Talk:Real-world References in Dragon Ball

Notes from the Discord:

DONE - The car Yamcha gives the others after destroying their aircar is a Fiat-Abarth 695, a custom version of the Fiat 500. (Abarth and its distinctive scorpion logo show up a lot in Dr. Slump)
Kame-Sen’nin is noted by Daizenshuu 7 as driving a “Cadillac” to the airport when they set out for the 21st Budōkai, although no model is specified and it kind of looks like an amalgam of a couple different models / model years from the late 1950s to early 1960s.
That van from the end of the same arc is a Fiat model if memory serves (but it doesn’t so someone should confirm)
The Pilaf Gang are seen driving a Mercedes-Benz SL560 at the end of the Red Ribbon arc. (Guidebooks get the brand right but the model wrong, calling it an “SE550”, which doesn’t exist)
DONE - That plane that takes them to the 21st Budōkai is specifically a Junkers Ju 52, a Weimar–Nazi-era aircraft produced in Germany. Here’s a model kit of that plane by
DONE - I don’t know if it counts as a “brand”, but Bulma’s nightgown in chapters 2–4 has a patch for the First Armored Division of the U.S. Army.
And Kaiō’s sportscar, while identified only as such in guidebooks, is clearly a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, with an aftermarket hoodscoop
The Red Ribbon plane that takes Goku to Jingle Village is a Horten Ho-IX (aka Gotha Go-229), an experimental Nazi aircraft produced in late WWII. I have a faint recollection of one guidebook or another referring to it with the latter name.
I have searched in vain for a real-life version of Col. Yellow’s biplane, but have thus far come up empty-handed.
DONE - Oh, and there’s someone walking around the 21st Budōkai site with a “LUMA” shirt, Luma being the author’s favored brand for color ink. (He used ordinary Pilot document ink for black)
Oh, don’t forget the “Game Poy” in the Boo arc.
DONE - Oh, Kame-Sen’nin’s video shelf at Kame House in chapter 24, including (from memory) a copy of “The Goonies”. Someone with the chapter handy can put up a screenshot to identify.
(I also seem to remember him also having a shelf of Jump somewhere in his house)
Oh, Col. Silver had a Ford F100, I believe (Even says FORD)
There’s a dude in the 28th Budokai crowd wearing a shirt that’s a play on X Japan. I think it’s Y. Dunno if that would also be cited on your page. Probably.
66: the “Powered Gun” is a Double Derringer (only two shots, which makes you wonder how he didn’t realize he was out of bullets…)
55: Ford F-series
56: Horten Ho-229 / Gotha Go-229:
Ch. 54: Fiat van?
DONE (referenced in previous entry) - Ch. 45: Oz again
DONE - 42: Scarecrow with a boom box, Miffy again, bald Sturgis guy
DONE (referenced in previous entry) - Oz again, this time also with Jack Pumpkinhead: (Goky w/ Giren) (This is a reference to Matsuyama’s winning entry in the 1985 Tamiya figure modeling contest: http://art-front.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Fig12.jpg)
DONE - Wizard of Oz crew, part 1: (Yamcha vs Kamesennin)
DONE - Among others, what looks like Wayan (again), King Nikochan, Miffy (?!) and what I call “Sturgis guy”, the biker type dude in a denim vest who keeps losing hair over the course of the tournament (This kind of background consistency is definitely not like Toriyama, which is partly why I attribute it to Matsuyama). Start of tournament.
- As Dr Slump is somewhat in the DB world, I'm taking the King Nikochan appearance to be less a reference and more an early character appearance...
The design of this guy (between Kuririn and his former temple-mate) seems too oddly specific to be just some random dude, but I have no idea who it might be:. (n.b. I’m pretty sure Matsuyama was responsible for this sort of thing. Where’s Waldo-style imagery is right in his wheelhouse)
DONE - Mr. Sta-Puft: (Before the tournament)
Oh, these all would be great inclusions - https://www.kanzenshuu.com/2013/03/22/dragon-quest-cameos-in-battle-of-gods-and-original-manga/

Add References

The car Bulma drives at the beginning of the chapter is a Renault 5 Turbo, as noted in Daizenshuu 4: World Guide.

More from manga guide

DB18 - The car that Pilaf’s underlings ride in on their way back to the castle is an Autobianchi A112 Abarth, as noted in Daizenshuu 4: World Guide. Akira Toriyama actually owned one of this model
DB30 - Kame-Sen’nin’s car that appears in this chapter is identified as a Cadillac in Daizenshuu volume 7 and elsewhere, but the specific model is never mentioned. From the front and side, it closely (though not exactly) resembles a Sedan de Ville from circa 1961–’64, but the tail fins are more exaggerated, reminiscent of designs from the mid-to-late 1950s. It is possible that the lack of an exact model name in guidebooks is because it is not based on any single design.
DB55 - The truck that appears in this chapter is a second-generation Ford F-Series pickup from circa 1953-55. The “FORD” name can be seen clearly on the rear tailgate in the first panel of the fifth page. This is also mentioned in the “Item Dictionary” in Daizenshuu 7.
DB56 - The plane that Goku takes in this chapter is based on the Horten Ho-IX (also called the Gotha Go-229), a prototype jet aircraft produced in Nazi Germany during the final years of World War II. Though it never saw service in real life, it appears that the Dragon World has at least one working model.
DB66 - General White’s “Powered Gun” is based on the Remington Double-Derringer, a compact double-barreled pistol holding two rounds at a time. It should come as no surprise, then, that White had no more bullets after firing it twice. It’s too bad he didn’t realize that.
DB70 - In both Weekly Shōnen Jump and the tankōbon release, Bulma mentions “Famicom games” in the first panel of page 12. Whether due to legal issues or the simple passage of time, however, this line is changed to “video games” for both the kanzenban (first published in 2003) and the digitally colorized edition based on it. This change is really a bit of a shame, since the author almost certainly had the Nintendo Famicom in mind specifically, judging by the references to Super Mario Bros. in the chapters immediately before and after this one.
DB69 and 71 - Mario references?
DB82 - The car that Blue takes from Suppaman is a Mazda R360. Introduced in 1960, it was Mazda’s first kei car, as well as the company’s first car in general. Although the author tends to alter the proportions of real vehicles to make them more cartoonish, this one really is just about that small.
DB82 - This chapter affords the first clear view of the fighter jet that Senbei was working on in the previous chapter; it is a North American F-86 Sabre. While it did not appear previously in Dr. Slump, similar examples of military vehicles in the Norimaki household would suggest that it is probably Midori’s.
DB109 - The car that the Pilaf Gang are riding in is a member of the Mercedes-Benz SL Class; the 1990 guidebook Akira Toriyama: The World Anime Special states that this is a “Benz 550SE”, but no such model appears to exist; this was most likely a misreading of the model 560SL (specifically the European model, with square headlamps and flush bumpers), which went on sale in 1986. The SL Class are convertibles, although the car that the Pilaf Gang are driving appears to be fitted with a removable hardtop.

(Searched manga guide up to chapter 150)