There’s A Delightfully Bonkers Japanese Retro Carmaker That’s Not Mitsuoka

If there’s one thing that I like to reflect on when the global auto industry just feels too monolithic and boring and oppressive, it’s the fact that, somehow, Mitsuoka still exists. Just knowing that somewhere out there in the world was a company that transforms, with great effort, boring, rational economy cars and SUVs into amazing sorta-caricatures of iconic cars like Sting Ray Corvettes and ’50s Jaguar saloons and K5 Blazers. Well, that’s a lot to put on one little company, which is why I’m happy to say that I’ve just learned of the existence of another tiny Japanese company that transforms everyday econoboxes into special things: Good Wood Park.

Yes, there’s another! Mitsuoka doesn’t have to carry the burden of my well-being alone! Sure, Good Wood Park seems pretty damn small, and they appear to have started out as a Nissan dealer before getting into the modifying-the-crap-out-of-Nissans business.

In fact, if you look for them on Google Earth, you’re presented with a very rugged-looking unpainted corrugated-metal building:

This feels like an unlikely facility to be the birthplace of such unashamedly adorable cars like these:

But, I suppose lots of adorable things come from some pretty un-aesthetic places; I mean, I’ve seen puppies being born. And speaking of puppies, let’s look more at these two puppies!

The two cars that Good Wood Park builds are both built on that darling of Japanese car-modding companies, the third-generation Nissan Micra/March, known as the K12, and built in large numbers from 2002 to 2010. These are a solid platform for a fun, enjoyable car, being efficient and reliable and quite common, so mechanical parts are pretty easy to get and maintenance should be fairly easy.

The first converted March is based on the old Austin A30/A35, a deeply charming little British car perhaps best known as the company car of noted plasticine pest-controllers Wallace and Gromit:

Good Wood Park calls their rendition of the A35 the Ministar, and it’s a pretty convincing re-creation of the little Brit.

Most of the changes are on the front and rear clips; there’s a whole new front end and a re-worked rear including taillights that I think are from a Lancia Ypsilon.

The other car is called the Herbie, and is pretty loosely based on a vintage Volkswagen Beetle, though this is a lot looser of an adaptation than the Ministar, as you can see:

If anything, this looks a lot like a modernized version of the early 1960s Ghia-designed possible Beetle replacement:

I’m not sure that’s what they had in mind when designing this, but it sure as hell looks like it, doesn’t it? Also, I do like that the Herbie uses actual (if aftermarket) Beetle 1968-1969 taillights:

It’s just fun, I think. Lots of the classic car charm without the demands of a car from the ’60s or ’70s, or constantly smelling like gas or always being ready to roll under the car to get it started, or whatever.

Sure, it’s a car in a costume, but look at all the colors you can get that costume in:

Again, these are just fun and frivolous, two f-words the world always could use more of, as far as I’m concerned. It also helps that these don’t seem to be too expensive – if you look at their list of cars for sale and do a little bit of translating yen to dollars, it appears that most of these cars are priced between $13,000 and $16,000 – which is dirt motherflapping cheap by modern standards.

Like Mitsuoka, I’m just happy knowing these exist; and, if time continues to work the way I think it does, these should be available to legally import into the US in just a few years, if you find one based on one of the earlier March/Micras!

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