Hirst

Thanks for that, much obliged.

Hello chaps, I'm hoping to pick up a Leone III (or L-series as they're known in the UK) at some point in 2009. There's just a little detail I'm struggling to find - have tried searching all over the Internet including here (difficult as it's too short a word to search for using the proper search) and I just can't dig the details out anywhere - what is the standard PCD? I know they're 4-bolt but if I recall they're an unusual size (4x140 I think?). If someone could confirm that for me, that'd be absolutely superb as I have some ideas. Cheers!

Yep, we're still sort of under construction at the moment so a lot of the pages didn't have a proper menu on them! The site was a bit of a rush job as we wanted something in place in time for this summer whilst all the car shows were still on, thought we might as well hurry to get a little bit of content on before worrying too much about the design. Only got the site running in late June I think it was. Have done some work on it today and the menu system is on nearly all pages now, but the front page is going to be more interesting when I get round to sorting that. I'll be adding USMB to the links soon - I'm actually in the process of redesigning the links page as I'm not happy with it!! The press photos are to be part of a larger section called the database, which will be the main part of the site. It's more just a sneak preview for now. Basically, we want to create a database with information of every older Japanese car (starting just with ones sold in the UK, which is still an enormous task in itself!). As well as things you'd probably be able to find elsewhere like specifications, we want to give people an idea of what it is like to actually own/drive these cars and will seek to involve owners of whichever model. They will know a lot more about what it is like to own the car than some old brochure can tell us! Also, we will go mad with brochure scans because we like them (loads of them already done!). As information is found, more brochures are bought, more owners get in touch with us, etc. we will add the info/pics to the database and improve it. Once we figure out how we want to show this info, we'll get a few models up, then add to it as we go along! I think we'll be OK for Subaru brochures, we've got quite a lot of them including some Japanese ones, but your expertise regarding these models will definitely be required when we get them into the database. Subaru were one of the more unusual and unknown Japanese marques here as they sold their models in fairly small numbers and had unconventional features. Thanks for the comments, especially about the car - not many sites would have people who think it's cool! I made the icon myself out of some other icons on some Japanese site. Can't remember the link but if I do, I'll post it up.

It's my Daihatsu Charmant, an obscure car based on the KE70 Corolla. However, the icon picture it was based off was actually a Lancer EX and my car is from 1983 - so a very close guess!

Hello! I'm the co-creator of that site and I got a suggestion from a guy called Brian to add this site to my links page - definitely! Will do so shortly! Glad to see somewhere exists for discussion of these old Subarus. Here in the UK pre-90s Subarus are largely forgotten/ignored/extinct which is a shame because they have unique and distinctive styling and have always tried to be a bit different in their designs/engine options. We are indeed having trouble identifying the bodykitted example. Usually the press photos are just that, a photo on its own, if you're lucky you'll get the model name on the bottom. Wonder if it was factory fitted or something the dealer had to undertake? My thoughts is that it looks very odd! Especially with the little chunky offroader wheels and suspension height. Wouldn't be surprised if that was the only one and that example hasn't been on the road for years according to the records of the numberplate. Hope it's in some shed somewhere, but more likely it was cubed! Glad you enjoyed the photos and thanks for the comments, when we get more Subaru pictures they'll be added to the page. We're going to be doing scans from brochures in due course too, so that might be of interest. We have a load of UK ones and a few Japanese ones.