A few months ago, we put the spotlight on Auto Service Machinaga, a Kobe bodyshop that not only did great work in restoring JDM classics, but also had the presence of mind to record their restoration process in photographs, presented in nifty slideshows on Youtube no less.
Here’s another one: Carcraft Yabusaki from Ibaraki, about 2 hours north of Tokyo.
From our water chestnut bureau courtesy of RedSunday, here’s a couple of great vids featuring Mitsubishis. First, a walkthrough of some of the triple diamond mafia’s greatest hits. Though we couldn’t understand anything except that the GTO MR has “dummy” hood scoops, the FTO desperately needs to be lowered on some wide wheels, and it’s hard fully grown man to squeeze into a kei-sized Mitsu 500. How did they even sell those things? There’s also a Hino Contessa Coupe and Isuzu 117 thrown in for good measure.
Follow the jump for a bonus video of an FTO owner brazenly unconcerned about bending a control arm. (more…)
This recent article on Winding Road is a good read on the background of Martin Swig, a well-known California car collector. What it doesn’t mention though, is that Swig, along with his son David, in 2007 founded Motoring J Style, northern California’s very own car show celebrating Japanese car culture with a focus on vintage Japanese steel.
This year it’s back, and it promises to have even more treats in store, centering around a reunion of Peter Brock’s BRE race team, whose Datsun 510s took the 1971-72 SCCA Trans-Am 2.5 championships against the likes of Alfa Romeo and BMW. Mr. Brock himself and driver John Morton will be on hand to sign autographs and recount the historic wins and discuss his involvement with Hino’s short-lived US racing program. Nissan USA will display the 510 Morton drove to the checkered flag. In addition, there will be displays from Toyota USA along with their brands Lexus and Scion, a drift competition, a dirt track for rally stages and over 400 cars on hand.
Check out our coverage of last year’s event here. The 2008 Motoring J Style will be held at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo, CA on May 24, 2008. Mark your calendars!
Today we headed out to the Chainan 21, the official museum of Hino.
Check out this sign. The station name is Toyoda, and if you notice, the previous stop was Hino. Coincidence? Probably. The Hino museum is at neither of these.
Instead, it’s in Hachiouji, about a 40 minute train ride west of Shinjuku, but from the train station you also have to take a taxi or bus.
As a result, the place was deserted. Unlike the rest of Japan, there were no greeters, no people sitting behind a desk in the lobby, not even anyone at the gift shop counter. Just this Star Trek-esque elevator with pictures of dolphins in it.
It was a small museum. Nothing on the scale of the Honda Collection Hall, Toyota Museum, or Nissan Zama warehouse. A lot of this probably has to do with the fact that most of Hino’s products are enormous trucks. There were plenty of pictures though. Unfortunately, all the placards were in Japanese with very few English translations.
Hino made airplane engines long before their current lineup of trucks and buses.
Somewhere in between there was a car or two.
On the way back we stopped by the Subaru showroom in Shinjuku.
No nostalgics inside, but there was a new Forester and a dark brown “Bitter Edition” R2. The Japanese can never have too many limited editions.
Howdy, race fans. Here’s some great news. Peter Brock, the man behind the BRE race teams that took Datsun to SCCA Trans-Am 2.5 championships, has launched a new website, bre2.net. Old photos abound, from Brock’s early days with Hino, through the SCCA years, to Baja racing. If you’ve ever wondered what a 510 or 240Z would look like on massive off-road tires, be sure to check out the latter. Thanks to Dennis Currington for the tip!
Howdy, race fans. Here’s some great news. Peter Brock, the man behind the BRE race teams that took Datsun to SCCA Trans-Am 2.5 championships, has launched a new website, 