One of the sacrifices we have to make to drive the cars we love is safety. And while old cars offer great visibility thanks to large greenhouses, that advantage is nullified at night when 30-year-old wiring and outdated bulb technology conspire to turn your touge run into a date with Dead Man’s Curve. Today we seek to remedy that with some Hella H4 conversion kits. Continue reading
The SSR Formula Mesh is one of the classics, a vintage barrel whose design looks fantastic on cars from nearly any era. The good news is Speed Star Racing is bringing them back. However, the catch is that they’ll only be available in 16 inch and 19 inch diameters. And then there’s the issue of lug patterns. Continue reading
It’s SEMA week, and you know what that means. Steel yourself for an onslaught of the craziest custom cars blasted at you by every media outlet on Earth. Had enough of Lambo doors? Rims taller than a barstool? Paints so loud you can use them as a form of sleep depravation torture? Well too bad, because it’s all coming at you whether you like it or not. Which brings us to the question:
What’s the worst mod you’ve ever seen on a JNC?
The most recent assault on our senses popped up a few weeks ago on that virtual pit of despair known as Craigslist. Though this… this Accorolla? Corollord? may look more finished than many actual AE86s out there, why anyone think it was cool to graft a CB7 Honda front end onto a Corolla GT-S, we cannot even fathom. But as bad as this is, it’s probably not even close to the worst.
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, “Which car had the most entertaining celebrity spokesperson?” Continue reading
Honda‘s first passenger car went on sale in October 1963. That was 50 years ago, and the S-Series was a screamer. You know the story: While the rest of Japan’s burgeoning auto industry was assembling crude beasts of burden, Soichiro Honda was skipping right ahead and building one of Japan’s first true sports cars, using advanced technology that helped his humble company win the world championships of motorcycle racing. Continue reading
To all JNCers resurrecting creaky, decrepit, faded, and just plain old cars, we wish you a Happy Halloween.
Fasten your seatbelts, cause we’re about to enter super-ultra-otaku mode on the scintillating topic of Toyota windshield wipers. Along the way we discover that even when you buy Toyota parts from a Toyota dealer and it says Toyota on the packaging, it’s not always original.
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No big deal, just your average 2JZ-powered X30 Cressida drifting on a closed road in Norway. This is Norwegian drifter Fredrik Sørlie preferred commute. Watch the video below. Continue reading
Peter Butler loves Nissans. The 92-year-old man from Somerset County in the UK has just bought his 32nd Nissan from the same dealer, where he’s been a customer for 41 years. Continue reading
Subaru has always been a quirky automaker, but the funkiest feature in a pantheon of funkiness has got to be the Passing Lamp. Basically, it’s a third headlight hidden in the center of the car’s grille. When closed, the light’s door looks just like any Subaru constellation logo. Flip a switch on the turn signal stalk and BAM — the door swings up to reveal a glorious beacon of Fuji Heavy radiance commanding the darkness retreat! Continue reading
Japanese automakers have been using celebrities to pitch their cars for decades, forcing them to declare nonsensical phrases, speak Japanese, kiss the product, or barely say anything at all. None of it was ever meant to be seen by western eyes. With the advent of the internet, these ads are just a mouse-click away and a source of non-stop entertainment. Therefore we ask:
Which car had the most entertaining celebrity spokesperson?
Sonny Chiba became an international martial arts star with 1974′s The Street Fighter, but before that he had already achieved quite a bit of fame in Japan. In 1970 Toyota hired him to hawk their latest ride, the A10 Carina. Younger American audiences probably remember Chiba as Hattori Hanzo in Kill Bill or, more likely with the car crowd, the yakuza kingpin who settled beefs with drift battles in Tokyo Drift. Of course, having a Japanese star peddle a Japanese car somehow doesn’t seem as hilarious, so maybe it’s not actually the most entertaining.
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 most blasphemous engine swap?” Continue reading
