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things-about-cars-in-posts · 11 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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things-about-cars-in-posts · 11 months

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Talk to us more about miatas. The sillies

There's so much I could say about it, but I feel like a nice thing to do is to start from Miataland, the wonderful place I alluded to in my kei car post (you really ought to read that section before this post) - or more specifically its collection, for despite being some half-hundred Miatas, it's not monotonous at all.

While sure, there is some bit of "this one's a different color!" going on (which I definitely can't say I understand, but being a collector often comes with being a completionist), the bulk of the collection is extremely varied - not least because the above is just the first of the four generation the Miata has been sold for.

Well, more accurately the MX-5, since that's the only official name that lasted all throughout, with the American "Mazda Miata" being ditched by the third generation in favor of MX-5 and the Japanese "Eunos Roadster" name turning to "Mazda Roadster" with the second generation since the Eunos brand got nixed. And every generation, known by the two-letter codes that represent the model in their chassis number (VIN for yankees) that span from NA to ND, has further changes within it!

The NB, seen left in the beautiful 10th Anniversary Edition, received interior and exterior updates in 2001, seen right in the rare Mazdaspeed Turbo edition, one of the extremely few factory turbo Miatas (leave it to Mazda to turbocharge a sportscar engine and manage to gain only 26hp out of it) - and, being more of a huge update of the NA than a new car, it retained the two engines, the 1.8L that many have because they say it's the better engine and the 1.6L that many say is the better engine because it's the one they have (though updating the 1.8 with Variable Valve Timing for, in other markets, more power, and, in the US, less more power).

The NC did it one better - not only did it get an exterior refresh and two engines -1.5 and 2.0- but it even had different tops, with an optional "PRHT" electric metal top that further cemented its reputation as a big fat boat of a Miata, for its outrageous increase in size (two inches all around) and weight (up to 90kg or 200lb). No, seriously. This generation is actually extremely overlooked, so much so that Andrea, the owner of this whole shebang, only has two (which I do appreciate is quite an insane sentence). But that means you can scoop one up for not that much, and I do recommend it!

The ND, instead, is quite the enthusiast's darling - how many cars these days get smaller and lighter with a newer generation? How many cars out there are no bigger nor heavier now than thirty years ago? Oh and also just look at it. Once again, a refresh (i.e. "The lights are 'new', the mirror's bigger, and there's a software update! Please care :)") was just unveiled, and you can get them in 1.5 and 2.0 flavor and optionally with the "RF" hardtop on the left. Well, not those two you can't, because the one on the right is the only example of the 300-unit 30th Anniversary Edition in Italy, and if you think Mr. Miataland can't flex harder on the Corvette dads of America who insist theirs is super rare because of that specific year (that is no different from the others) with that specific combination of options (that is in no way special) with that (random) color they only made 503 (and yes there's many people like that), the other car in this picture is a 1-of-1 Miataland edition. I should clarify: he didn't just make up his own special edition; Mazda asked him to make up his own special edition for them to build for him to celebrate his collection. Which, I want to stress, Andrea is not at all vain about. And props to him because if that happened to me I cannot fathom being humble about it.

Hell I am not humble about having sat in this M2 (IT'S INCREDIBLE!!!! IT FEELS NEW IT SMELLS NEW), imagine owning one PAIR.

Which also makes an important point: the Miata is probably one of the cars they made the most special editions of. I mean, G-limited, R-Limited, S-Special, S-Limited, RS-Limited, SR-Limited, VR-Limited A, VR-Limited B, Tokyo Limited, V-Spec II, 93LE, BBR Turbos and of course the M2 1001, 1002 and 1028. And want a kicker? Have three: those are just the first generation ones, and just the ones he owns because there's some he's missing, and they're not even all the special first generation Miatas he has - because we've not even gotten to modifications.

From fiddling with the engine as per the supercharged one in the foreground or outright replacing it as per the 5.0L V8 (!) one in the background...

...to completely altering its shape by way of changing bumpers and lights, as per this Pitcrew kit-adorned example...

...to just fucking making it an extremely bad Ferrari 250 GTO... replica? It's so far off I can't even tell if it's sincerely trying.

And such modifications are genuinely innumerable. I could hit the image limit just with full-transformation body kits for the first generation Miata, let alone all the weird bumpers, side skirts, spoilers, mirrors et al across all of them!

And that's the thing about the Miata - it can go in so many directions and will take it just fine. That's what they mean when they say Miata Is Always The Answer (M.I.A.T.A.): classy old roadster cruiser?

Miata! Get the Nakamae quilted interior bits and any of the plethora of chrome accessories and you're good to go! Barebones weapon?

Miata! The existence of CarbonMiata alone is proof enough that you'll have no problem sourcing weight reduction bits. Serious track car?

Miata! Even a stock one will be competent in autocross (oh right, we're trying to be accessible: "What If We Pretended This Parking Lot Was A Racetrack? We Have Cones!") and you're going to spend six digits before you run out of possible upgrades. Silly track car?

Miata! The thing is so small and light that you can just upgrade it with stock components from bigger cars, and they made a million of 'em (not hyperbole) so even if the bit you're looking for isn't one of the plenty used in many other cheap cars it will still be in plentiful supply. Drift car?

Miata! Obviously you can get drift modifications for it, it's one of the cheapest rear wheel drive sportscars out there. You can use a stock one or go as hard as you want, DestroyOrDie makes front suspension components that allow for more angle and of course every suspension you could want is available. Rally car?

Miata! This is an actual 90s picture, they even used a couple for ice racing! Rock climber?

Miata! Paco Motorsport makes a lift kit for them and the owner of the one in picture, Jimmy Has No Garage, also sells a kit they codeveloped with Godspeed Project, and that's just to talk about off-the-shelf solutions! Four seater?

Okay, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. Pun intended.

And again, please note: all these are just the first generation.

The Miata really is an insanely versatile car that was so beloved all over the world all through the years that from the most outlandish to the most minute every part of it has been taken in every imaginable direction, most often by people who dedicated their lives to it. The enthusiastic curiosity it oozes has thoroughly proven contagious.

And throughout the years it remains determined to get to experience more adventures! You find a ton of them that racked up hundreds of thousands of miles with nothing but a happy owner to show for them. Road and Track notably bought one with some 350k miles and were, shall we say, impressed.

(How's that car going now? Who knows, they put it up for sale after eight years and a car chase) Like I like to say of many old Japanese cars, it'll keep going until it dissolves. Its only real problem is it's very prone to dissolving, so look out for rust.

And now, since today is Halloween, y'all have a chance to scare me for good: I have a list of modifications I would do to a Miata were I to own one. (And have lots of money. (And lots of time. (And a clue how to turn a wrench. (And probably other requirements I am forgetting about.)))) It is an extremely, extremely long list. Like, over a hundred items long. WAY too long for one post. Probably too long for a chain of ten. Where was I going with this? Huh, I must have been thinking out loud again. Anyhow, here's a poll. It boosts engagement!

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

#mazda mx-5 miata #miataland

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