Home » This Little Japanese Wagon Has One Fantastic Detail I’d Like To Show You: Cold Start

This Little Japanese Wagon Has One Fantastic Detail I’d Like To Show You: Cold Start

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I’ve always had a special place of respect for Daihatsu. They always seem to make the best concept cars, and they’re not afraid to try some really daring designs, even for production cars. Of course, they’ve made some pretty big mistakes lately, to the point where I think they’re on hold from actually building any cars. But, I want to take us a few decades into the past to appreciate a really charming little wagon Daihatsu once made, and to point out a detail of this wagon that’s so full of charm your body may go into convulsions as your charm-glands overfill and your delight bladder could be in danger of rupturing, so maybe read this over a dropcloth.

The car is called the Compagno, and was available in a full range of body styles: two- or four-door sedan, convertible, wagon/van, and even a pickup. These were made between 1963 and 1970, and used either 797cc or 958cc inline-fours. They had styling that I think looked remarkably Italian, like some Fiats of the era, and I’ve always found them to be quietly handsome little machines with a lot of character. I think they were the first Japanese cars officially imported into the UK, too.

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

We’re just going to focus on the wagon models today. Have a look:

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That’s a really appealing little two-door wagon, isn’t it? Well, I guess three-door, sort of, because of the hatch. Oh, but it’s not just a hatch! Look at this:

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It had a tailgate, too! And, that tailgate isn’t just the usual tailgate, it also reveals a separate spare tire holding compartment, so if you get a flat you don’t have to unload all your crap to get to the tire, which is a feature I appreciate. I love separate spare tire compartments, and all the advantages of a tailgate for hauling big stuff and, significantly, sitting upon and dangling your feet.

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Technically, these were really quite conventional, with a front engine, rear drive, and basic and rugged leaf spring suspension. Also, 41-ish horsepower from 800cc or so wasn’t bad, for the era. I mean, these weren’t quick by any means, but you’d get there.

Anyway, back to the little detail I want to point out. See if you can see it here:

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Actually, that’s a bad photo for this, because if you’re like me, all you can think of is what a shitty place that is to set up a tent. They want to sleep on that beach made of what looks like nothing but pointy rocks? The hell are they thinking? Is their bed at home a big canvas sack of gravel? Find another spot to camp, you kooks!

Let’s try another picture. How about this one:

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See the bit I’m talking about? Here, let me show you:

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Cs Curtains Callout

Curtains! Motherflapping curtains, available as a factory option!

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Look at that; There’s a little curtain rod there and everything. Holy crap is that charming! And so very Japanese, as anyone who has been in a Japanese cab and seen the seat doilies all over the place can tell you, these are people who appreciate the fuck out of some lace.

I know a lot of modern cars, especially luxury cars and minivans, have little window shades made of perforated thin fabric, but those feel like industrial cheese graters compared to the quiet elegance of little curtains like these. These Compagnos are already such appealing little cars, and details like this just push them over the top.

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I’ve never seen one of these in person, and I have no idea how much collectability these early Daihatsus have. I hope there’s someone out there preserving these things!

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Michael Ballezza
Michael Ballezza
1 month ago

Compagni seems a better plural of compagno, weird an Italian would masculinize the name of a small car, but when in Hokkaido, I guess

Cash Cash Cars
Cash Cash Cars
1 month ago

How much has our world advanced since then. But this one shows what wealth looked like in our childhood days.

Urban Runabout
Urban Runabout
1 month ago

What?
No antimacassars on the seat backs?

Samagon
Samagon
1 month ago

my parents had a custom dodge van with actual curtains as well, so it’s not so out of place, but yeah, factory optioned, and not from a custom kit, that’s cool.

Russell Robinson
Russell Robinson
1 month ago

It looks Italian because it was designed by Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale!

Al Camino
Al Camino
1 month ago

Two door wagons need to make a comeback.

