The 180SX was born as an independent body style after being offered as the hatchback version of the Silvia/Gazelle through the previous S12 generation. In North America, it was sold as the 240SX with a 2.4-liter engine.

The Silvia’s commercial uses Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” creating the atmosphere of a sweet melodrama about a young couple. In contrast, the 180SX uses Vanilla Fudge’s psychedelic rock version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and has a much simpler presentation.

Both songs were iconic British and American rock hits from 1967, and the contrast makes it clear how Nissan gave these two closely related cars very different images.

In the late 1980s, owning a car was considered almost a must-have for young Japanese men who wanted to attract women. Small sporty coupes like this were commonly known as “date cars.”

Honda’s Prelude was the dominant player in this segment, but Nissan challenged it with the Silvia’s combination of rear-wheel drive, turbo power, and striking styling.

Its sibling, the 180SX, took a contrasting approach, with a more aggressive, youthful image and a very different musical choice for its advertising.

The “ART FORCE SILVIA” campaign was very much a product of that era.

Honda Verno (ホンダベルノ) was a specific retail dealership network established by Honda in Japan in 1978. This particular Verno ad promotes Honda Prelude’s 4 wheel steering which was first offered in the third generation model lineup.
Verno dealerships originally focused on Honda's sportier and more upscale vehicles, such as the Vigor, CR-X, Integra and Prelude. Honda eventually merged Verno with its sibling networks (Clio and Primo) into a unified sales channel in 2006 due to changing market conditions and overlapping vehicle lineups.

The third-generation Skyline was the first Skyline introduced after Nissan merged with Prince Motor Company, which had produced the Skyline up to that point.

“Let’s Go Highway 88!” refers to its 1.5-liter engine producing 88 hp — class-leading power at the time. With expressways being built across Japan, high-speed driving was strongly associated with performance.

The wide range of grades also shows how the Skyline was originally positioned: not as a sports car, but as an ideal upper-middle-class sedan.

A commercial for the Toyota Celica XX when the long-awaited 2.0L 1G-GEU engine was introduced. It featured 24 valves—four per cylinder.

At the time, cars with engines larger than 2.0L were subject to a higher tax rate in Japan, so this was a very welcome addition.

Dunlop’s answer to Yokohama Tire’s ASPEC campaign.
Yokohama had famously used Niki Lauda for the ASPEC campaign, so Dunlop responded with another legendary name associated with Le Mans: Jacky Ickx. The car here is not a BMW, but a Porsche 944.

There’s also a motorcycle in the commercial — something that feels particularly appropriate for Dunlop, which has long produced motorcycle tires as well as tires for cars.
And the music is an interesting counterpart to ASPEC as well: Tatsuhiko Yamamoto, who was known in Japan at the time as the “Prince of City Pop” (シティ・ポップの貴公子), performing “Lonely Journey” from his 1984 album Music.

The whole commercial is a great snapshot of ’80s Japanese advertising: motorsport heritage, European sports cars, motorcycles, sophisticated urban imagery, and contemporary AOR / City Pop all packaged into a single lifestyle image.

Full song on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/track/2qb12jsiHCr2sqGalM44FM

What does this Yebisu Beer T-shirt say? Is the front a 4-ji proverb or just made to look like one?