With all the domestic brands bringing back the classics I think its time Honda/Toyota/Nissan step up to the plate and revive some of these classic beauties.

 

I think the difference is the classic cars they're bringing back were muscular designs. The past import cars were more econobox plain-jane designs. I personally hope they don't resort back to them, but to each their own I guess.

 

I like some of the old import design cues. The 86(?)-89(?) Accords with the pop up lights were cool. The OG 1st Gen Celica was a sexy looking car. And a 1st gen Prelude

Then there were some that were ahead of their time like the Mazda 323GTX back in the mid 80's and the Subaru SVX from the early 90's. AWD turbo hatch, they could sell those all day long in New England.

 

+1

 

CRX is coming back, Scirocco is coming back, NSX is coming back... Accord is still with us. So some are still around but just better, some are making a come back.

 

American Muscle cars are a staple in American history...not imported econoboxes...IMO

 

It means nothing without RWD.... a retro Celica with FWD? a retro Corolla with RWD? Now that is just plain hilarious. I doubt any of the companies will try and do anything extreme with their bread-and-butter economy cars, they're the best sellers, so why should they?

 

A buddy of mine in high school had a 79(I think) Corolla Tercel SR5. That car was so much fun to beat on. Light weight RWD and a manual transmission.

 

Lightweight RWD cars are what I was brought up on Celicas, Corolla's, Pintos, 510's, 2002's, Beetles, Vegas, etc etc...

It's nice to see design cues from the 70's, but without RWD it's almost a crime...

A new AE86, or rwd Nisson (Datsun) would rock...

With the BMW 1-series claiming to be the re-incarnation of the 2002, and with others looking to follow (i.e. Hyundia GenCoupe) it looks like the RWD platform will be making a comeback

 

That's the key, rwd and lightweight... Throw in a manny tranny, and you really don't need that much HP to have a fun time...

 

IIRC, it was a Corolla SR5 hatchback, while the Tercel was always a FWD econo-slug.
The Celica first came with RWD, then became FWD while the RWD variant became the Supra.

There were a lot of RWD Datsun 510s kicking butt when I was doing auto-X.

However, the only '70s-'80s Japanese cars worthy of revival are the Datsun 240Z and the first-gen. Mazda RX-7. IMO, every other model should be put into a crusher to make paper clips.

 

This thread was started more as a joke. But i do think it would be funny, especially in this economy, for japanese automakers to revive some of their subcompact econobox designs. they keep building cars that look like spaceships. I think a datsun 280z or old Honda styles might do well.

 

I thought it was called a "corolla tercel" but it wasn't mine.

 

I'm probably gonna get flamed for this but i'm gonna say this anyhow,
I hope like hell Honda,Toyota,Nissan and others don't pull a Ford,Dodge and GM.
what i mean by that is i'll give you a few examples:
New Firebird/Camero-rehash of the old school ones.
New Challenger- rehash of the old school ones.
New Mustang(even the 2010 redesign i believe)- rehash of the old school ones.

I really respected the imports for moving forward versus rehashing the past.
it kind of reminds me of guys who takes like a 68 or 69 Mustang GT and dropping like a 4.6 3 valver in it with all the modern gadgets(AC,power windows,Power locks, power brakes,etc)
and to me that's not challenging your design dept.

The 3 design teams I gotta give credit to that kept true to moving forward is:
#1. Benz ( IMHO they've done a sweet job with the new C class redesign)
#2. Nissan( did a nice job with GT-R it has it's own look plus it's high tech looking but not odd)
#3. BMW - Chris Bangle has got more hell for designs but i'd give him a "B" overall. His designs are orginal and unique. my big complaint with him is the redesign of the 2010(i think) Z4 replacement. they really boogered that up.
but the current 3,5,X5 is nice looking rides.

 

Have you seen a BMW Aztec....I mean X6. Those things are awful. IMHO the older the BMW the better the styling.

 

My mom had one of these. White with purple/maroon interior. The thing was a beast, lasted something like 400,000 miles for various relatives of ours till the timing belt broke and the engine was fubar'd

 

I had the sedan version, it was my first Honda. I planned to keep it to 1/4 million miles but some 17 year old kid in a 79 firebird turned it into a Honda Accordian

 

I had an 87 200SX in white just like this one:



Frikkin awesome car. It still ran perfectly when I traded it, I still miss it. It had a blue interior... so 80's

 

I had an '88 Accord. GREAT car. Now I have a third car to fill the void (see avatar)

 

^^^
Stop bragging




<----------very jealous of that cars future.

 

I wish they would come out with a car that was fun to drive, RWD, small/lightweight (~2500 lbs) and cheap; $25,000ish. Is that too much to ask? I doubt we'll ever see one now though in these times of huge ass SUVs and safety requirements for people to survive in collisions with said SUVs.

 

Nissan should bring back the Datsun 240Z. I'd buy one if it looked as good as this:

 

^ that concept is sooooo hot

 

Not feeling the rims on that one, but not liking that car because of the rims would be like saying Angelina Jolie is a pig because she was wearing ugly shoes.