When you get a new car, you tend to notice the same model more and more. It’s natural and can be a cool feeling as you pass another owner and have the half-second “yea” connection. We could do that all day and is a cherry on top for your day (or that one and only bright moment if you’re having a crummy day — 笑).
On the flip side, sometimes you cannot get away from hearing about this or that car (Some would say we are guilty of always going on and on about the, ahem… our editor-in-chief’s Toyota Cressida Wagon) It could be the news or culture that is ablaze on a particular nameplate. We want to know (though like Ben and his wagon it’s not going to stop us from talking about them):
What’s JNC can you live without hearing about again?
As always, the most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What JNC has stuck with you through thick and thin?”
Last week’s QotW had fantastic tales of conquering bad weather, long-time ownage from Vic and Steve, Dillan’s cross-country trekking, and 2 stories of stolen vehicles and recovery. I thank Robin for sharing the heart-felt story. and also to Matthew Vona with the kp60 and having friends pull together to keep these cars on the road.
It was a tough one folks! These kinds of discussions and sharing is what makes this site a fun rest stop on the ol’ internet super highway…
I tried to stick to the spirit of the question and will put those out of the 25 year JNC scope on hold. (but maybe have to revisit this one again, as a kind of update from your stories as they continue. For others, I had to narrow down the above and flip a coin on the 2 finalists. This week’s winner was Steve!
LOL On the other car websites I frequent, my answer to this oft-asked question, “My 1979 Celica, bought new!” elicits a number of “Wow!”, “I wish I had kept mine!”, etc. responses. And yet, on this website, two of the first four answers predate my car by a decade. I salute you! Love this site…
My Celica is no longer stock; (real) TRD springs and shocks, an 18RG, 15X7 Enkei 92s, and rear window louvers. It’s sitting in storage (my mom’s garage) now, though, a non-runner awaiting a full restomod when I find time (post-retirement) and space (new larger house).
Retirement, here I come!!!
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
I’m going with the AE86/Hachiroku here. There’s nothing particularly relevant about it aside from one TV show that catapulted it to popularity. In Japan it’s a meh car (that was kind of the whole thing behind the series; he was good enough to crush everyone with a meh car), and I don’t remember it ever being big here until that show hit.
They are now popular for being popular, so they are sticking around. I wouldn’t cry if they didn’t though.
What is that Tv show you are refering to??
From what ive seen over the last decade AE86’s in Japan are popular since the begining. Allmost all drift racers in Japan started their career in one of them and they still love these cars. They became polular all over the world but that doesn’t mean that they are overrated. That’s of course my opinion.
It gotta be Initial D.
Having owned all manner of JNC’s, the AE86 is the one that I genuinely fell in love with, and actually regretted selling my first one to the point that I traded my daily driver for stripped out 86 track car, sourced an interior for it, and daily-ed that instead.
There’s just something about the simpleness and purity of the 86 that connects with their owners at a level that those who haven’t owned one just wouldn’t realize is possible.
Sure, some people may buy them because of Initial D, but really, it’s the car itself that they end up falling in love with. It’s like meeting your hero and ending up as family. It really is like that Toyota commercial where 4 sets of friends bond with 4 86’s in different parts of the world (and time).
The JNC I’m tired of hearing about is the Hakosuka. I personally love the Hakosuka, but almost all of the coverage of it now focuses not on the car, but rather on it’s value as an investment. It’s when articles focus on what the latest one sold for at auction, with no mention of the sound an S20 makes at full scream, or what a surfline is and why the GTR sacrificed its own in the name of speed, that a car starts to become merely an object to be shown off as an icon of wealth rather than being the relatable yet legendary automobile it once was.
Sure an AE86 is becoming more valuable, but as long as they are still being flung around Ebisu, howling in fury up and down the Hakone Turnpike or Angeles Crest, meeting in mass at cafes and PA’s,and being street parked in small alleys of Kyoto, they are still exactly what they were meant to be. A classic for the everyman, friendly, obtainable, and eager.
But most importantly, they are loved, not locked up in a climate controlled garage, covered in flannel, only seeing daylight when it comes time to appraise it and sell it off for “the next big thing.”
My opinion is just that, an opinion. My time in and out of Japan for the last decade has given me the impression that they aren’t as popular as culture in the US thinks they are (conversely I saw so many Accord Euro R’s, Integra/Civic Type-R’s, and Skyline GT-R’s that it boggled my mind). I’ve had the opportunity to drive them, and I 100% agree with Yuri; they are an amazing everyman car. Simple and effective. As far as the street scene I just never saw a presence there, and my family in Japan (motorheads all) agrees. They may be biased though, as they are a split Honda/Nissan family!
