enough, so they set out to build a car as approachable, reliable and daily-life-friendly as a Honda yet faster through both straights and corners than a Ferrari. Or a Lamborghini. Or a Porsche- you get the idea. Thus, the NSX, seen here next to it is its test driver, tuning consultant and enthusiastic owner Ayrton Senna, best known for driving the car on the left into three championship wins, a bunch of "Greatest Of All Time" debates, and a wall that killed him.

But if your second-to-last car is a two seat, mid-engined, rear wheel drive sportscar with Pininfarina design, a 40mm short-throw manual, and a redline past 8000RPM, what do you do for your last one? Easy! Another!

This little bowl of pint-sized cuteness is the Honda Beat, and yes, that interior is not just factory, but was the only pattern available. Still, if you think the interior is the most outlandish part of this car, you haven't heard it.

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Again, this engine was outsized by two Coke cans and the car it's in is no bigger than the Cappuccino, and you already know how... ah, screw it, let's show you a size comparison anyway.

Some geek facts:

It was the first mid-engine monocoque (as in not body-on-frame, not un-shark-like, you pervs) spider ever made! There were some targas before, but never a full-on spider

The stereo was custom to fit in the super-narrow center console between the two asymmetrical cabin spaces so the cassette slot has the same cute little Beat logo as the "Open Air Motoring!" branded floormats!

Gathers celebrated its 20th anniversary with a new touchscreen radio for it that is now uber-rare and uber-expensive

It had two trunks, which is lovely, except that the rear one had the battery and optional CD changer conspiring against you and the front was literally inside the spare tire, so it's good that you could also get a rear rack!

The rear rims are bigger than the front!

With how much cooler this is than the Cappuccino (sorry, friend who owns one) it's quite the shame Suzuki decided not to go forward with the mid-engine layout their kei sportscar development started with. At least, Mazda sure thought as much, asking Suzuki to please keep working on that idea and make a mid-engined kei sportscar for them to sell under their brand for the youth, Autozam. And thus we have the ABC - C for Cappuccino, B for Beat...

...and A for AZ-1. Think of how cool life was in Japan back in the day that this was a car for the youth.

Fun facts:

IT HAS GULLWING FUCKING DOORS

The spare tire was mounted in the front compartment but crashing made it jam the steering wheel in your chest so they sent owners a little bag and asked them to please put that tire behind the seats

GULLWING FUCKING DOORS

Suzuki sold a few of them themselves as the Cara

G U L L W I N G D O O R S

Sadly, it joined the party (JapaneseEconomicBoomfest, that is) just when it was ending. Hell, the Beat was sold for six years ('91 through '96) and two thirds of Beats sold are 1991s. That's how hard recession hit Japan right when the AZ-1 came out, which indeed sold a fraction of the other two.

But fear not: after decades, Honda blew the dust off the kei sportscar idea in 2015 with the gloriously sexy S660.

It did cease production last year, but at least it left the Japanese used market a kei sportscar with the modern amenities we (and by we I mean you spoiled pussies) cannot do without, like steering wheel controls and *squints* HDMI.

Oh by the way, remember how I said I was going to post about the Cappuccino? Well, it was because someone posted a picture of one with aftermarket taillights.

Guess what car was next to it when this picture was taken. Guess.

WRONG.

"What? Where was this?" At a Fiat 500 meeting, of course. And then people wonder why I love Japan so much.

Links in blue are posts of mine explaining the words in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

#fun fact about ayrton senna: when he was 25 he started dating a 15 year old!#what else can be expected from the man behind the quote “if you don't go for a gap that exists you are no longer a racing driver”#kei cars #M2 #miataland #suzuki cappuccino #honda NSX #honda beat #autozam az-1 #suzuki cara #honda S660

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the-firebird69 · 4 days

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A JDM Honda S660 in the U.S?

