Japanese performance, 1985 to 2002.
23 cards
Honda built the DC5 Integra Type R only for markets outside the US, replacing the US-market Type R nameplate entirely with the RSX Type-S sold alongside it.
This Integra wasn't just beloved by tuners — it was the most-stolen car in America for years, with a theft-claim rate more than double the second-place Jeep Wrangler.
Honda's engineers chased an unlikely muse for the original NSX's cockpit: the view from an F-16 fighter jet shaped the car's low beltline and all-round visibility.
This was the last Civic generation to offer 4WD at all, and on launch it won Car of the Year Japan for a record fourth time.
The sixth-gen Civic was the last ever built with front double-wishbone suspension — Honda switched to a simpler MacPherson strut for the next generation and never looked back.
This Integra generation had a reputation problem money couldn't fix: a 2002 study found it racked up 21.7 theft claims per 1,000 cars — more than double the Jeep Wrangler, the next most-stolen vehicle of the era.
The Type S-Zero lapped Suzuka 1.5 seconds quicker than the NSX-R, and Honda built only 30 of them.
In 2022 Honda built one last NSX-R for collector Shinji Kawai, from spare parts and a JGTC spare chassis that had never raced. Its VIN is R0000.
The Type SH's torque-vectoring system could send up to 80% of the engine's power to a single front wheel, spinning it 15% faster than the other to fight understeer.
Mazda built only 1,500 Spirit R units across its three trims, making it the rarest regular-production variant of the FD RX-7.
The S15 was deliberately shrunk from its predecessor just to duck Japan's compact-car tax bracket, after the wider S14 had pushed buyers into a higher tax band.
Nissan's official 280 PS figure for the R34 GT-R was a polite fiction — a gentlemen's agreement capped Japanese sports car ratings, and the car actually left the factory with over 330 hp.
The last R34 GT-Rs got gold VIN plates and a 300 km/h speedometer, named for a racetrack that built the car's reputation.
Subaru badged this Impreza generation as the Saab 9-2X for 2004–06, a WRX wagon wearing Swedish griffins.
Subaru built just 400 widebody 22B STIs in 1998 to mark its 40th anniversary and third straight WRC title — every one sold out in somewhere between 30 minutes and 48 hours.
This WRX STI had a badge-engineered twin sold at Saab dealerships: under a GM/Fuji Heavy Industries deal, Saab rebadged it as the 9-2X starting in the 2005 model year.
Japan's first-generation WRX never came to North America, kept a gentlemen's-agreement rating of 280 PS on paper while actually making about 300.
All 400 units of the widebody 22B STI, built to mark Subaru's 40th anniversary, sold out within 30 minutes to 48 hours of going on sale in Japan.
This Legacy generation gave Japan a 276 bhp twin-turbo B4 sedan, taxed lighter at home while Australia detuned it to 98 RON fuel.
Japan-spec twin-turbo Legacy GT wagons offered SportShift — push the auto selector left and it let you shift the automatic gearbox yourself, years before paddle shifters became common.
The T230 Celica was styled by Toyota's Calty Design Research studio in California rather than in Japan.
Toyota flipped the script on the W30 MR2 — literally. Its mid-mounted engine was installed backwards from every earlier MR2, exhaust facing the rear instead of the front.
The A80 Supra Turbo held Car and Driver's production-car braking record for seven straight years — a Formula One-inspired ABS system that wasn't beaten until the Porsche Carrera GT arrived in 2004.
Real Golden Era Classics cards spotted on the street by Burbles collectors. Tap any card to flip it over, inspect the collector’s binder, or follow them.
VerifiedFIRST · WORLDWIDEFIRST PRINTPROHonda's engineers chased an unlikely muse for the original NSX's cockpit: the view from an F-16 fighter jet shaped the car's low beltline and all-round visibility.
VerifiedFIRST PRINTNIGHTPROThe Type SH's torque-vectoring system could send up to 80% of the engine's power to a single front wheel, spinning it 15% faster than the other to fight understeer.
VerifiedFIRST · WORLDWIDEFIRST PRINTNIGHTThe Type SH's torque-vectoring system could send up to 80% of the engine's power to a single front wheel, spinning it 15% faster than the other to fight understeer.
VerifiedFIRST PRINTPROThe Type SH's torque-vectoring system could send up to 80% of the engine's power to a single front wheel, spinning it 15% faster than the other to fight understeer.
VerifiedFIRST · WORLDWIDEFIRST PRINTONLY ONE IN VANCOUVERNissan's official 280 PS figure for the R34 GT-R was a polite fiction — a gentlemen's agreement capped Japanese sports car ratings, and the car actually left the factory with over 330 hp.
VerifiedFIRST PRINT×2PROThis Integra wasn't just beloved by tuners — it was the most-stolen car in America for years, with a theft-claim rate more than double the second-place Jeep Wrangler.
