It’s All Hallows Eve, the time during which ancient Gaels believed that the worlds of the living and the dead merged for one night. Treats for all those bringing back a long forgotten nostalgic from the dead, and nothing but tricks to those who would send them to the crusher.

We’re not sure what the story is with this two-tone Were-Mazda RX-4, but beware! Apparently it can keep it’s lycan form even when there’s no full moon out. You can see more awesome photos of it and much more thanks to puregroove, who gave us another post about the recent Nostalgic Street Fighters show in Georgia.

Have a safe and happy Halloween, JNCers!

We wish we could hop across the Pacific for every car show in Japan, but it’s just not possible on our budget (unless you guys tell every bookstore in your town to stock JNC, hint hint!). In the meantime, we must thank for our Man in Japan Satoshi for these fantastic photos of the Maniac ‘08 Hometown Pride Festival in Gifu Prefecture. Head to the article to see some ultra-rare J-tin!

Oh Nissan, why do you toy with us so? Less than 12 hours since we posted a bunch of spy shots and speculative renderings about the upcoming 370Z, you decide to unleash photos of the real thing. Maybe we can just claim we were ahead of the curve?

Anyway, here it is, in all it’s naked, uncamouflaged glory. Check out those voluptuous fenders. Baby got back! Also, The 240Z C-pillars are an official go, although Jalopnik calls the design a BMW-copying “Hoffmeister Kink.” Grrrrrrr…

Pics of the rear and interior after the jump. (more…)

It’s been a while since we’ve posted about the upcoming cars that are, unbeknownst to most of the car-buying public, based on our favorite nostalgics. First up, there’s been a cavalcade of spy shots and rendered images of the Nissan 350Z, which looks like it will definitely receive its forefathers’ C-pillar treatment. The front air intake has been likened to a vampire, which may explain why there have been spy shots of it prowling graveyards. More shots and a video can be seen floating around the internet, as well as after the jump. (more…)

Just a quick reminder, the Empire Z Club is holding their second annual car show at Corona Nissan this Saturday, November 1. All manner of Datsun and Nissan are welcome, but we’ll be crashing it in the JNC ‘Yota Wagon. Here’s a gallery of pics from the 2007 Show. Go to EmpireZ.com for more details.

Last week the Nostalgic Street Fighters crew from Hotlanta’s Zero Garage held a lakeside meet in the Dirrrty South. Check out the pics on this thread. Who knew there were so many old school cars and one very fuzzy RX-4 in the Peach State? Thanks to qdseeker for the pics!

UPDATE: Here is another thread of awesome pics. Thanks to puregroove:dot:org for posting them.

Like, OMG. Back in July, we reported that a vintage import was on its way into the Hot Wheels lineup. Well here it is, the Datsun 510! And it looks fantastic, with a BRE-style front spoiler, fender flares, and perfect proportions. Damn, this is sexy, if a toy car can be such a thing. Click through for more and a rear view. (more…)

So a couple of weeks ago the JCCS went down. To give you an idea of how big the show has gotten and how much it has brought together the old school Japanese car community, here’s a story about a well-known celebrity and an attendee who came from 3000 miles away.

Brian Baker is proprietor of Formula H Motorworks and the top Honda S-car expert in the US, who came all the way from Middletown, NY. The reason? Because car collector and talk show host Jay Leno needed him to prepare his 1965 Honda SM600 for the event. That’s the back of his head in the photo above, riding shotgun (it’s JDM, yo!) to the JCCS. (more…)

The annual celebration of Japan’s competition-bred cars known as the Motorsports Japan Festival was held recently. Here’s an awesome photo of some old school circuit warriors courtesy of Speedhunters. From front to back, That’s a Honda Civic, a Nissan Sunny, Toyota Starlet (?) and Prince Gloria. The best part about this event is that all the major manufacturers take part, and even deafen the crowd by running the race cars in a closed parking lot demo!

[Speedhunters]

Last month the bankruptcy declaration of Trust, one of Japan’s most respected tuning houses and parent company of GReddy, surprised many in the Japanese auto aftermarket industry. But it looks like they will stay afloat to fight another day. Rumor from Japan has it that Nippon Seiki, makers of Defi brand gauges, will supply the necessary cash infusion needed for Trust to continue normal business operations. Defi has been a supplier of gauges to Trust for a while now, and their finances seem to be on the plus side. That’s good news, but we’re not if sure this is just a temporary fix for a much bigger issue – the overall decline of car enthusiasm in Japan. We hope that companies as storied as Trust can continue to support Japanese car enthusiasts like they have since 1977, but only time will tell.

[Image: Trust]