AS a kid I frequently visited local car dealers in the hope the salesmen were kind enough to give a seven year old kid their shiny catalogues. First in line was the Audi dealer, and the goal was a brochure from the Audi Quattro. But I also liked the dealers of Japanese vehicles because their catalogues had cool illustrations of cars that never had to pop the hood to show the engine inside.

In the early eighties Japan had a big scene of illustrators that followed the ‘super-realistic’ style. It was clearly a men’s world, because the subjects are mostly machines and nude women. Next to the fact that you can show the engine with a closed hood, the illustrations were popular because the drawings often gave a sharper impression than a photo.

1 ……………………………………………….

2 ……………………………………………….

3 ……………………………………………….

4 ……………………………………………….

5 ……………………………………………….

6 ……………………………………………….

7 ……………………………………………….

8 ……………………………………………….

9 ……………………………………………….

1,2 Yasuhide Ishizaki, Toyota Hilux illustration for a catalogue

3 Hide Nakajima, illustration for a magazine

4 Takeshi Hosokawa, Ford Telster, illustration for a catalogue

5 Takeshi Hosokawa, Mazda Familia, illustration for a catalogue

6 Makoto Ouchi, illustration for a catalogue

7 Yasuhiro Kawakami, illustration for a plastic model package

8 Shin Saito, illustration for catalogue

9 Fujine Yano, Mini Cooper S1275 illustration for a calender