Toyota isn’t the only company getting nostalgic for the 80s with its latest batch of TRD trucks. Hot Wheels‘ latest line of premium collectibles is the Cool Classics series, and with 25 of the 30 cars released it was looking like your typical parade of Detroit iron. Then suddenly, a 1987 Toyota Pickup! Continue reading
The Honda CB750 was earth-shattering when it debuted in 1969 that a new word had to be coined to describe it. And lo, the superbike was born. Soichiro Honda rocked the world with his large-displacement, transverse-mounted SOHC four-cylinder, unheard of in a mainstream bike at the time. Called the “King of Motorcycles,” advanced features for its time, like front disc brakes and electric starter, revolutionized the motorcycle industry in much the way Honda’s NSX jolted the supercar establishment 20 years later. Early CB750s can trade for $40,000 to 50,000, but this particular bike recently sold for a whopping $148,000. Here’s why. Continue reading
Our friends at TORC have just released their 2014 All-Toyotafest flyer. Here’s everything you need to know about the 19th running of this fantastic yearly gathering of Toyota, Lexus and Scion enthusiasts.
When: May 3, 2014, 9am – 3pm
Where: Queen Mary Park, Long Beach, California
Admission: Free for spectators
Registration: Begins March 1, with very limited spacing. Register here.
Mark your calendars! There’s a larger version below. Please help spread the word to make this the biggest and best Toyoafest yet. Continue reading
Mazda knew when they unveiled the Miata at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show that they had built a true driver’s car, one whose stated purpose was to create joy. That was 25 years ago today. What they couldn’t have known was that it would become the best selling sports car of all time. Soon the likes of Toyota, Nissan, Honda, BMW, Mercedes and Audi all tried to emulate the formula, but it was only Mazda that sold 1 million drop top smile generators to loving owners all over the globe. Today it officially becomes nostalgic. Continue reading
Badge engineering. It’s one of the dirty little schemes of the auto industry that continuously surprises us, not by the Mitsubishi parts when you thought you were buying a Dodge, but because it continues to fool the average consumer.
What’s the worst example of badge engineering?
One of 2014′s greatest tragedies will surely be the fact that the Toyota Cavalier is less than 25 years old and thus ineligible. We also considered the Dodge Challenger-badged Mitsu and Chevy Nova-badged Corolla, but we think the 1988-91 Nissan Ute takes the cake here. It was actually a XF Ford Falcon, a real 1970s old school sedan. Up front sat a 4.0L, 110hp straight six with a 4,500 rpm redline while a live axle and leaf springs supported the rear bed. It was a total sales flop, since no self respecting redneck is gonna drive a Japanese truck. Smart people realised that the three year Nissan warranty was better than the one year Ford warranty. Wiser bogans were buying Nissan Utes, then going to Ford to buy a $25 blue oval badge to stick on the grille. Imagine if, in the 1980s, Nissan USA slapped Nissan badges on a Ford F-150 and tried to sell it to rednecks.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a toy. Click through to see the winner of the last QotW, “What’s the greatest JNC rivalry?” Continue reading
It’s back, baby! Reports out of Australia say that the show-stopping Toyota FT-1 concept unveiled last month at the Detroit Auto Show has been confirmed for production as the next Supra. Even better, it’ll be in the first of an entire lineup of sports cars set to hit the streets starting in 2016, nearly two decades after the last Supra left US shores. Continue reading
Though it came out in 1992, there’s still plenty of 80s car-nage in Kinji Fukusaku’s Someday Into the Glare (English title, The Triple Cross). Fukusaku’s ultra-violent crime stories were a staple of Japanese cinema in the 70s and 80s, but by 1992 a new crop of new filmmakers had rose to prominence. Fukusaku wanted to prove he still had what it took to compete with the young bloods after a few years dabbling in ancient samurai and horror flicks, so he returned to the subject he knew best — bank robbers, bullets and betrayal. Naturally, there are plenty of car chases. Continue reading
One a giant indoor dirt course at the Chicago Auto Show today Toyota Racing Development celebrated 35 years in the US by launching a new lineup of TRD Pro trucks. Though Toyota’s in-house tuning skunkworks has been responsible for everything from IMSA Celicas to NHRA top fuel dragsters, this was a celebration of their off-road racing heritage. Continue reading
So despite earning $15 million last year for his Game of Thrones series, author George R.R. Martin drives an FB Mazda RX-7, which Yahoo cyberstalked and found parked outside his Santa Fe, New Mexico house. His personalized license plate has his initials, “GRRM.”
No, you haven’t traveled into the future. The Toyota Alphard isn’t nostalgic yet, but to ignore them would mean turning a blind eye to a huge part of Japan’s car culture. Custom minivans are serious business in Japan and the Toyota Alphard (along with its twin, the Vellfire) is the king daddy of them all. Continue reading
