Japan has probably produced more iconic high performance vehicles than some other car-manufacturing country. The Supra, Jimny, Impreza and GT-R are only just a few of many.
Okay… rewind. The Jimny? Really? Now before you bite my head off for mentioning the Suzuki Jimny and Nissan GT-R in the identical breath, let’s discuss it over a latte within the café of Japan’s Jimny Museum.
That is the private collection of Mr. Shigeru Onoue, the founding father of Jimny specialist shop APIO. Onoue-san is the undeniable godfather of Jimny tuning in Japan and has been producing aftermarket upgrade parts for the wildly-popular Suzuki off-roader because the late Eighties.
Positioned within the countryside of Kanagawa, only a stone’s throw away from lush mountains and clear running rivers, it’s the proper place to geek out over a few of one of the best go-anywhere machines ever made.
Walking into the lobby, visitors are greeted by a second generation LJ-20, finished in an excellent mustard yellow. This one, similar to all of the cars within the museum, has been personally restored by Onoue-san and the team at APIO.
Right, I’ll order the coffees when you try the body of one other LJ-20. This one has been separated from the chassis, which is feasible since it’s how all Jimnys are built.
That is the LJ-10, the primary vehicle to bear the Jimny name, based off the HopeStar ON360. The ON360 never saw industrial production, with only around 40 ever made. Suzuki bought the Hope Motor Company and utilized its AWD system for the Jimny.
Okay, you’re probably still wondering why I included the Jimny in an inventory of icons just like the almighty Supra and GT-R. It’s an eyebrow-raising statement needless to say, but there’s a thread holding it together, I promise.
Remember the rusty old body within the café area? That is what sits beneath it – a ladder-frame chassis that features all of the suspension components and the part-time AWD dual-range transmission. Where the Supra has the 2JZ, this basic but good four-wheel drive system is what makes the Jimny worthy of icon status.
Just how good is the AWD system? Well, Suzuki themselves are slightly humble in recognissing its brilliance. The G-Trac (an abbreviation of Good-Traction) model above might be selling itself slightly short. Just Google ‘off road lifted Jimny’ and revel in hours of footage of little Suzukis inching up and out of some incredible terrain.
Since the Jimny has no center diff, it can all the time find traction at either the front or rear axle. I’m sure there are many other things that make it an awesome off-roader – like approach angle and wading depth – but that’s all a bit out of my knowledge pool.
The icons we’re all acquainted with – GT-Rs, Supras and other high performance cars – all do amazing things on asphalt. But there’s one other form of high performance. High performance vehicles may also exist off road. And that’s the reason the Jimny deserves its own museum, and to be mentioned in the identical sentence as our other heroes.
Not to say the enjoyment this little off-roader brings to hundreds internationally. Just take a look at this Santa Monica edition. The FRP body was sold at Suzy Sports in Tokyo and bolted straight onto any SJ-30 chassis. You’ll be able to’t help but like it.
Things begin to get slightly more serious when the cars are arrange for rally. Onoue-san’s own JB23W series Jimny entered the Mongolian Rally 3 times, winning its class in 2014.
He also entered the cars seven times within the Australian Safari Rally and nine times within the Paris-Dakar, crossing the finish line on all counts.
If I had to select considered one of the cars on display on the Jimny Museum as a every day driver, it might undoubtedly be this brilliant orange, left-hand drive Samurai. On the other hand, if you ought to rub shoulders with Japan’s finest on the next Daikoku PA meet, then a rally-prepped Jimny is probably the option to go.
Toby Thyer
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This Article First Appeared At www.speedhunters.com
