Dang, that’s a nice selection of vehicles. I love itasha cars! Steve, I hate to self-promote here, but I’d like to share with you a photo album of itasha cars & bikes that I shot around Japan since I think you might appreciate it. (PS: there’s a GT-R in the set!):

There are a couple kei cars that debuted in 1999 that I really like, the Daihatsu Naked and the Daihatsu Mira Gino. Let’s go with the Mira Gino here. I saw these all over the place when I lived in Japan, and smiled whenever I saw one. Here’s one of many that I photographed in Nagasaki:

You beat me to the punch! I love those things.

I love the Kia Soul. Always have. I’ve never owned one, but I test drove one when I was looking for a more baby-seat-friendly vehicle, and while it wasn’t very exciting to drive, I wasn’t expecting it to be. I just like that it’s a (relatively) cheap and cheerful car that you can fit a bunch of stuff into without…

Haha, whoops! That’s embarrassing. Yes, the car I posted is the Shelby GR-1, and I had a mental mix-up and called it the Messenger (a design I also love.) Here’s a pic I got of the Messenger a couple years earlier at NAIAS 2003:

My other photos don’t seem to be working. Going to try them again just in case...

Taiki:

I think mine might be the Saab Aero-X concept. It looked so awesome, and came from a brand I’ve always loved. The whole damn roof and windshield lifted up to allow for access, which is not super practical, but looked AWESOME. I saw it at a car show and felt very lucky to see this beautiful beast in person.

For me this list is right-on-time, since I’m having a terrible year financially, and one of my vehicles died this past week. Problem is, most of the good deals seem to be on sedans, and of out our two main vehicles (my ‘07 Mazda3 hatch & my wife’s ‘06 Toyota Sienna), it’s the minivan / toddler-friendly main family…

That’s a real beauty! I have a soft spot for Ford Escorts and Mercury Tracers, having owned one of each - a ‘99 Escort wagon and an ‘89 Tracer hatchback (AKA Mazda 323.) Even though there were better economy cars out there, I’ll never be able to judge these cars objectively. Too many happy memories.

I saw a similar…

I’ll admit I don’t have anything of real substance to add here, but just wanted to say that I like that they put lyrics from one of my favorite Talking Heads songs on the front of their building.

(Probably photoshopped, but hey...)

I’m still stubbornly trying to resist CUVs, like the contrarian wagon/hatch/convertible/coupe/minivan lover I am, but when I sat in the Corolla Cross at NAIAS, I was amazed at just how comfortable and in-its-right-place everything was and how well it fit my tired 42 year old body. (My back is starting to have problems…

In late 2021, my wife and son had an overdue visit home to Japan, and since the country was still locked-down to non-Japanese folks, I had to stay home alone for four months, I bought myself the Lego Fiat 500 as a “cheer myself up” present. I played with Legos all the time as a kid, and it felt really nice to build a…

I’d imagine Norway would be a beautiful place to take your EV truck for a ride, but just be careful not to drive your Ford into a fjord.

Reading this, I feel vindicated. After six years living in Japan and not driving, I came back to the states feeling like every car was wayyyyyy too bright and I was weirded out at how often I’d get dazzled by the oncoming lights and not be able to see. I initially thought it was just because I hadn’t driven much in a…

Well, you already posted my answer in the main image - the Alfa Brera. What a gorgeous car. Here’s a nice one I saw in Japan back in ‘07:

That press shot of the blue 6 reminded me of one of the “what if?” cars I made while dicking around in Photoshop - a Mazda6 convertible!

That’s generally how I feel too about wheels, and how I prefer to photograph cars. I was just helping out with moving lights around and running errands that day, so I wasn’t going to butt in on the creative choices, but I think the final results in the magazine looked quite good though!

Happy you liked the photos! Yeah, the car ran on its own, and while it was moving around the venue, it sounded to me like it was electric. I have no idea what was under the hood, so for all I know maybe it was just a motor powerful enough to move around slow-speed at car shows. Either way, I was pretty amazed by the…

Sad news. Back in my attempting-to-make-a-viable-career-in-photography days, I was lucky to get to assist on some Intersection Magazine photo shoots, the first of which was of the Nissan Bevel, so I have particularly fond memories of that concept. I’m sad to hear that it was crushed. I really feel like concept cars in…

Weirdly, the first place my mind went when seeing that was the robot from Laputa: Castle in The Sky. (I like the look! Asymmetry is always pretty neat.)