Tough-to-crack car puzzle #150: Mikasa Touring

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Well done, readers. Many of you recognised our last mystery motor as the Mikasa Touring, built in Yokohama from 1957 until 1961 by Okamura Manufacturing, which were big in… office furniture. We like our answers informative and not copied from the worldwide web, and some of them managed to surprise us, since little is known about the vehicle in question. Fried Stol wrote: “Those rims are definitely deceiving; one might think it would be a 2CV derivative!” That’s right, Fried, and although Mikasa’s mechanicals shared its ideas with the good old 2CV (see picture of the engine); they are entirely different. Gerd Klioba said: “The car's layout was inspired by the Citroën 2CV.” John Elema added: “The front-wheel drive Mikasa was the first Japanese car with an automatic two-speed transmission and fluid torque converter. The 585 c.c. four-stroke engine was an air-cooled opposed twin-cylinder, not unlike Citroën’s 2CV unit of that period.” We also liked Jeffrey Vogel’s suggestion—he thought of it as an Asian Berkeley! 

Survivors are as rare as it gets and as John Elema points out Okamura is still in business and has a restored coupé version in its Tokyo showroom: “There was also a van and a four-seater touring type MT10.” Gerd Klioba adds: “Until 1961 only a few roadsters were built, besides around 500 Mikasa Service Car station wagons.” That seems an unlikely number to us, but we’d loved to be proven wrong.

Phil Seed’s accurate answer makes him this week's winner. He wrote: “The car in quiz #150 is a 1959 Mikasa Touring. It features an air-cooled twin-cylinder 600 c.c. engine and automatic transmission/fluid torque converter. It was produced by the furniture company Okamura Manufacturing company in Tokyo. According to a Japanese website, its nickname was Nokura (no clutch).” That did it!

Words and archive picture: Jeroen Booij

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