Aniruddha's Blog

 Opel Manta 400 – A Car Lost in History  The Opel Manta was a car that the wallets of young drivers could support unlike the cars they dreamt of such as the BMW sedans or the Italian roadsters. The Opel Manta was similar to the Ford Capri as both cars used many common of the shelf parts. There were two versions of the Opel Manta, a Manta A that was launched in the year 1970 ahead of the new Opel Ascona the four-door version of the Manta and the Manta B 400. This write up is going to focus on the Manta B 400, the second generation that was released in 1975. The reason I am not focusing on the Manta A is because it looked outdated from the time it was released and doesn’t call for a detailed analysis. The Manta B was no looker either however, the no-nonsense square body allowed the driver to get a grate visibility.  The regular Opel Manta The regular Manta B was still a mundane two door three-box hatchback, that had a 1.9L engine with a cam in head preventing it from revving freely and p

This article is a about the most famous Kei Jidosha (Kei car) the Autozam AZ-1, and about how it came to existence.   History of the Kei car segment The Japanese government created a car segment known as Kei Jidosha or commonly known as Kei car. The year is 1949 Japan has just returned from WW2 and are badly injured in terms of economy. During this period Japan was primarily into the manufacturing of two wheelers, to kick start the four-wheeler manufacturing the Japanese government ensured that the Kei cars would be cheaper to buy insure and tax. The growth was slow, but the first ever actual Kei car was from Suzuki it was the Suzuki sunlight produced in the year 1955 with both 2 and four stroke engines. Some would say the landmark vehicle for the Kei Jidosha would be the Subaru 360 also known as the ladybug, this was followed by the Honda N360 which proved that Kei cars were a viable option not just for commercial purposes because previously this segment was better known for producing

What car comes to your mind when I say it was built by the Australians? For me it’s the Holden Ute, but what if I told you they built a sports car! Like you I too was a little surprised when I came across this bit of information and decided to dig a little deeper. There was a car called the PURVIS EUREKA. Purvis built cars in Australia between 1974 and 1991, and was founded by Allan Purvis in Melbourne. Allan was interested in the UK kit car manufacturer called Nova. The interest in kit car manufacturing was something prevalent during the 70s to the late 90s when we saw a lot of them. These companies mostly borrowed a power plant from Ford or GM, had a basic tubular steel chassis, and a fiberglass or aluminum body. Allan was so impressed with the Nova kit car that he decided to source the kit and sell it in Australia. However he did not want to just sell it directly, instead along with his team he perfected the car for 3 years and unveiled it at the Melbourne auto show in 1974. One ma