Remember 25 years Ago When I Said Japanese Cars Would Be Collectable

It's a never ending progression.  When I was a teenager in the '80s and would read all the car sales magazines it was the post war (and late brass era) cars that commanded the big money.  The past few decades it has been the 1960s Camarostangcudabird (yawn).  Now it's the early Japanese imports and 80s cars that are starting that ascent.  

As has been pointed out earlier it's the cars that people grew up with as a kid but didn't have the financial resources to buy one until they get close to retirement age.  People who grew up in the malaise era are now coming into disposable income and prices are rising accordingly.

David S. Wallens said:

You usually want what you couldn’t have during your formative years. For those of us who grew up on Hondas, Datsuns and Mazdas, we knew this was coming. 

Speaking for myself and my high school friends here, but we had zero idea about anything other than Mustangs and Camaros/Firebirds. Nor did we know much about power to weight ratio, so we wanted anything with a V8, no matter how much of a land barge it was. It wasn't until my non-car-guy brother brought home a 3rd gen Accord that I discovered the fun in a light car, and it wasn't until a close friend replaced his 3rd F-body with a 2nd gen turbo Eclipse (he ALMOST bought a FWD Monte Carlo Z34 *shudders*) that any of us really *got* turbocharging a small motor in a small car.

That said, I think your statement is true. I have never had a bit of desire for any of the early Japanese cars, and that's not changed, but I also now have next to zero desire for any of the domestics since I saw behind the curtain many years ago.

I do recall one interesting project.  If anyone remembers the original Honda Civics, - they first came here in 1972 - they had 1200 cc engines and seemed rugged but a bit lacking on the power side.

A friend and I took a look at some of the car parts I had lying around and fastened on a pair of 1 1/4" SU carbs from an MG Midget, to a custom intake manifold we knocked together.  Took it out on the highway and discovered that an injection of British technology had increased the top speed by 10 mph.  I recall that the cars only weighed 1300 odd pounds so if you hit anything it would have been like being folded up in a beer can, and that may have dampened our inclination to go farther than we did with the mods.

wspohn said:

I do recall one interesting project.  If anyone remembers the original Honda Civics, - they first came here in 1972 - they had 1200 cc engines and seemed rugged but a bit lacking on the power side.

A friend and I took a look at some of the car parts I had lying around and fastened on a pair of 1 1/4" SU carbs from an MG Midget, to a custom intake manifold we knocked together.  Took it out on the highway and discovered that an injection of British technology had increased the top speed by 10 mph.  I recall that the cars only weighed 1300 odd pounds so if you hit anything it would have been like being folded up in a beer can, and that may have dampened our inclination to go farther than we did with the mods.

The Japanese versions of many cars came with twin carb motors. The Civic had an RS version that featured motorcycle style CV carbs (76hp vs 52hp) and a 5 speed trans. The early Civics only weighed 1500lbs but they were much sturdier in crash than a small body on frame cars. 

My Datsun 1200 also had a JDM twin carb version with Hitachi SU style carbs and a 5 speed transmission.  The motor made 83hp vs the standard 68hp. 

I still think if the Japanese manufacturers had brought the sport versions of their cars to the USA they would have been embraced even sooner.