Ecsta C3PO
Ecsta C3PO
1 month ago

Also, the fact that the giant rear window slides open is pretty uncommon for wagons / shooting brakes. The guy looks pretty comfy with his elbow resting on the sill

Morgan Thomas
Morgan Thomas
1 month ago
Reply to  Ecsta C3PO

Not so uncommon for little Japanese 2 door wagons of the era – I had a Datsun 1000 wagon, and a friend had several Mazda 1300 wagons, and all had sliding side windows like that.

Nlpnt
Nlpnt
1 month ago
Reply to  Morgan Thomas

Morris Minor, Mini and BMC 1100 wagons had the same setup. Just one more datapoint to add to the “Britain and Japan are alternate-universe versions of the same country that ended up in the same universe due to bureaucratic error” theory.

Ecsta C3PO
Ecsta C3PO
1 month ago
Reply to  Nlpnt

Never been so glad to be wrong, and now I’m in a rabbit hole of vintage Japanese and British 2 door wagons.

Ford_Timelord
Ford_Timelord
1 month ago
Reply to  Ecsta C3PO

Its 1978 we lived in Devon, England and the family car (for 5 of us!) was a Morris Minor Traveller with the timber rear structure. That was untill Dad got all decadant and bought a Triumph 2500.

DONALD FOLEY
DONALD FOLEY
1 month ago
Reply to  Ecsta C3PO

Go back far enough and American wagons had those rear sliding windows, too. I think I remember them from a classmate’s 1948 Ford.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 month ago

You could do puppet shows in the back!

Chronometric
Chronometric
1 month ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

I think back seats are for poppet shows.

Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
1 month ago
Last edited 1 month ago by Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
1 month ago

Well, indeed you do! 🙂

Boxing Pistons
Boxing Pistons
1 month ago

Pretty sure no one’s feet are dangling from that tailgate. Looks like it’s 6” from the ground. Still, pretty neat. I miss the tailgates on wagons! My family had a big white late 80’s Caprice wagon and 6-year-old me thought that was pretty rad.

Beer-light Guidance
Beer-light Guidance
1 month ago
Reply to  Boxing Pistons

Go back and watch some of Jason’s video. If ever there is a man that is up for the job of feet dangling it is him. (This may sound mean but is really born out of jealousy that he can actually fit in all those cool little cars that he tests out.)

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 month ago
Reply to  Boxing Pistons

Those tiny girls who call Mothra could easily sit on that tailgate.

Highland Green Miata
Highland Green Miata
1 month ago
Reply to  Boxing Pistons

The 2-way tailgate that folds down or opens sideways really needs to make a comeback on some of these SUV’s.

Last edited 1 month ago by Highland Green Miata
AlterId
AlterId
1 month ago

I’ve seen cars in old news footage (South African and/or Rhodesian is what I remember, but I think Australian too) with old-school venetian blinds with wide metal slats and tapes in the rear windows, but never curtains on anything that wasn’t a sex machine custom van. With those net curtains, the green upholstery and that woodgrain paint or applique or actual wood on the dashboard, it’s slathered in the kind of lower-middle class aesthetics just right for the big slice of of suburban Britain that most certainly was not swinging through the 1960s, thank you very much. All it needs is an aggressive floral wallpaper depicting triffids in bloom or something and a rented television.

Morgan Thomas
Morgan Thomas
1 month ago
Reply to  AlterId

Rear window louvres were a common thing in Australia back in the 60s/70s – probably because of the heat/sun. The traditional sort like I have in my 1962 Valiant were metal slats mounted to 2 vertical rails that hooked into the rear window rubber at top and bottom to hold it in place. Later it became more common for it to be a black plastic moulding that sat on the outside of the window, clipped to adhesive pads stuck on the glass, to allow it to be temporarily removed for claening.

Nick Fortes
Nick Fortes
1 month ago
Reply to  AlterId

They call them hired televisions lol

Eggsalad
Eggsalad
1 month ago

I’m hung up on the two-piece tailgate that isn’t flush with the load floor. Sure, I guess it would help that you can remove the spare tire without unloading your cargo. But it also means that you can’t use the tailgate as an extension of the load floor for long loads – which seems like it would be ever so much more useful than an easy-access spare.

