Nissan owners are a passionate bunch, with owners who are fanatical about Z-Cars, 510s, and Skylines. While it’s great to be enthusiastic about your favorite model, the fervency expressed by owners of the most popular models often overshadows the amazing diversity of the Nissan family tree. Shows like Nissan Jam, however, do a pretty good job of showcasing all members of the clan.
Perhaps the most impressive showing was the large contingent of the S12 chassis. The strength of the 200SX group was nothing to write home about compared to the Zs, but it was still the biggest gathering we have ever seen. Many of them, like Ann Gonzaga’s Light Pewter 1986 hatchback, were original owner cars, or ones that had stayed in the family since new.
S13 and S14 240SXes, while popular, still don’t get entire shows devoted to them like Nissan’s more popular models do. Sure, they dominate at drift days, but Nissan Jam is one of the few places where we see them loved as cars, not as conveyances in which to go sideways.
One of our favorites was Yuichi Ikegaya’s kouki S14, despite its XXRs. As the proprietor of one of the Tokyo’s most well known Skyline shops, Utilitas, he obviously has no shortage of access to proper Japanese barrels. So why the XXRs? Because he keeps this car in the US, and wanted to make it as USDM style as possible. And, sadly, a Japanese car enthusiasts’s image of USDM is that it must run XXR wheels.
Rear-wheel-drive Maximas are nearly all but forgotten outside the JNC world, but here at Nissan Jam there were at least two of them, holding down a lonely corner of La Palma Park.
Our love for wagons around these parts is well known, and Nissan Jam’s collection of classic longroofs did not disappoint. A truly surprising turnout of B310 Sunny wagons was supplemented by a Josue Elias’s lone 610 of any body style, and Royale Sera’s PU11 Maxima goon.
Toyotas get most of the import truck love in car enthusiast circles these days, but it could be argued that Nissan has the more varied and impressive history of compact pickups. Jose Tarin took home the second place award in the Trucks category for his light green 3S-GE Beams-powered 1971 521, while Luis Chavez won Best Truck with his red SR20DET-equipped D21 Hardbody.
We also found Uriel Gomez’s 1986 720 with slats across every horizontal front surface a rad symbol of the 80s.
Last but not least, Nissan Jam even manages to attract oddball JDM cars that would otherwise have no place to be showcased. Jeff Koch’s Nissan S-Cargo and Datsmo’s C30 Laurel are cars you simply don’t see anywhere else.
To be continued…
We’ll have more 2017 Nissan Jam coverage, but in the meantime, in case you missed it check out Part 01 — Starting with Z and Part 02 — Celebrating 50 Years of the Datsun 510.
Awesome S12’s, how big was the 620 representation
There weren’t a lot of 620s there this year, for some reason.
I love the Silvia and I love the 240SX. Japan got something we didn’t get and the US got something Japan didn’t get. So with that in mind, RESPECT THE POP UP HEADLIGHTS PEOPLE! So many S13’s have been lost to stance nation, sideways ‘r us and rust oleum, please please, cherish was we have left. USDM! Make America great again!
Word. Save the Onevias.
“So why the XXRs? Because he keeps this car in the US, and wanted to make it as USDM style as possible. And, sadly, a Japanese car enthusiasts’s image of USDM is that it must run XXR wheels.”
So ironic. Really makes you wonder what is considered “cheap” over in Japan.
In Japan, it’s harder to get XXR wheels than Volks or Enkeis. In fact, I have another green S14 at my Tokyo shop that I’m building the same way with a USDM bumper.
Next year hopefully the Stanza will be there..
http://www.nissanforums.com/garage.php?do=viewvehicle&vehicle_id=3986
Love that S-Cargo! It really does look like a snail from the side. A goofy JDM car name that sounds like it was sneaked in at a shacho meeting by someone with a sense of humor.
Is there anyway I can get the picture of all the s13s together, everytime I press the link it goes to the red 240sx?
Try it now. There was a glitch in the matrix that should now be fixed.
Oh God, keep them “Time Out” dolls out of the Import Scene.
Too late, apparently.
$&#+!!!
My fav is the C130 Laurel. Too bad they were never imported as a step up option (size wise) to the 510.
My son lives in Irvine and doesn’t go to these car shows.
I live in Chicago and yearn to go to these car shows (attended 2 JCCS’s).
I have failed as a father.
Seeing that pair of Sunny Californias in sunny California, reminds me of one my neighbors had in the early ’80s in Vermont, a white manual (can’t remember 4 or 5 speed) with blue plaid interior. I can remember it struggling up an icy driveway not long before it was replaced by a K car, in beige. They moved not long after that so I don’t know how that gamble in the Mopar Quality Lottery worked out for them and whether they regretted letting the Datsun go.