Nostalgic Car Shopping in Yokohama

The first real hot day of summer. I’m looking at a few options in buying a nostalgic car, so we took a quick drive on the Shuto to a reasonably well stocked shop near Yokohama. While I’m interested in one of their hakosuka Skylines, I was also taken by a few of the other options available. All relatively sound, in nice honest condition.

I started with a 100% ground-up restored KPGC10, in white, at some stratospheric price. It was inspiring to look at the integrity of the work, and the quality to which a 40-year-old Nissan can be built with care. The attention to detail was excellent, with all high quality fittings, and the doors shutting with a perfect Benz-like thunk.

I particularly liked its non-spoilered look; with both front & rear options on the original cars, suggesting this may have been this car’s original color and configuration. Experts may care to comment.

With the single-cam L20 engine and its variants being common, seeing a twin-cam S20 in a C10 engine compartment always astounds. The combined size of the induction side, through those glorious heads, out through a beautiful stainless “octopus” (headers, or extractors to Westerners) makes for a lot of material stuffed into that small engine compartment.

After being invited to crawl around inside and underneath, I had a brief look at a Toyota Sports 800.

There was also a Mazda Cosmo Sport with a glorious aged-patina (likely from a previous restoration, over original perhaps), and the car I came to look at, a silver 2000GT-X GT-R clone.

Sitting on regular steel wheels, the purposeful GTX2000, had been GT-R upgraded nicely, with all additions being quality and well done.

Outside on the lot, a nice 510 Bluebird Coupe and a Isuzu Bellett 1600 GT also looked the part. Both were in excellent condition, with prices to match unfortunately.

To round off the Sunday morning classic experience, we also stopped to look at some period Lambretta parked near by, and a couple pulled away from the lights at full-throttle in their boat-tailed Bugatti.

Skorj is a photographer/journalist living in Japan. You can see more of his work at Magnesium Photos.

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5 Responses to Nostalgic Car Shopping in Yokohama

  1. kuro says:

    can you share the web site of that shop?

  2. Nigel says:

    Sounds like an experience that would be very difficult to have here in Canada (and America). If it was me shopping the 510 would be my choice. Thanks for sharing photos of your shopping trip Skorj.

  3. bert says:

    I vote for the Sports800!!! Snatch that baby up, put some Weber’s on it with a blower for each cylinder, and get 65 horsepower!! YEEHHAAAWWW!!!

  4. Ben says:

    Skorj, I am so jealous that you get to shop around for a nostalgic car in Japan! I absolutely love the opening photo. It almost looks like a the high-end valet parking area at the roundabout entrance to a fancy Japanese hotel circa 1969.

  5. Alan says:

    Neat story and photos.

    That’s not a Bugatti, the radiator shell and suspension/brake linkage is wrong – perhaps a Duryea or some other French racing car from the 30s…

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