Wow, 2008 was a rough one. The broken connecting rod of bad loans punched a gaping hole straight through the engine block of the global economy. Across the board, carmakers’ sales plummeted by 30 to 40 percent, affecting any business even remotely connected to the auto industry.

From the bankruptcy of aftermarket companies like Trust/GReddy to the utter collapse of magazines like Sport Compact Car and Turbo, no one was left untouched. We at JNC are feeling the crunch too, as potential advertisers slash their budgets.

Detroit was hit the hardest, but Japanese companies are feeling the crunch as well. Upcoming supercars like the NSX have been killed as Honda pulled out of F1, and Subaru withdrew from WRC. Even Toyota, a long-time bellwether for the world economy, went from a $28 billion profit in 2007 to a $1.7 billion loss, causing a delay in their return to affordable, lightweight RWD cars.

We also lost greats like Toyota Team Europe rally driver Ove Andersson, Nissan racer Paul Newman, and Toyota designer Tatsuo Hasegawa.

But hey, look on the bright side. Japanese Nostalgic Car launched a print magazine in April. Yes, it was probably the worst time in history to launch a new magazine, but we’re still working hard to give vintage J-tin some cred in the world of classic cars.

This year was also Subaru’s 50th anniversary and Subaru USA’s 40th. Nissan USA also celebrated its 50th birthday, though it did precious little to acknowledge it. But what else is new? At least they recognized their roots when it came to the new 370Z. Honda’s Super Cub also celebrated a half century and an incredible 60 million units sold making it the best selling vehicle of all time.

Anyway, as you gaze upon fireworks exploding above Tokyo’s legendary wangan expressway, remember this: at least there’s 2009! Happy New Year!

[Image: Yakei-Kabegami]

Since Kev has gone toy crazy with JDM minicars and other assorted goods, we might as well continue the theme. Earlier this year we got all excited about how Hot Wheels was introducing a Datsun 510 in their 2009 lineup. They’re even recognizing the JDM name by calling it a “Datsun Bluebird 510″. Olskoolae71 recently informed us they were now appearing on store shelves (go out and get them!) and apparently it’s a popular enough model that a second version is already in the pipeline, this time in black and yellow! Or is that Black Goooold?

One more pic after the jump. (more…)

Congrats to Team B210 Racing for winning the Index of Effluency award at the 24 Hours of LeMons‘ Arse-Freeze-A-Palooza this past weekend. While technically not car that placed first (that honor goes to a Geo Metro powered by a Honda CBR900RR motor), this award is given to “the team that accomplishes most with the crappiest car.” (more…)

Yesterday we did a post on some of the more recent cool toy releases from TakaraTomy.  But that was just scratching the surface of their rather massive range of products.  Here’s a sample of the rest of their offerings.

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RS-Yasu is another restoration shop out of Tochigi Prefecture, Japan that does beautiful restoration work. Their most recently completed masterpiece is a sanitora, a portmanteau of “Sunny Truck.” Despite it looking like an early 70s B110 Sunny (Datsun 1200 in the US), Nissan continued to build the pickup version long after the passenger car bodies had been discontinued. This is a 1989 model. Check out the resto process page.

[Banpei]

One of the cool things about going to Japan is just walking into a suburban toystore and spending a few hours discovering all the cool JDM toys (and also rediscovering the fact that you may not be as grown-up as you think you are as you stumble to the checkout with an armful of children’s toys for yourself).

And probably the biggest JDM toymaker is Takara Tomy (just check out their huge range of products)!  There’s constantly something cool being released.

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I think the heat may have gotten to Kev. Having Christmas in summer can do that to a bloke, so here’s a North American seasons greetings from JNC. Well, technically this photo was taken in Japan, but whatever. May you find something this cool under your tree. Happy Holidays!

From myself and all the JNC members, we’d all like to wish all our fellow JNCers a very merry Christmas, wherever you may be.

JDM Santa will bring you that hard-to-find part you’ve been looking for, and may all your days be rust-free!

…hey, that rhymes…

Our hopes for a return to RWD Toyotas have been dashed on account of the drastic worldwide economic downturn. The lightweight coupe, widely assumed to be a RWD Corolla successor, has been in the works since August 2007 but according to this article the project has been put on hold until at least 2012. This comes with the news today that Toyota has posted its first operating loss since 1938, its first year in business. But those are just the beginning of woes that are slamming the Japanese auto industry. (more…)

These low-res scans of an early 1970’s Toyota publicity brochure tell an unbelievable story: “To heck with a Land Cruiser; we’re tackling the frozen wastes of Greenland in the New Carina!” (more…)