Asian Collector Cars at the Cincinnati Concourse

 

Today, cars made in Asia, particularly Japan and Korea, make up a very large portion of the automobiles bought in the United States. The people behind the Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance felt that was significant enough to become one of the first such events to hold a regular class in Asian Collector cars. For this year's 48th annual event, that class included a 1994 Toyota Crown Wagon. The Crown is the company's flagship model, and this wagon is one of only 10 believed to be in the USA. The car runs on a 2.4 liter inline four-cylinder diesel engine.

This 1979 Datsun 280ZX coupe has only ever had one owner. The car has just 34,000 miles. When it was introduced Motor Trend named it the "1979 Car of the Year." The car has a 2.8 liter inline six-cylinder engine that produces 135 horsepower.

Japan didn't venture into the "supercar" market until Acua introduced the NSX. This 1997 NSX-T sports a 3.0-liter V 6 engine that pours out horsepower. There were many firsts introduced with this automobile including the first VTEC system and direct ignition.

This 1993 Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4 sports a great deal of advanced technology for the time. Its 3.0-liter twin turbo V 6 engine sent power to all four wheels with 45 percent going to the front and 55 percent going to the rear. It has four-wheel steering and electronic suspension control.

The MR2 was Toyota's foray into the small sports car market, and this 2001 Spyder is a prime example of the quality of those cars. Powered by a 1.4 liter inline four-cylinder engine generating 138 horsepower, this was plenty of get up and go for a car weighing just 2195 pounds.