Japanese MightyBoy brochure (1985)

In the kind of flamboyant and quirky style that was typical of Japanese car manufacturers in the 1980s and 90s, this brochure features illustrations from "The Gossips" — a series of paintings and drawings by American artist Normal Rockwell — first published in "The Saturday Evening Post" during 1948. Rockwell was famous for his illustrations portraying American life in the early-mid 20th century.

Besides the entertaining visuals there are a couple of points worth noting about this brochure, specifically the options available to Japanese buyers. Firstly, there are three model specifications: PS-A, PS-L and PS-QL. The first is the 'base' model, available in red or white with a 4-speed manual transmission, no roof rails, no radio and 10 inch wheels with drum brakes front and rear. Then there are the PS-L and PS-QL models, one with a 5-speed manual and the other with a 2-speed automatic transmission, both with roof rails, 12 inch wheels and disc brakes on the front.

Looking closely you'll also notice that the top-range models have a tachometer, and slightly different seats (the same ones we got in Australia). Air conditioning was also an option on these models. One very strange detail is that the automatic QL model was not available in yellow. So based on this brochure, the MightyBoy specification available in Australia was a hybrid of all three Japanese models, with some of the L/QL features such as roof rails, wheels and optional automatic transmission. Sadly what we didn't get were the tacho, 5-speed gearbox or air conditioning.