1988 Autech Zagato Stelvio

CRAZY JDM #17

This is the Autech Stelvio. It used to be a Nissan Leopard coupe but Nissan's slightly mad in-house tuner, Autech transformed it into this... thing. It's an exotic 'thing' nevertheless, styled by Zagato (when Zagato was drunk) and sold in limited numbers at interesting prices. A little over £100,000 (or $160,000) when adjusted for inflation! So this car was bought by those with more money than sense. And maybe no eyes.



WHY WOULD PEOPLE WITH NO EYES WANT THIS?
Okay, let me elaborate here. It's not the styling that turns away the 'people-with-eyes' demographic - as that's entirely subjective. It's rather something else. That something else is... the door-mirrors, or to be precise - the lack of them. So how can such a car be legal? Well, they're not quite door-mirrors anymore. Not even fender-mirrors. They're mirrors mounted on the bonnet (or hood)! Visibility ends up so poor you might as well not bother looking.
Furthermore, the people who bought this could potentially never drive it. It's just another way to say,
"Look at me, I'm rich!". Although to be fair, it would be best to look away to avoid getting conjunctivitis.
This car does at least have a legacy though. After Zagato 'styled' this, they copied the design and removed all the awkward bits. The result was the quirky but elegant Aston Martin V8 Zagato, and a presumably an enraged Nissan.

HOW FAST?
As fast as a Nissan Leopard V6 with slightly more horsepower attached...
316bhp (rounded from 315.622...)
0-60 in something slightly under the Leopard's 10.6 time
152mph

MORE PHOTOS PLEASE!

WARNING: View at your own discretion.

Behold, broken dinner plates minimalism within art.

Exhibit A: The mirrors! (Annotated by me).

Exhibit B: The same design but actually pretty! (The Aston Martin V8 Zagato).

Finally, I present to you - one of many proposed replacements to the Stelvio. Sadly, the economy's collapse coupled with the end of the Autech-Zagato partnership killed them off. Except to see an article on these soon!

CAN I BUY ONE?
If you're willing to import - I guess you can. It's even past the USA import cap - but would you want to? Also it's very hard to find these in the first place because 'limited production'. Despite that, I did find one on Goo net. And it had depreciated to less than an 8th of its original value. So... Bargain?

CRAZY JDM RATING!

Silly styling? YES

Silly engineering? YES YES (Handbuilt with bonnet-mirrors)

Silly idea behind it? YES YES YES

●●●3/3 A very silly car that also manages to be something really cool and unique.

2008 Honda Vamos Hobio Travel Dog

CRAZY JDM #4

This is the Honda Vamos Hobio Travel Dog. And no, I'm not kidding. This is a kei car, one of those Japanese economy vehicles with limited size, power and no VTECs. In fact it's a trim level of the Honda Vamos 'kei van' based on the Honda Acty 'kei truck.' This is a trim level designed for (owners of) dogs.


WHAT WERE HONDA THINKING!?
Honda were thinking of Dog owners.
A tiny noddy van for very big dogs. JDM Logic. See the photos page for more info.

HOW FAST?
There are actually performance figures for this! Let's compare with an actual dog.
Travel Dog; 44bhp. Actual dog can't fit on a dyno, maybe it has 'Dog Power' instead of HP.
Travel Dog; 0-60 in 25.7 seconds. Actual dog can't make it to 60.
Travel Dog; 73mph.  World's fastest dog is 28mph slower. But the Honda is way too slow.

MORE PICTURES PLEASE!

Well, you asked for more pictures.

Wipeable and anti-bacterial interior.

Aww, look at the adorable carpet.

Honda's free (and maybe patented) Dog-Hammock.

And to end it all we have a Dog-Bag. Looks kinda cramped to me.

CAN I BUY ONE?

Well it's growing on me now a bit. Despite that I still don't have the desire to buy one and if you do tough, this is an exclusive 2008 model so it's very rare, a normal Vamos is very common in Japan but even then it's not past the US import cap.

CRAZY JDM RATING!

Silly styling? YES

Silly engineering? YES

Silly idea behind it? CERTAINLY

●●●3/3 A very silly car that also manages to be something really cool and unique.

1992 Mazda Autozam AZ-1

CRAZY JDM #1

This is the Autozam AZ-1, It is a Kei Car, a Japanese car specification that has a limited size, engine capacity, horsepower and a special number plate  in exchange for cheaper tax and stuff. Luckily, there's no limit for 0-60 time so we get this, a Kei Car which tries to be sporty. It already looks cool and has all sorts of funky features like gullwing doors (pictured), plenty of standard aero parts and a two-tone scheme. So what else is so special about the AZ1?


WHAT IS AUTOZAM?
One of the many sub-brands of Mazda formed and later abandoned. This one, Autozam was a joint effort with Suzuki to produce a sub-brand specialising in Kei Cars. So most Autozams (including this one) were sold as Suzukis. And just like Autozam itself, this car was discontinued quickly despite its popularity.

HOW FAST?
Even though it may look sporty it's still a 660cc Kei Car so the stats are quite low.
63bhp
0-60 in... nobody knows but it's definitely under 10 seconds.
87mph

MORE PHOTOS PLEASE!

Mazdaspeed Model

Rear View

Side View Modified & Opened. Look at those sweet doors.

Size Comparison

Size Comparison 2... Now it looks like a RC car.

CAN I BUY ONE?

The 25 year import tax in the USA will prevent you from getting one if you live there. If you live somewhere else without the ban you can get one though it would be very difficult and quite pricey as these cars are very rare. If you do manage find one they can be from £6,000 to £16,000. Expensive for a kei car but cheap for gullwing doors. :)

CRAZY JDM RATING!

Silly styling? YES YES YES

Silly engineering? YES

Silly idea behind it? YES

●●●3/3 A very silly car that also manages to be something really cool and unique.