As soon as I did but boy this is awfully small it's about 17 inches shorter wheelbase and he says that's not even a foot mouth it is true which is not that long to think of it 17 inches is one foot 5 inches and it is not that much smaller it really it is not it's lower which is an advantage and it's kind of a mid engine it's close to it it's not right on the axle it's forwards there's more space you can move it back and when you put in the new frame and stuff it's gonna be wider and longer. We did a quick calculation it'll be about 8 or 9 inches shorter than the original cena car and about 3 or 4 inches less than width but keep in mind that that Corvette is very wide and stays on the road this car has a lot more than 65 horsepower it has a 800CC motor and it's not a motorcycle motor and it has a lot of meat to it of course you need extra cooling but it has it puts out about 100 horse fire on the Shell in the body and roll cage and everything combined on this size vehicle would be a lot less weight and you would save weight it would do it way about£850 and you'd be taking £300 so it'd be less weight by 300 pounds when you're done and that's 2 people that's a huge difference in the car like this and this car is gonna scream. It's not much you can do about the horsepower but when you put the exhaust on it's going to increase it and it will sound like a lotus the small one and it won't look funny because it'll be miniaturized everything will be to scale it's still gonna look fairly a fairly good sized like one of the smaller Ferraris. No joke but Porsche will be a little smaller than it. With our new design of the cockpit and the windows the air cooling system and we'll keep the snorkel and of the rear end a little bit with the vents and lowering it and we will make it a little lower it would look so intense people would want to buy it right away we're talking 8 or 9 inches shorter than the original and only 3 or four inches less wide that's like 2 inches or less on each side it's almost the same size now here's the question of the day is the engine is real small and people will change it out and there is room to put in a nice 4 cylinder about 200 horsepower. And people will do it. Honda can accept it the way it is there's an adapter that you can get if you buy a Honda Motor and those motors are fast and reliable.

S660 CURRENT TOP SPEED AS SEEN HERE 180 mph at high rpm

s660 as seen here 0-60 mph 4.9 seconds

qurter mile as seee n here 12.9

..................

RENOVATE ADD THE CENA CAR KIT

TOP SPEED 390MPH

0-60 MPH 2.5 SECONDS

QUARTER MILE 5.9 SECONDS

The reason it's so fast is because it's very very light i'm going to use an aluminum cage and they're legal and enclosure. It's not as strong but you don't have to have it massively strong there's no torque to the damn thing it's just for accidents. And those roll cages are very safe. They are rated at about an 8 but a regular car is rated at a 4. And there was money and easier to work with and takes a lot less time. And you don't have to retool often. But that is very very fast and this is the message you want to get across you could take a car like this which is a nice concept car it's his and hers and really have a 4 cylinder in this is going to go 250 or 270 mph and it looks like other cars a little bit but that's the idea. Spend almost the same amount of money and you can make something that is faster than heck. And Hera is she's doing the Asimo maneuver She is raising her arms for praise and they are and they are bowing and its father and mother is a stupendous idea and they have tried it before but they always kind of backslide and make it into a family 4 door or something or make it kind of look way too normal this looks really fun and it has different features it's kind of like a higher end sports car that's what they call it in Japan and there's a lot of small people there tons of them at least they were. Now I can get to the meat and potatoes.

