The sign above it says MAXIMUM 40 km/h, AREA, SECTEUR, ENDS, FIN, in English and French, which is about as Canadian as a street sign gets. The car beneath it is about as Japanese as a car gets: a white Toyota Mark II JZX100, steering wheel on the right, built for Japan and never officially sold here. Our caption called it a Mark II Tourer V and one of the cleanest out there. Having filmed it from every angle as the Ottawa sky went pink, we're not going to argue.
What a Toyota Mark II JZX100 is
The Mark II was Toyota's mid-size rear-wheel-drive sedan for Japan, a name that goes back to the 1968 Corona Mark II. The JZX100 is the eighth generation, built from 1996 to 2000, and it shared its platform with two siblings: the sportier Chaser and the more formal Cresta. All three came with a range of straight-sixes, and the one everybody wants is the Tourer V, with the 2.5-litre 1JZ-GTE single-turbo six, VVT-i, and the 280 PS figure that Japanese makers quoted at the time. A five-speed manual was on the order sheet.
That combination, four doors, rear drive, a turbo six that loves boost and a manual, is why the JZX100 went from salaryman car to drift icon. It is also why clean, unmolested ones are getting hard to find in Japan.
The details on this one
The reel is cut as a stack of three moving frames, so every still shows the car three ways. What we saw, front to back:
- Stance. Dropped low over the tyres, with the wheels tucked right up to the arches.
- Wheels. Multi-piece rims with twin-spoke faces, polished lips, bolted barrels and red centre caps.
- Bodywork. An aftermarket front bumper with a big central opening and an intercooler-style core behind the mesh, side skirts and a deep rear bumper with a single exit.
- Lights. The factory multi-reflector headlights and the full-width Mark II tail lights, both spotless.
- Cabin. A black Bride bucket seat for the driver, a deep-dish aftermarket steering wheel on the right, and a manual gear lever between the seats.
We didn't open the bonnet for this one, so we'll leave the engine where the caption leaves it: a Tourer V. What we can say is that someone has done the hard part, which is restraint. No livery, no giant wing, just a white Japanese sedan made lower, wider-looking and sharper.
Why a Mark II is in Ottawa at all
Canada lets private buyers import vehicles once they are 15 years old, a decade earlier than the 25-year rule south of the border. That window opened for the JZX100 years ago, and the result is a small, devoted community of right-hand-drive Toyota sedans in Ontario and Quebec, wearing Canadian plates and dealing with Canadian winters.
The verdict
You can see this car in its natural habitat in our Toyota Mark II JZX100 touge night with OGA and 1320video, or hear its sister car in our Toyota Chaser JZX100 Tourer V clip. This one never went sideways for us. It didn't need to. Parked under a bilingual sign as the light went, it was the best-dressed car in Ottawa.
Photos and video: One Breath Pictures.
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