Seibu Keisatsu – early Japanese television show races Skyline against Cougar
Thank to Japanese Nostalgic Car (one of our favorite sites) for locating some video from this early eighties Japanese television show: http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/blog/2009/03/06/seibu-keisatsus-super-machine/ ”Seibu Keisatsu” translates to “Police: Western Division” and apparently the show was very popular. It ran from the late fall of 1979 thru the fall of 1984 and was followed up with a special return episode in 2004.
While our site was established to focus on car movies of interest to enthusiasts, this classic Japanese television show will also certainly be of great interest. The featured episode below features the delivery of a 2-door Skyline with a 2 liter turbo engine to the police force. One of the first cases to be solved involves some baddies in a 1970 Mercury Cougar – and of course a car chase ensues. The athletic prowess of the Skyline helps ensure everyone meets their inevitable destinies: the police triumph and the baddies perish. The production standards are not bad for it’s age, although the Cougar meets a too easy fate at the end. And notice the decal on the hood of the Cougar – it was obviously owned by some really bad types.
We owned a 1970 Cougar many years ago and can categorically confirm that it handled very poorly. Ours was also an XR-7 model, although we didn’t have the screaming chicken decal on the hood.
The video is in three parts:
Car Movie: “No Grave For Us”
Thanks to the folks at Japanese Nostalgic Cars - one of our favorite daily reads - we have yet another car movie to chase down.
You’ve hopefully seen our site, http://carmovies.drivingenthusiast.net/, where we comment on and rank hundreds of car-themed movies from our collection – and a few obscure ones that we are searching for. It’s the largest site of its type on the web. Yes, we’re Cinematophiles, and car-themed movies are a big part of our collection (along with Film Noir, which itself often features some good car scenes).
Japanese Nostalgic Cars tells us that this late-nineties car chase film has the hero in a Mazda Savanna RX-3 (very stylish and sophisticated back then) and the baddies are in an RT80 Toyota Corona and a Nissan President. You’ll recognize the RX-3 (very collectible these days) and the Corona, and possibly the President – although it never officially made it into the North American market.
All that matters is that it’s a car chase film, so we have to try to hunt it down. It may well take 2 years but we will find a copy. And it’s in Japanese… so we’ll have to watch closely to try to follow it.
Japanese Nostalgic Cars also came up with a YouTube video of a small part of the film, and a great comment about “suspensions bouncing up and down like paddleballs”:
Anybody out there have a copy of this film or a source for it?
Japanese Nostalgic Car – the magazine
Excellent news from the creators of the Japanese Nostalgic Car website: they will start publishing a matching magazine in the spring of 2008.
The site is already excellent, so I’m looking forward to the magazine.
I will be subscribing and am looking forward to the premier issue.
Follow the link above for more information.
Japanese Nostalgic Car: Top Secret Celica
Japanese Nostalgic Car is one of those really fine – and rare – sites that the owners have put a lot of original work into. It’s worth reading from start to finish.
I recently came across this article about a restoration and buildup of a classic Celica. It’s exactly what I’d do if I could find one.
And just as interesting is the story of it’s owner: “Smoky” Nagata. He is also a very rare and original type.
Ebay has several early model Celicas, both fastbacks and coupes.
Site with blog and RSS feed: Japanese Nostalgic Car
This is a really well done site with international appeal. You’ll find news and reports on vintage Japanese cars, as well as some news of modern sports and retro cars from Japan that carry on the classic spirit. The site includes a forum with a selling area.