Fell in love with the nostalgic round-eyed headlights, without reason
Owners of vehicles other than the Nissan Leopard can also participate in the Leopard Open Meeting 2023, which was held on 4 November 2023 at Miyama Park, Okayama Prefecture. Manabu’s favorite car is a Nissan Gloria (10th generation Y33 model), decorated with an array of miniature cars and CDs from the detective drama laid out all over the bonnet. The car, which the 1989-born took twists and turns and acquired two years ago, is presented here.
Car enthusiast since childhood with no memory
Manabu, the owner of a Nissan Gloria (10th generation Y33 model), was born in February 1989. He has been playing with miniature cars since he was a child, although the reason for this is unknown.
“I used to play with my miniature cars all the time, even when the lights were turned off at night.”
So much so that he has been familiar with cars since he can’t remember. Under these circumstances, what remains in his memory are the cars featured in the vehicle-illustrated books he was reading at the time. He liked the taxis and other vehicles in the book.
“I don’t know why myself, but for some reason I was attracted to the round-eyed headlights. I think there was a Nissan Bluebird 910 taxi on the road at the time, and I thought it looked cool. Other things that attracted me were the scenes of Tokyo cityscapes on the TV news, etc. I liked the angular design and round eyes of cars from the 1980s.”
Criminal dramas were inspired by miniature cars
Manabu’s love of cop dramas was evident in the appeal of the Tomytec “Seibu Keisatsu” series miniature cars and “GORILLA” soundtracks that he had lined up on his bonnet.
“I’m not from the generation, so I started watching old detective dramas because of this miniature car collection, and that’s how I started watching the dramas. This Tomytec ‘Seibu Keisatsu’ series had a line-up of not only the leading cars like the Machine X and the Machine RS but also cars that the criminals drove, like the Gloria and the Nissan ‘Laurel’. Of course, there were a lot of round-eyed cars, which is what I liked.”
It was this collection of miniature cars that led him to start watching detective dramas, and he became interested in the Laurel (8th generation C35) that appeared in the remake of “Seibu Keisatsu”. Although it didn’t have round eyes, he liked the sense of design evolution of Nissan cars since the 1980s, but what he ended up buying was a Toyota Cresta (3rd generation GX8), which he got.
“I have more car-loving friends who are Mark II drivers. But there were no Cresta GX8s. And I remembered that the Cresta had appeared in a car chase scene in the first season of ‘Deka Kizoku’.”
As a result, it was decided that Manabu’s first sedan would be a Cresta.
A childhood yearning for round eyes recalled on YouTube.
I gave up the Cresta after about two years as a result and then switched to a Daihatsu Mira (6th generation L250) MT. This satisfied him for a while, but he decided to change as it was getting old. At that time, he imagined buying a new car and maintaining a cheaper older vehicle while fixing it up. That’s when Mr Manabu came up with
“If I’m going to pay a lot of money anyway, it should be more fun to choose a slightly older vehicle that I like!”
The conclusion was.
“I’ve always had an interest in older cars, so by that time I was also interested in a Cedric 430, but I ended up with a Gloria Y33. I happened to find a video on YouTube of a car dealer introducing the Gloria Y33 Gran Turismo and saw the 2000cc regular petrol version. I was also driving a Cresta GX8, and I thought this would be okay because it’s slightly cheaper to maintain. Also, round eyes are cool! I thought it would be a good idea to get a Cresta GX8. I was looking for a Gloria Y33 all the time, except when I was eating.”
So serious was Manabu’s desire to buy one. After a friend told him that a 2000cc Gloria Y33 was available, he made a phone call, but the reply was that the car had been sold. I gave up on the idea at first, but then I happened to discover that the car had been sold at an auction by a dealer in Fukuoka Prefecture. After checking the actual vehicle, he made a quick decision, saying that it was in better condition than he had expected. That was two years ago.
“The concept of the car is to maintain it rather than tinker with it. That’s why we replace deteriorated parts as much as possible. It’s not the highest grade, so it’s not fast, but it’s not slow either. That balance is just right for me. I want to drive it every day anyway, so I have driven almost 40,000 kilometers in the last two years, although the mileage was 47,800 kilometers when I bought it. The fact that the vehicle doesn’t give me any trouble may be because I ride it around so often”
This is how Mr Manabu got the round-eyed car he has longed for since his childhood. The mileage on his beloved car will probably continue to increase in the future.
translated by DeepL