Sklooner
Sklooner
1 month ago
Reply to  Eggsalad

Yeah if they did some fancy hinges that would give you flat and then drop down it would be perfect

ChefCJ
ChefCJ
1 month ago

I’m sorry, but those curtains are a little hearsey, don’t you think?

Flyingstitch
Flyingstitch
1 month ago
Reply to  ChefCJ

Which reminds me, I saw a hearse at a…rest stop…on the NJ Turnpike yesterday. I didn’t see the passenger in the food court, though. And I realized for the first time that hearses in NJ get the same kind of plates that taxis do.

StillNotATony
StillNotATony
1 month ago
Reply to  Flyingstitch

There’s a local tech support/call center that I drive past nearly every day. Someone who works there drives a hearse. It’s a little weird seeing it parked there.

ChefCJ
ChefCJ
1 month ago
Reply to  Flyingstitch

I mean, they are taking people from one place to another, albeit in a slightly different capacity

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 month ago
Reply to  Flyingstitch

Was it a final rest stop?

Chronometric
Chronometric
1 month ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

Well, it was New Jersey.

Nick Fortes
Nick Fortes
1 month ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

Yes it was the Vince Lombardi rest stop

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 month ago
Reply to  Nick Fortes

Well, he is buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Middletown, NJ, but I’m wondering if you meant Jimmy Hoffa?

Nick Fortes
Nick Fortes
1 month ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

No I meant the final rest stop on the NJTP in Ridgefield NJ…. or first if you are heading south, but that ruins the joke lol

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 month ago
Reply to  Nick Fortes

Apologies.

Nick Fortes
Nick Fortes
1 month ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

No apologies needed, it was a stretch of a joke

Flyingstitch
Flyingstitch
1 month ago

The camping shot makes it look like there’s some kind of horizontal split in the rear quarter and hatch glass, but it must be something behind the car. You’d think they would airbrush that out. Anyway, sweet little wagon, and in the same week we looked at a Squareback!

AlterId
AlterId
1 month ago
Reply to  Flyingstitch

I think it is something on the glass because it appears to be silver and over the window glass on the left side of the car and dark when viewed through that glass on the other side. It’s also visible on various configurations on the other photos, so maybe it indicates some sort of optional window sliding or venting arrangements that vary according to trim level.

Last edited 1 month ago by AlterId
4jim
4jim
1 month ago

That rear leaf spring suspension looks like overkill for the weight and volume of that little car. I kind of miss little light rear drive cars.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
1 month ago
Reply to  4jim

The other day, I was thinking about how a four cylinder, RWD, and a solid rear axle was the default and universally most common layout for a car from the mid 19-aughts(with the Model T) to the mid 70s, but how they are thoroughly extinct from US roads today. Seriously, what’s the last car(that’s not a pickup) sold in the US with a four cylinder, RWD, and a solid rear? I think it’s the AE86 Corolla, and when’s the last time you saw one of those?

4jim
4jim
1 month ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

I helped a buddy change the clutch on a rwd corolla from about late 70s or about then.

Memphomike
Memphomike
1 month ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

My wife had a RWD Toyota Starlet when we got married and I didn’t realize what a mistake we made getting rid of it till I saw one racing at a local SCCA event. A customer had one when I worked in the Toyota service department and I remember him standing in front of me cleaning his ear with his key as he complained that he wasn’t getting the 50mpg he was supposed to.
Perfect first car.

4jim
4jim
1 month ago

I want curtains in cars now. I did have some in the topper (cap) of my old Toyota pickup but that was something I added.

StillNotATony
StillNotATony
1 month ago

I don’t know if you’ve ruined me or improved me, Torch, but as soon as I zoomed in, my first thought was “Are those curtains?”

Mark Jacob
Mark Jacob
1 month ago

Can we also talk about how amazing that green fabric is on the seats?! It looks so comfortable.

Musicman27
Musicman27
1 month ago

To give your ride that homey feel.

Memphomike
Memphomike
1 month ago
Reply to  Musicman27

Should be covered in plastic to save that upholstery.

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