Posted on 01/14/2021 1:43:13 PM PST by nickcarraway
Six years after it left production, the Orochi is starting to make an unexpected comeback.
The phrase "everyone's a critic " has never been more apt than in the year 2021. It's as if society roll plays every single day as Danny DeVito in the episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia where he wears a ridiculous turtle-neck and wig and pretends to be a preposterously snobbish art critic.
The Mistuoka Orochi is a car that's been absolutely beaten to a bloody pulp in forums and message boards across the internet and even on this very website. Some call it ugly, others call for them all to be crushed. That said, six years after it left production, the Orochi is starting to make an unexpected comeback. Could it be a new post-ironic generation gassing it up as the go-to car for the proud weirdo? Or maybe something more complicated than that? Either way, the fact this car is still talked about today means it at least made an impact, as polarizing as it was.
Mitsuoka is one of those Japanese brands that never bothered trying to sell cars overseas. That said, they never intended to. Mitsuoka makes cars for people with unconventional tastes in style, for the person who says "no" emphatically when given status quo choices from other sports car makers. This philosophy is the genesis of the Orochi, and there's a lot more to that story to boot.
It's not uncommon to take an existing sports car, give it a fresh change of clothes and slap a different badge on the front grille. Thankfully, the Orochi is derived from one of the all-time Japanese sports car greats. The Orochi, which is named for a mythical Japanese dragon. debuted as a concept at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show with the same internals as the iconic Honda NSX. The response wasn't as ghastly as other "ugly" cars like the Pontiac Aztek, but to say it was polarizing was an understatement for the record books.
Interestingly, thoughts on the Orochi were largely divided down national lines. Japanese journalists applauded the car's bold and unorthodox styling. Conversely, western magazines like Jalopnik lauded the Orochi as "The Worlds Ugliest Car". Of course, that decision is always in the eyes of the beholder. And we think Jeremy Clarkson's quote sighting an old European artist Francis Bacon in his Alfa 8C review on Top Gear is fitting here. " There is no beauty that hath not some strangeness in its proportions." Bacon didn't know it, but centuries ago, he came up with the perfect metaphor to describe this quirky Japanese sports car.
“It’s like something out of a bad manga.”
When I first saw the photo, I thought of the Joker!
Orochi...google it...see some better paint jobs
Beat me, I was wondering where, he saw Bacon.
Looks like a Lamborghini Countach got it on with a Mazda Miata. Throw in a Pixar smiley face grill, and voila!
Screw electric. I’m putting a jib and a big-ass spinnaker on my minivan. Wait till you see the reactions when I tack to windward on I-95! Eat road salt, losers!
Yes, but the paint job alone might be enough, if one made the smiley matte black.
In the original, he was called Fukumen Resa (Masked Racer), Kenichi Mifune the elder brother of Go (Speed) and Kurio (Spritle).
Ah, the Aztec. People whining and complaining that GM has no vision, no foresight, and no imagination. Pontiac comes out with something completely different, and while not drop dead gorgeous, is not horrifyingly ugly *cough HHR cough*.
The entire automotive press recoils because it’s different.
No-win situation: show some initiative, get shat upon. Do nothing get shat upon.
Then, for daring to try something new, both Olds and Pontiac are the divisions eliminated. Yay corporate bean counters. The same folks responsible for Boeing’s current troubles.
I would NEVER hire an MBA that hasn’t held a physical labor job. They have no clue.
Start at the 6:00 point in this video. This was a fun driving car—more fun the faster it went. Drove one that very color crossing New Mexico and Arizona heading for San Diego. The video car interior modded from stock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovn8Rm1RUEY
It seems I like ugly cars, then. A couple of strange lines, but not bad at all.
A real chick magnet!
“Hey, babe, wanna ride my Mistuoka Orochi “”...................................
If they got rid of the paper clips on the rear end...that would be a major improvement.
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