No, it’s not Friday yet but this Tomica-filled car chase could not be chained back. Imagine an alternate universe that has Smokey and the Bandit fused with the cars and violence of Seibu Keisatsu. It’s The Fastest Yellow & Red by our old friend LUXE37.
The scene opens reminiscent of this Seibu clip, but pretty soon machine gun-wielding baddies in a Firebird Trans-Am lead the new police issue KDR30 Silhouette Skyline and S130 Fairlady Z on a carnage-packed chase through the city. The final showdown is like a who’s who of sports coupes, circa 1980.
Seriously though, the storyboarding and pacing are absolutely brilliant. This chase could teach 1:1 scale scenes coming out of Hollywood a thing or two.
Our friends at Import Bible have once again turned out a new collection of fresh threads, this time for hachiroku heads. The “Old School” T-shirt has stuff like Work Equip 03s and an AE86 headlight switch in lieu of those pesky vowels. Vanna White would approve. You can order them here.
We have absolutely no idea what movie or TV show this car chase is from, but at least the scene isn’t dominated by the marque that forked over the most sponsorship yen. The main cars are a TE71 Corolla Levin versus a 2+2 Fairlady Z, with a ton of random nostalgic goodness in the background. Who will win?
It’s the last week of August, so get out there and enjoy your nostalgics! Summer vacation will soon be over so if you have kids, bring them along before they’re too busy with homework.
This incredible 1968 Datsun Bluebird 411 is probably the closest you’ll ever get to owning a time capsule car. According to the seller, this RHD predecessor to the Datsun 510 lived in a New Zealand museum for 20 years before it was imported to the US. The odometer reads only 18,179 miles and the condition certainly seems to affirm the claim.
The NFL will be running a series of tailgate party-themed ads in the upcoming season, and some classic Toyotas are about to get prominent placement. Here are some behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot, courtesy of the JCCS. In one a poor, checker-trousered pigskin fan gets his finger caught by a Toyopet Crown’s trunklid.
The author (in 2008) with his son, E. John Thawley III
John Thawley (aka Bob Waar) 1937-2009 – Author and motor journalist John Thawley died last month of complications from pneumonia. He was 71.
How to Hot Rod Small Block Chevys, How to Hot Rod Big Block Chevys, the Off Road Handbook and the cult classic How to Modify Datsun 510/610/240Z Engines & Chassiswere all written under Thawley’s pen-name, Bob Waar. Those and the books that followed under his own name totaled some twenty titles over his career. John raced in Baja and Bonneville. He worked at Indy, Irwindale, Daytona, Pikes Peak and Riverside. He served time on the payrolls of Buick, Chevrolet, Nissan, Toyota and numerous performance industry manufacturers.
Way, way back in the day, nisei (the Japanese word for second-generation Japanese Americans) held informal cruise nights all over the greater Los Angeles area. They were some of the first guys ever to modify 510s, Celicas and the early Mazda rotaries. Eventually, that evolved into an actual show, the Nisei Showoff, sometime in the early-to-mid 90s. There’s a lot of history there, but sadly, this will be the last one. (more…)
Despite the presence of Tetsuya Watari, gunfights, and a gull-winged Japanese sports coupe, this is not Seibu Keisatsu. Mitsubishi fans, rejoice! It’s Guerrilla: Tokyo Police Group 8, starring Watari-san (who played our beloved Sgt. Daimon in Seibu), a Mitsubishi Starion 2600GSR-VR, Pajero, and a Debonair V 3000 Royal AMG. That’s right, kiddos, a Debonair AMG. As police car. If they could somehow work Giga Pudding into the equation Kev could die a happy man.
Guerrilla followed the adventures of a covert division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Called Group 8, the elite squad specialized in the atrocious crimes regular cops couldn’t touch, with each member carrying a licenses to kill.
