One of our readers needs to get this, right now, and share the wealth. It’s a huge collection of NOS (new old stock) 1960s to early 80s Toyota parts from a closed dealership. The seller says it consists of a little bit of everything for old Corollas, Crowns, Land Cruisers, Starlets, Coronas, Carinas, Hiluxes and Cressidas. The actual mountain of parts includes taillights, headlights, exhausts, service manuals, relays, switches, trim, and sheetmetal. In other words, all the hard to get stuff. For anyone who has ever tried to restore an old car, you know this is a once in a lifetime chance. We already know we’ll be kicking ourselves in the future for passing on this opportunity. Someone buy this, please!

[Source: eBay]

While we here in North America were busy with Datsun Madness weekend that had shows for Z-cars, Roadsters and 510s, on the other side of the world Aussies in Adelaide were out in full force for All Japan Day. Thanks to our marsupial-cohabitating readers from down under, there’s galleries galore here, here, here, here, and here. Take a gander and thank them for sharing in the spirit of international cooperation.

[Image: OldColts.au]

Jay Leno. Comedian, talk show host, car nut, invoker of envy. He recently got the chance to test drive the new Nissan GT-R and in his review he revealed that his first car was in fact a Datsun 1600 Roadster. That’s right, folks, the King of Cars was a Datsun fanatic from the very start! He’s got some kind words for the little Nissan sports car, and although he no longer owns it, Leno’s still got quite the stable in the form of a Mazda Cosmo 110S and a Honda SM600, among others. We have to disagree with him about the GT-R being Japan’s first true supercar - we feel that title can go to either the Toyota 2000GT or the original PGC10 GT-R - but we can’t disagree with his unwavering love for all things automotive. Yes, we are all jealous of you, Mr. Leno.

[Source: Jay Leno's Garage via The Motor Report]

Last year we reported on this mysterious Honda Z600 with a jet engine protruding from where its rear window should have been. Armed only with some badly translated German, we boldly predicted “that any attempt at turning during full throttle in this thing would be [verboten] as well.” Well guess what? We called it! We called it! We called it like 1-800-Collect, baby! Ok, so it turns out you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that a Garrett JFS100 turbine strapped to a kei car was not going to be a handling monster. And these imaginative Nee Zeelanders laugh in the face of rocket science, as well as in the face of their friend rolling over somewhat anticlimactically. Check out their videos here and here. And you thought this was the only jet powered Honda.

[Source: Jalopnik]

Part II of the Datsun Madness weekend [LINK]

There’s some sad news from Japan today, as we bring you news of the passing of Tatsuo Hasegawa. Hasegawa was first an aeronautical engineer, developing aircraft for the Tachikawa Aircraft Corporation. The prototype plane he worked on was scheduled to take flight on August 15 1945, precisely the day WWII ended, and thus never saw the skies. Hasegawa then took his expertise in aerodynamics to Toyota, where he headed teams responsible for many of the company’s iconic post-war automobiles, including the Publica, Sports 800, Corolla, Celica and Carina. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on in the cars that we know and love. He is survived by his wife Miyoko, 86, and his son Akio. You can read more about Hasegawa-san’s life at Akio’s site.

Thanks to RStreet for the tip.

A new article is up in the events section about the Solvang Datsun Roadster Classic
that took place over the weekend. [LINK]