The owner was attending the Toda Classic Car Reunion

This was the second Toda Classic Car Reunion, held on 23 November 2023 at Doman Green Park in Toda, Saitama Prefecture. As the name suggests, the event was an enjoyable, life-size event, with an atmosphere that allowed owners who had met each other for the first time to mingle easily. Many owners participated with maniac models, and we chose cars and specifications that are rarely seen at other events to talk to the owners. First up was the Isuzu Florian.

The first Florian was acquired at the ‘cheapest car shop in Japan’

“I was driving a Subaru Rex 550, but it was scrapped due to a single accident that occurred one night. So I had to look for a new car and I was interested in the Isuzu Florian. That was when I was a student.”

According to Yoshinari Miyashita, 59, who told us this, people around him said, “It’s a fossil-like car now!” He found a Florian for sale in a used car information magazine he was casually flicking through. The next day, he drove nearly two hours on his scooter to a shop with the slogan “The cheapest shop selling cars in Japan!”, and bought one of the ten Florian cars on the shop floor that he thought was the one.

“They said they would paint it all over, so I ordered it in black and it cost 400,000 yen including expenses. I got a job and was going from Hakata to Tokyo, but it was difficult to get a parking space, so I left it at my grandfather’s house in Wakayama for now. When I was finally able to bring Florian to Tokyo, a year had passed.”

The Florian, which was a diesel engine version, was taken away without permission by a friend from his hometown with the best of intentions and was given a two-tone color scheme in Hakata, and many other things happened to it. After about six years in Tokyo, the factory where he brought the car in for inspection diagnosed that it had deteriorated and should be scrapped, and this is where Mr Miyashita’s journey to find his beloved car began again.

He bought his second car at a “stubborn old man’s shop”

“In 1991, I was looking at an old car magazine, and this time I saw a shop with the catchphrase ‘Stubborn old man’s shop! ‘ I went to buy a 700,000 yen Florian in a shop with the catchphrase, ‘I’m a stubborn old man’s shop’, so I went to buy a 700,000 yen Florian in a diesel engine version. He was an auspicious guy to come in a Florian!　So I thought he might give me a discount, but that didn’t work with my stubborn father, so I had to buy it at the list price, but he gave me a slightly higher trade-in value.”

He was able to buy a second Florian (a 1982 S II with a petrol engine), but misfortune suddenly struck in October 2000. He had an accident in Nagano, Japan, and the front end of his beloved car was in a near-death state. Mr Miyashita did not give up, which is why we were able to interview him for this article, but it seems that the road to recovery was a tough one.