Another typical Guerilla Group 8 storyline, in which tons of Mitsubishi Sigmas get led to senseless slaughter before Watari-san saves the day by dispatching nearly all the baddies from a helicopter. Come on Daimon, pass the ball once in a while! Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a collection of photos of nostalgic Japanese police cars strung together by an amateur, unidirectional Ken Burns. Some are equipped with high-power engine options and transmission pairings not available on civilian versions of the same model.
Sadly, Japanese patrol cars that have outlived their usefulness are scrapped when decommissioned, not auctioned off to the public like in the US. You can safely bet that only a few of these have survived, with the remaining examples locked away in museums (Nissan’s Zama collection has a genuine S30 Fairlady Z patrol car, for example). What we wouldn’t give for a kujira Crown black-and-white, an unmarked RX-4, or even that ‘73 Mustang! Watch the video after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
With its undulating cooling fins, the 1969 Honda 1300cc motor is a work of art. Not only does wind flow over its airfoils, but through the engine as well. Much like the way coolant is funneled through passages in a normal engine, Honda’s Duo Dyna Air Cooling system used a crank-driven rotor to force cold air through the block. Read the rest of this entry »
This video comes courtesy of oldschool.co.nz via Retro-Classics. It’s from the heyday of the Fuji touring car championships and is unique in that the narration is in English! No more picking handfuls of syllables out of rapid-fire Japanese commentary that might as well be an auctioneer having an argument with the announcer at the Kentucky Derby.
This was likely a bit of Mazda propaganda from back in the day but we get to see all the Mazdafarian greats — Yojiro Terada, Yoshimi Katayama, and Takashi Yorino. It’s really an all-out battle between the rotaries and the hakosuka Skyline GT-Rs. Plus, we’ve got roaring J-tin and women in hip-hugging bell-bottoms. Part two after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Some Japanese believe that if you have your car blessed by a Buddhist priest, you will avoid accidents, tickets, and possibly even bird droppings. Kawasaki-Daishi is one of the temples that has a parking lot for this exact purpose. The white grid is where cars await their spiritual collision coverage, the yellow grid is where the blessing takes place, large enough for 110 cars. Narita-san in Chiba is another temple famous for these ceremonies. Such metaphysical peace of mind will cost you about $70. Read the rest of this entry »
Suzuki Mario Bros.: Those Koopa Troopas don’t stand a chance when Mario and Luigi are behind the wheel of Suzuki Carry. The kei truck feasts on turtle soup tonight.
It’s March in SoCal. That means the weather is warming and meets are ramping up. We rolled down to Cypress, California (home of Mitsubishi North America HQ) in the ol’ JNC wagon on Sunday to check it out. It was a great meet with some gorgeous rotaries but a lone, faded Mazda 616 caught our eye for its sheer rarity. Read the rest of this entry »
With the recent discovery of black market JNC Stamp stickers, a lot of interest was drummed up about the JNC Stamp logo. The most popular question we’ve received is something along the lines of “Why did you change the sticker dammit, I liked the old one better!” Well, I’m here to provide you with some answers. There’s (a little) method to the madness here at JNC, so I’ll do my best to explain.
You know the BMW Art Cars, Chicago’s Cows on Parade and Washington DC’s Pandamania, right? In 2008 the venerable Honda Super Cub had its 50th birthday, and to celebrate Honda gave 60 of these best-selling bikes — one for each million sold — to artists for customizing. It was called the Love Cub 50 project, and the bikes were on display at museums in Japan. Now they are being auctioned off on Yahoo Japan with proceeds going to UNICEF. Pics of the bikes currently available for bidding after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
With its undulating cooling fins, the 1969 Honda 1300cc motor is a work of art. Not only does wind flow over its airfoils, but through the engine as well. Much like the way coolant is funneled through passages in a normal engine, Honda’s Duo Dyna Air Cooling system used a crank-driven rotor to force cold air through the block. 
