We’ve mentioned this before, but if you go to Tokyo you can visit the headquarter buildings of at least three Japanese automakers. Here’s the Nissan home base in the upscale Ginza district. Naturally, the hot new car was the Fairlady Z/370Z and there were no less than five of them on display out front. (more…)
We’re still not finished with coverage from Japan. During our visit we had the privilege of visiting Kanagawa Prefecture’s S&A Auto Create. The owner has been doing modern engine swaps in older cars and fabricating the parts needed for almost two decades. As usual, there were several works in progress scattered around the premises. (more…)
Yesterday’s post about the Lancer 1600GSR rallycar go to thinking about Japanese rally successes in the 70s. Here’s a clip of the 1979 World Rally Championship, which was contested by a rich variety of cars. On the one hand you had exotica like the Lancia Stratos and Porsche 911, and then you had stove-hot rally versions of boxy family cars like the Fiat 131, Ford Escort and Vauxhall Chevette. You also has some luxury cars in the form of the Mercedes Benz 450SLC and Saab 99 Turbo.
Japan was well represented by Ove Andersson getting on the podium once in the RA40 Celica and the Datsun Violet 160J nabbing three podiums and one outright win for Shekhar Mehta in the Safari Rally. Am I the only one thinking that rallying seemed a lot more interesting back then? Bring back rwd and carbs! Oh and by the way, check out the tandem drifting at 1′38.
This week’s video is a clip from 1979’s Detective Story. The 27-episode series was a comedy-drama about down-on-his-luck private detective Shunsaku Kudo. You see, Kudo was once a good cop in San Francisco that somehow felt responsible for the death of his friend. Now he’s back in his native Japan and working as a private detective, afraid to get too close to anyone, including the trouble-prone fashion model that conveniently lives in his apartment building.
Kudo was played by Yusaku Matsuda, and perhaps his last name had something to do with the way he keeps finding himself behind the wheel of a Mazda. In this case, Kudo soon trades his Vespa scooter in for a classy Cosmo AP, aka RX-5. When Kudo and the dame snoop around a bit too much at a construction site, the bad guys give chase in two large dump trucks and a helicopter. Watch till the end to learn the proper etiquette after wrecking a woman’s car during a high speed pursuit.
Here’s an interesting item found in one of the many small shops in the Ameyoko district near Ueno Station. It’s a glow-in-the-dark shoe featuring a Toyota 2000GT. We’re not sneaker freaks, but we tend to gravitate towards anything vintage and Japanese, and in recent years Japanese sneaker company Asics has been bringing back some of its very cool old school designs under the Onitsuka Tiger label.
A little research revealed that the 2000GT shoe was a limited edition created as part the Electric Tiger Land campaign (the video in the link clearly shoes a 3-D 2000GT being rendered). It’s kind of cool that when they decided to come up with a stereotypically Japanese theme that includes skyscrapers, Super Sentai and subways, they chose the original Toyota supercar to represent the automotive side of things. This campaign ended last year though, replaced in 2009 by a new campaign celebrating the company’s 60th anniversary (this video has a glimpse of a first-gen Honda Civic). But if you want the 2000GT shoe, it’s probably still there at the shop where this photo was taken.
Closeup of the largest of five 2000GTs after the jump. It’s headlights glow in the dark. (more…)
JNC is back home in the States, but there’s still much leftover material from Japan to write about. Here’s a look at the typical Japanese scenery one encounters during a drive to Narita Airport. This was my coach, my friend Satoshi’s S130 Crown Wagon. (more…)
So sad… our last day in Japan, but at least it ended with a bang. Here’s a behind the scenes look at some upcoming material. My friend Goshu and I went to the Time Machine Festival at Fuji Speedway. Why does it always rain at this event? The cars were so unbelievably cool though, we kneeled in the water to get some detail shots anyway. By the end of the first hour, we were drenched. (more…)
Perhaps the Skyline vs. Cougar video from two weeks ago was a bit too much excitement for your delicate sensibilities. If so, this week’s video is another Japan vs. Detroit matchup that flexes considerably less muscle. In 1985’s My Lucky Stars, a Mitsubishi Minica kei car chases down, of all things, a Ford Mustang II!
That’s right, the red-headed stepchild of the Mustang family tree was actually a hit in Japan, where the Mustang I was just too wide for its narrow streets. As a side note, if anyone is yearning for Mustang II models, focus your search on Japanese model kits and old Tomicas.
Back to the chase. Okay, so the star cars themselves aren’t that exciting, but as they cat-and-mouse it through an unnamed Japanese town (which for some reason has white picket fences), there are plenty of Toyota Corollas, Carinas, and Nissan Violets used as chase fodder. The bad guys – well, we assume they’re bad because one of them is wearing an eye patch and they’re being pursued by Jackie Chan – even ram a Mazda Familia and a Mitsubishi Galant. What background J-tin you can spot?
JNC is back home in the States, but there’s still much leftover material from Japan to write about. Here’s a look at the typical Japanese scenery one encounters during a drive to Narita Airport. This was my coach, my friend Satoshi’s S130 Crown Wagon. 
