Nissan has just launched a Japanese minisite in celebration of the Fairlady Z’s 40th Anniversary, along with some photos of the 370Z Roadster. It’s all in Japanese but you can click here to take a look.
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.
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?
We posted some vintage Japanese wheel ads a while back. Here’s some more spotted on Riverside. Many have a similar theme: modified OG J-ride, night time shot, the wheel in question and a glimpse of asphalt lit dramatically. The message is clear, get out there and race, foo! This Techno Phantom-shod RX-7 just beckons. (more…)
Automakers often release limited edition cars, but it’s not necessarily enthusiasts or collectors who buy them. More often than not, they’re simply snatched up by buyers who need a new set of wheels. Which begs the question: what happens to, say, number 1 of 3000 thirty years later? Does it get totaled in a crash, end up as scrap, or is it languishing in a backyard somewhere? (more…)
Speak of the Devil Z! Here’s the trailer for Wangan Midnight, the manga, movie, video game and anime series that is now being rebooted with yet another remake on the big screen.
Yes, you read that right. $2000. Tipster John O. recently wrote that a friend of his bought this 1972 Datsun 240Z from the original owner, an old lady who always babied the car. She only let Datsun/Nissan dealerships perform work on it and kept all the service records and documentation in its 37-year history. As the story goes, she got tired of sinking money into it and put it up on craigslist. She interviewed all the buyers one by one and chose one lucky new owner at the end. And sold it to him for $2000 American. Up Next: Bigfoot caught!
So Transformers not your style? Here’s our first open kidney offer that doesn’t involve an actual car. It’s a vintage Tomica Grand Prix Circuit set that we came across while skimming the Tomica Fan Club forums. Talk about cool… just look at that gorgeous box art, that beauteous orange plastic! (more…)
If there’s two things Japan is known for its robots and cool cars. Put them together and you have Transformers. And even if you’ve been living under a rock for the past 9 months you can’t avoid the barrage of advertising for the new Transformers movie that’s debuted yesterday. Most reviews say avoid it at all costs and bang your head against a gong for 2 and 1/2 hours to achieve the same effect as you would seeing the movie.
Here’s something way cooler. In Japan the franchise is not beholden to General Motors and instead has a tie in with Nissan. It’s called the Transformers Alternity line and now you can get an Optimus Prime that transforms into a Nissan GT-R and a Megatron that changes into a Nissan 370Z. Optimus comes in red, silver and black while Megatron is either silver or blue. True, this is a butchering of the original where Prime is a truck and Megatron a gun, but can it be worse than what Michael Bay has already done?