*** This car is considered to be an oddball ODD BALL And it is not currently purchased it had to been m.... currently purchased it had to been made in recent years I think 2015 to 2020 and they made a whole boatload of them about 200 trillion I mean they're all over the place and sitting in people's garages and there's no sunny day that's made for it it's a real car that's supposed to be driven all the time and it's only driven around in Miami a little and it's not as fast as it should be they say. That brings us to the difficult part the top speed is intense the zero to 60 is intense the sound can be made to be intense and we would have to display it and we wouldn't tell them what it's made on. So he says what's difficult about it you need someone to drive it around i'm not doing anything what's difficult is we don't think people would bind no .... we don't think people would bind no they would this is a great idea and we'll make it for the MR2 which is going to make it a lot faster yes that MR2 are not made that much no there's more of those there's just less of them that work these cars about three quarters of them are operational in storage and you can pull them out and change it over one of the reasons they would is the number sucks. It's a exciting color to a degree if you wanna look like your Chinese or something and be BG you loved it and he says how different is it and he found that the wheelbase was surprisingly smaller but we said we would actually extend it no the way it's built is incapable of making it doing it when you lower it. So he looked at that and he said wow it actually works and it does so we are going to go ahead with it and yeah it looks kind of snub nosed and it's too low I mean it's too high and the fuselage I mean the cockpits too high. The beauty of it is it'll be a little smaller and it'll look really really hot and the way to get in and out of it would be easier 'cause the sidewall won't be so high the car will be very light people very tempted to make into a fly car very tempted and they do put sometimes like plates on the outside and they weld them together and they put a little framing on the inside i've seen it well they take the panels off and they make the metal. I think this is a go for the MR2 and the S660 it is a wonderful idea you don't have to monkey around with the motor the kits will be a simple drop on you could do it in probably a couple days the whole interior will be done and we're gonna employ these people and we'll have a factory in the Midwest and he was saying probably the Midwest is gonna close to a degree there'll still be people there but he says you could make it towards the north and John Cena would be buying them and he says you're correct and he doesn't have time to make cars so he likes it I mean it's a Asian car and we said reinforcing package so I think we're gonna make this one and and he says what about you Hera you're probably real busy What about your current time and she says OK so she's gonna look into him and she says this is nice. Can put it up north and hire people from all over and the kit would be famous in minutes. So she's liking the idea and John Cena likes it and there are a bunch of people who like it now that's a real small motor the MR 2 has about 180 horsepower and it would go ridiculous speed above 500 mph and John Cena doesn't believe it and has to see it. Keep in mind Keep in mind these figures are with two people who weigh 130 pounds each. With our son in it it would still go that fast with our son and Justin it'll go about 350 mph with the 800CC motor. Way too fast. Linkage is sturdy there's 7GEARS that's another reason going up a hill it'll probably only go 250 if it's gradual but still it's faster than hell but with the MR2 motor it would still be 350 up a hill with those two. And he says that's too fast and you would have one and he wants to make one. We're gonna get to this he's looking for volunteers for the team for he and Hera to make the prototype and to see if it actually works. And I'm gonna work on the design with them and we're gonna set a time aside if you have some and he's gonna try and get it going.

Thor Freya

Well my time wasn't wasted making the teeny one.

Very funny guys it's not much smaller I thought they were going the other way but this is kind of crazy and they said the bigger one would be probably a bit not lower than the small one but it would look it and it'd be faster because of aerodynamics would be a little better this one would be amazing at that speed I don't believe it but he says you can look at it it's the shape of a bullet....t probably a bit not lower than the sm.... probably a bit not lower than the sm....ays you can look at it it's the shape Of a bullet and I didn't notice that ohh wow that's incredible that's why. Now that's interesting to me I'm gonna have to buy these I don't understand what you're saying if you have my guys there too making the kit make sure people don't **** on it they'll be buying you too but they do it. And there's still people out there working and there's a bunch of them now I heard factories of starting. We're gonna go ahead and try and get involved it's not on the Corvette it's a different size slightly different shape but still I want to have some kind of involvement. What he says is you'd like to have the name on it but then I'd back off yeah we went through that a lot so I don't want to do it that way I see what you're saying so I'm gonna think about it but what he says out there he can open the plant and manage it and get it done but right now it won't get done. It's always a problem times like this when they're busy but **** I want to get going on it so he's trying to think of what to do and he's saying that I have to think about it that's a good idea.

john cena

The name is something he is shying away from and it's due to the first go around it was way too hot and way too famous and he could not do anything with it it was a nightmare he said the car is so hot that nobody wanted to touch it and he thinks out the Midwest it would be us and the max in the max would not want us to have him but you know it's just a kit and it's not very fast and there's not enough of them out there that they can even use theirs there's no cover and they want the cover to try and find us so it's a double edged sword all around.

But it still doesn't want to use the name or even something close.

Thor Freya

i like his hinking yes ok

Hera

us too we are the children he speaks of hahahah one of us is. on we are both here.

Oceana haah wrong one ok damnit

#youtube

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