This is an extension of 🇯🇵 1991 Subaru Rioma Concept , because anything I post at this point doesn’t fall under the suggestions category.
Status Update! These are all 5 pieces of literature I have collected in pursuit of photos of this thing.
- Upper left: One-page blurb on the Subaru Rioma concept in two languages. [Internet Archive]
- Upper center: Subaru-issued press information booklet presumably handed to popular car magazines at the time. [Internet Archive]
- Upper right: Delightful overview of everything Subaru had to show off at the motor show. I have no idea where on earth this is from, and this wasn’t that free brochure handed out to visitors, unless there were 2 different ones, which would be weird because this has absolutely zero appearance on the internet unlike the free brochures they did hand out. No indication this was sold publicly. [Internet Archive]
- Lower left: A special issue of Car Top magazine for the 29th Tokyo Motor Show.
- Lower right: Similar to lower left but for MotorFan magazine.
There are six more that I can’t find any information about or can’t find for sale, one more that’s too expensive for me to consider yet, and one I’m hesitant to get.
I initially found this concept car on Wikipedia, really liked it, and I’m now down the rabbit hole of automotive literature. My silly obsession with this little car isn’t the end of the story. I want to use my free time to do something nice, and I think finding and committing to preserving automotive media like this is my way of inching towards some greater good in this community.
I will try to get a decent scanner that isn’t my cheap printer, which will allow me to get much better and more accurate copies of the documents including larger format ones that won’t fit in my printer’s scan bed. Until then, my efforts are pretty much limited to collecting because I don’t want to spend a whole weekend making mediocre scans only to have to redo them at a later date. When I get my hands on some equipment, It’s endgame.
I hope you’re not tired of reading this yet
When I collect enough material, I want to host some sort of online museum of everything that I find (subaru-impreza.de is a nice example), including a repository of photos from these for people online to see, because there are definitely nerds out there looking for high-res photos or documentation of old obscure cars.
I will continue to collect interesting stuff as long as I can reasonably afford to do so. I pursue this (can you call this a hobby?) mostly just out of my own interest, so you’ll mainly see the 1970s to 2000s in the European and Japanese scenes. I am not some big-shot historian, just someone with time to kill and an urge to farm positive karma to cheat the pearly gates
If for whatever reason you’re looking for pictures or information about a car and can’t find it, you’re in my shoes and you’re the exact type of person I want to help! Point me in the right direction and there’s a chance I can help you recover lost media.
I will use this thread for my findings and anything else fun I want to share
