Returning with a bang for 1981, Hikaru Katana CHI-18-3 ‘Izanagi’
Play any citypop this time, it’ll probably fit…
Kyoichi Hikaru, the man that had so successfully brought Hikaru H. I. to the forefront in the mid 1960s all the way through the 1970s, was now just as successful as his pride and joy, the Katana line of small sports cars. With the immense success of his first project at the age of only 26 in 1965, he had proven to his father, the man that had founded the company in the first place, that he was driven, purposeful and responsible enough to be in his position. Of course, his career didn’t end there, he then went on to found within the company a dedicated department for the creation of the Katana line of sports cars, employing a variety of talented engineers to help him make truly incredible cars. The 1970s rolled around quickly, and by the turn of the decade, Hikaru-san knew that the now venerable but somewhat underpowered first generation Katana needed a worthy successor. In his home country, he would be lucky enough to avoid any sort of oil crisis, and as such, their work during the 1970s on the second generation Katana was fruitful, producing a fun, slightly more powerful, if slightly heavier sports car. While it didn’t seem to make the same excellent impression that the original made, it was certainly still a success by almost any metric.
(1981 home country advert for the all-new Katana.)
The world was changing by the time that 1979 had rolled around though, and even the once quite powerful second generation Katana was being quite easily outclassed by offerings from Antares, Nordwagen and HAMFA, among others. As such a replacement was required. By now, it would be and understatement to say that Hikaru-san was a different man. He was certainly no longer the lively, naive 26 year old that he was in 1965, he was now very much 40 years old, and he could feel each year of it. His first son, the child that had given him the inspiration to create the Katana in the first place was now a teenager, and was just entering his final year of high school, and Hikaru-san knew that the stresses of teenage life were catching up with his boy. He regularly disrespected his father, spoke to him far less than as a younger boy, and appeared to talk less to pretty much everyone, especially the girl that he had grown up with who lived in the house next door.
All of this really dragged on Hikaru-san as he walked into work in early 1980, still trying to think of what he could do to make his brand-new idea for the Katana a good one. All that he had to do, he would tell himself constantly, is make a car that looks like a Katana, is a bit more powerful than last time, and is cheap enough to sell well. As such, that was what he did. From the base of the already-existing 1976 Hikaru Samurai Sedan of that year, he would attempt to create a Katana that would save money and time, eliminating the need to engineer a new chassis and body. He would simply redesign part of the body to contain some of the signature Katana trademarks, a sloped back, sidevents and half-covered rear wheel, but leave as much the same as possible.
All of this expedited the process of creating the new Katana, but within him, there was a nagging feeling, one of dishonour, that he was failing his father, the one who granted him the honour of creating cars in the first place. He would push that all down though, and continue working through the creation of his new car. By the later end of 1980, the design work had been finished ahead of schedule, and the engineering teams were preparing a first prototype to be tested.
It would contain Hikaru’s updated 1.8L straight six, now equipped with 24V DOHC and an almost unheard of electronic multiple-point fuel injection system, and unsurprisingly, was now pushing just over 120HP. The interior was to be constructed in the same fashion as the original, retaining the same expensive ‘Jindai Sugi’ wood panelling, but this time updated for the 1980s. It contained a fully adjustable cassette system and a highly advanced electronic climate control system. The interior furnishings were also quite luxurious, with supple wool used on all soft surfaces and leather where necessary. Unsurprisingly, the car was quite hefty now, weighing almost 900kgs unladen.
The new car would be test driven early in 1981, and the test driver, the same one that had driven the original Katana all the way back in 1964, insisted that he be the one to test the new car. They would head down to the same test track, and the test driver, Minato Koriyama, was told to go nuts with it. They saw him pull away smoothly, get the car up to speed, and watched it as it accelerated off into the distance. Quite quickly, he came back, and with an expression on his face that was nothing short of pure rage.
“Hikaru-san, you dishonour yourself, your customers, and your family name. I refuse to drive any more of your cars if you don’t at least try to put some effort, some soul into them.”
He walked off, got into his own car, and drove off.
With that glowing review, Hikaru-san was conflicted, but Hikaru H. I. needed a new Katana, and that was what he was going to provide them with. As mid-1981 rolled around, the all-new Katana was released to the public, and all that Hikaru-san could do was wait. Would his attempts to cut down on weight make his car into an ugly duckling, or a cheap, cheerful shooting star? Would it remain as precise and refined as a samurai sword, as the Western reviews had said about it, or would it be as dull as a butter knife? He knew deep inside that his car had been Americanised, becoming heavy and cumbersome, and that he had abandoned what had made his first car beautiful - the idea that had made his country successful - that there is beauty in simplicity.
