EVENTS: 2011 Japanese Classic Car Show Part 06, The Mod Squad

We know there’s a contingent of JNCers out there whose brains scream “moar powahhh!” every time they see a bone stock nostalgic. For them, old cars aren’t about chrome and soul. They’re about bodies with the weight of a cobweb that are conveniently exempt from smog laws. If that’s what you see in the mirror each morning, Part 06 of our 2011 JCCS coverage is for you.

Is this serendipitous placement by the zoom-zoom tent or what? Behind the Bluebird grille of Mynor Campos‘s 1972 Datsun 510 lies by a Mazda rotary. Sure, Nissan purists are bound to scowl but there’s more than a few Wankel-powered dimes cruising SoCal already. The OG Cactus Green paint and rare (on these shores anyway) Simmons wheels finish it off nicely.

Alright fine, if you want to keep it in the Nissan family then there’s plenty of KA24DE motors lying around, although probably not many in candy apple green. John (aka Datsunfreak) loves this car so hard the owner is considering a restraining order.

Or you can kick it old school with a carbed and turboed Rebello L20B in a unique blend of Japanese bosozoku and domestic Trans Am styles. The mirrors were definitely unique.

You can even drop a single cam KA into a ’67 Datsun 411 like Sergio Estrada did. Somehow the anachronistic Enkei 92s really seem to work on this shoebox.

While Nissan tuners who stray from the family tree tend to go rotary, Toyotaku gravitiate towards the Honda F20C. We can’t really blame them either, as the S2000‘s 9500rpm powerplant is one of the best motors ever engineered.

Tthe already feathery E20 Corolla looks even more lightweight with this spacious swap executed by Bay Area tuning shop Performance Options. This peanut must haul like no other.

As the last RWD Corolla, the hachiroku straddles the line dividing old and new school. The impeccable build of this Honda-powered AE86 garnered it the Best in Show trophy. And while we agree that the build is nothing short of amazing, freaking heroic in fact, we would have preferred to see a more period correct car win the top prize.

This is the infamous Ranz Motorsports S2K-powered Celica that we covered it in great detail in JNC Vol 03. There’s far too much cleverness to recount here (so go buy the back issue!), but suffice it to say the car is quite the beast.

We can tell from the disturbance in the Ether that Toyota purists are about to lose their collective shit, so here, look at this 4A-GE-powered KP61 Starlet and breathe deeply.

Another orange Corolla, but Ben Fernandez‘s 4AG-powered AE71 wears its old school swagger proudly.

Toysport brought a trio of Celicas powered by rare old school motors. We didn’t get a chance to peek in the red one, but the orange one rocked a 18-RG and the blue one a 152E race motor.

This peanut was also packin’ a 4AG. Though many years separate the car from its motor, the excellent “1600” badge still applies.

We’re not sure what this TE27 Corolla was currently hiding under the hood (a few years ago it sported a built 3TC) but it had nice stance happening on chrome SSR MkIIs. It looks like the owner might be getting ready for a repaint. We hope it gets a clean coat of its original period color.

The TE37 is an under-appreciated body style. I remember when these things (or at least E30s) were everywhere, and they probably sold in much greater numbers than the E20. So it’s kind of sad that we see so few at shows like JCCS and Toyotafest. We’re not sure about the body-colored fender mirrors that seem to be popular in this corner of the show, but props for the rare Enumaru(?) wheels.

As always, rotaries are popular with the drag crowd. We’re not sure what insanely ported Wankel lurks under the hood of this Mazda RX-2 but given the Welds this thing rides on, it’s probably pretty substantial.

Centerline’d RX-3 with a turbo 13B. Still rocking the original vinyl top, we’d be tempted to throw some stock steelies back on it so we could maybe tempt a few unknowing souls into a stoplight battle.

Looks like Justus Rodriquez is going for the low-slung rat-rod look with his 20R-powered RA42 Celica. It sure makes those shiny Enkei 92s stand out.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, this is Ray Stonehocker‘s Garage AutoHero Datsun 510. Ray calls it shakotan rat rod style and we suppose that is rather accurate. Plus 5000 points for the car cooler.

The Frankenstein LZ18 motor uses a draw-through turbo and looks appropriately steampunkish. From the induction choice to the vintage “Moog” camber plates, it gets no more old school than this.

We’ve seen many Fairlady Roadsters with KA or SR swaps, but this one is unique in its choice of an FJ20 powerplant, a fuel-injected twin-cam four sourced from either a DR30 Skyline or S110 or S12 Silvia.

Devil Z on Diamonds. ‘Nuff said.

We wanted to point out this S30 Z to show the vast difference the same model can exhibit, depending on whether it’s modified in American or Japanese tuning style. The red 240Z here is quintessentially domestic, with its polished engine bits, high-profile tires, lettering on the hood and period slot mags.

Contrast it to the Z at the Rays Wheels booth, which has fender mirrors, bolt-on flares, hippari-stretch tires and deep-dish Volk TE37V wheels with a polished lip.

Both are “correct” and we’re not making any judgments on which one is better. It’s a matter of personal taste, really, but as nostalgic car culture evolves it’s important to identify these distinctions.

Anyway, here are some parting shots from the parking area, starting with this out-of-place, but gorgeous white NSX, drawing the gaze of passing chicks. Chick magnet fo’ shizzle.

Here’s a Mazda MX-5 that looks like it could drive up a wall. Applying an old school look to the first-gen Miatas is becoming more and more commonplace. We like this.

And lastly, a drift-style S13 with mandatory mismatched wheels, 5-Zigens on the front, Volks on the back. The Silvia front is much appreciated.

There are engine shots and extras in the gallery below. We’ll be back tomorrow for more JCCS 2011 coverage, but in case you missed it here are Parts 01 – Best of the Best, 02 – Ganso VIP, 03 – Street Style, 04 – Rolling Stock, and 05 — Wagons and Trucks.

Photos by Dan Hsu and John Roper.