Yuri gets it. AE86s have a specialness that can never be quantified and will never show up on a spec sheet. I can understand why non-owners wouldn’t get it. I don’t expect them to. But they aren’t irrelevant, and never were. Thriving hachi scenes existed around the world before the first line of InitialD was ever drawn. …But there is a reason Shigeno picked it to be his subject and not an S12 or an EF or any other of a number of cars that apparently would have fit the bill if “meh”ness was the criteria he was looking for.
That being said, I’d like to see more love for the AE91, especially the funky five-door hatch with the rear license plate above the taillights. Back in the day the kouki Corolla was my favorite since it had the flush headlights the rest of the world had but now if I had my pick I’d take a four-eyed, badge engineered Chevy Nova.
There should be more love for the piazza which was just better than the ae86 in terms of performance,handling etc it’s just a forgotten and abused amazing little hatch and was overshadowed by cars like the AE86,Cordia and S12 with the AE86 leading in sales with the S12 coming in second and the Cordia and Piazza was left in the dust with measly sales(especially the Cordia with 6213 units produced and being the rarest of the bunch) anyway back to the piazza not my old Cordia, the piazza was generally a better car with Italian styling,British tuning and making good use of a platform used in the Chevette(of all cars) yet they are as forgotten as the Cordia
I actually owned a 1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo (Handling by LOTUS) back in 2001. Loved that car. I agree they are criminally under appreciated.
Nissan Skyline…. all of them.
If I never heard about the Datsun F 10 again I would not be upset.
That thing was a joke from the start, I might put the first two generations of the Toyota Tercel in there too…
What horrible cars.
Remember the final scene of Braveheart, when William Wallace is lying on the torture table being gutted alive? They will end the pain if he only shuts up about freedom.
He takes a deep breath and with mighty bellow he forces out his dying words. “Cressidaaaa Waaaagon!!!!!”
That is what I say today, Brandon! 🙂
I suggest the 2000GT. It was an interesting car at the time but now, there is nothing NEW interesting about it. They are all garage queens and hit the news mostly for the price tag they command.
I say we take it out, Terminator 2 style. We dip it, respectfully, in a vat of molten metal as it gives a thumbs up to our decision.
Y’know, I’d say: “None of ’em.”
I wouldn’t go crazy about the unobtainium, and actually prefer the “normal” cars of the various periods. In disagreement with BlitzPig, I wouldn’t mind seeing – or having – an F10, or original Tercel, and those that have survived should get some attention.
Of course I prefer the preserved, original, but sometimes that’s not in the cards, and saving them requires modifying them, so I can appreciate those, too.
Realistically, as the numbers of ALL these vehicles declines, most of us only get to see them on sites like this, and that’s as close as we’re going to get to having “THAT” car/truck, or getting one “like the one I used to have, when I was stupid enough to let it go.”
I should probably stop talking about that ’74 Celica I owned for a week and destroyed unconscious on the I-10.
But I won’t.
It is with pride that a funky country like Mexico despite emissions and most of all safety kept making the VW bug for almost 40 years, there’s hardly an adult who hasn’t had or at least driven one and people always see them with a smile on their faces.
Around 1992 I think, there came the car that would eventually fill the Beetle’s gap: the B13 Nissan Sentra, named the TSURU here (which means “seagull” in Japanese, which it’s OK but I’ll never forgive Nissan for sending only one generation of the Silvia in the eighties and naming it “Sakura”, a name that doesn’t go at all with what the Silvia was) anyway, it was a great car and the GSR was a hero, probably the first compact sport car here! Such success made it stay even after the B14 appeared (now called Sentra to set it apart) and even the following generation the next one and even the current one.
Though it was a good car in it’s time, it lacks the charm of the original Beetle. It became the popular choice for taxis, fleets but also a symbol of the lack of car culture in Mexico (as the Beetle now that I think about it). It never had airbags or ABS, I like nostalgics and they don’t have neither of those but here you’d be buying a new car with fuel injection as the only technology to set it apart from really old stuff. For many, you were a real fool if you bought a Tsuru and still they really sell.
At last, this is the last month the B13 is produced (production stops as 2016 closes) and it’s funny to see how at least taxi drivers are really concerned about what they’ll use next. It’s the homeboys’ top choice and it’s amazing the prices they command even after being used and abused as taxis or normal commuters.
I’m sick of them, so you can imagine my dismay when last May as I was on a vacation to the beach the only car available for rent was…yeap! A f%&# Tsuru!!! So uncomfortable! My Celica has got me used to a sporty comfy driving position I needed a big pillow to fix it a little. Even my 7-year-old niece looked at it with disdain when my brother and I got home to leave for the beach and said “but that car looks like a taxi!” Couldn’t be more embarrassed and regretting not making a reservation for a decent car on time!
I could go without ever hearing “hako” or “hakosuka” ever again. Especially since its almost all Americans doing it and none have any of the real life history to talk about it like they are sooo familiar with it. (And never will). Just call it a C10.