Tag Archives: fd3s

VIDEO: The year 2000 was still a great year for Japanese sports cars

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Ben Hsu

In the US, we often think of the late 1990s as when the good times came to an end. The flagship Japanese sports cars had left the US market, and automakers began building cars to the preferences of local markets, … Continue reading →

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Travis Scott’s new album and videos feature a plethora of Japanese sports cars

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Ben Hsu

When Ryan told me to check out Travis Scott’s new album two days after Christmas, I had to google who he was. A rapper, it turns out. I confess I haven’t actually listened to it, but the cover has caught … Continue reading →

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VIDEO: And the best Japanese car of 1995 was…

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Ben Hsu

By 2020 the 25-year threshold of what constitutes a classic car will cut off at 1995. What was the best Japanese car of that year? Back then, Japan’s Best Motoring sought the answer in a series of videos pitting several … Continue reading →

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Japanese Classic Car Show 2019: Upping the Game and Best in Show

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Dan Hsu

We are 60 percent of the way to the point where the JCCS itself, if it were a car, would be eligible for classic status. In its 15 years in existence, the Japanese Classic Car Show has grown from a … Continue reading →

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2019 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 08 — 90s Kids

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Ryan Senensky

With 90s cars now eligible for JCCS it is suddenly quite obvious that the cars of the Tuner Era are have arrived at JCCS. This coincides with the Youngtimer movement in the collector car community as a whole catching steam. … Continue reading →

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EVENTS: Radwood NorCal 2019

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Glenn Chiou

Just a week after my colleagues were at SpoCom in SoCal, Radwood returned to its ancestral home in NorCal. The traveling show of 80s and 90s nostalgia started in the Bay Area in 2017, and has been expanding rapidly. There … Continue reading →

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MINICARS: The Hot Wheels Street Tuners set is absolutely stunning

Posted on August 6, 2019 by Ricky Silverio

The latest batch of cars from the Hot Wheels’ premium Car Culture pays homage to the paradigm-shifting Gran Turismo generation. It’s almost amazing that it took this long to get a collectors’ series dedicated to icons of the Japanese tuner … Continue reading →

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RIP Junichi Tanaka, founder of Jun Auto Mechanic, 1943-2019

Posted on March 9, 2019 by Ben Hsu

One of the powerhouses of Japan’s tuning world has passed. It was announced yesterday that Junichi Tanaka, founder of Jun Auto Mechanic, died the morning of March 5, 2019 due to complications from cancer. He was 76 years old. The … Continue reading →

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SEMA 2018: A mega-gallery of SEMA J-tin

Posted on November 6, 2018 by Ben Hsu

It can be hard separating the wheat from the chaff at SEMA. There is so much going on that the pressure to build ever-wilder cars in order to stand out can result in some technically impressive but aesthetically questionable choices. … Continue reading →

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VIDEO: Watch a MotoGP champ ride through the history of Japanese motoring

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Ben Hsu

Over the weekend MotoGP rider Marc Marquez was in Japan winning his fifth world championship. Before that, the star 25-year-old motorcycle racer made a promotional video for Redbull Racing that takes viewers through the history of Japanese motoring.

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EVENTS: 2018 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 10 — Bubble Era

Posted on October 10, 2018 by Ben Hsu

For 2018, the Japanese Classic Car Show expanded eligibility to cars up to 1995. That means for the first time, a flood of Bubble Era greats were able to attend. Welcome to a JCCS full of pop-up headlights, T-tops, and … Continue reading →

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Sam Mitani put Tuner Era dream machines into the mainstream

Posted on September 12, 2018 by Ben Hsu

If you grew up in the pre-internet age, “buff books” like Road & Track were your bible. Magazines of its ilk were the only reliable sources of automotive news, but they were mostly concerned about cars that came fresh off … Continue reading →

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EVENTS: Nisei Week Car Show, 2018

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Ben Hsu

The annual Nisei Festival in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles is a celebration of Japanese American culture. Nisei means “second generation” in Japanese, but with its 84 years since the inaugural festival, the event has already been passed … Continue reading →

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KIDNEY, ANYONE? 7k-mile FD3S Mazda RX-7

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Ben Hsu

An amazing specimen of a third-gen Mazda RX-7 is currently being offered for sale on Craigslist. According to the ad, its interior still emanates that new car leather smell, because it has just 6,593 original miles on the clock. 

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EVENTS: Petersen Museum Cruise-in, Part 01

Posted on July 26, 2018 by Ben Hsu

Last weekend the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles hosted their annual cruise-in for Japanese cars. J-tin of all eras and styles flocked to the museum’s parking structure at the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire Boulevards on a sweltering LA … Continue reading →

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Japan Post celebrates 40th anniversary of Mazda RX-7 with exclusive rotary goods

Posted on July 24, 2018 by Ben Hsu

Japan’s post offices have unleashed a slew of Mazda RX-7 themed merch to mark the 40th anniversary of the iconic Hiroshima sports car. The goods celebrate all three generations of the RX-7, as well as the rotary engine. The only … Continue reading →

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EVENTS: Radwood NorCal 2018, the Greatest Hits

Posted on July 20, 2018 by Ben Hsu

Among the many examples of 80s and 90s Japanese cars that populated Radwood NorCal this year, there were a few that really stood out to us. We hesitate to call them the best; except for the actual “Best Of” voted … Continue reading →

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EVENTS: Radwood NorCal 2018

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Ben Hsu

The Radwood phenomenon is spreading faster than hairspray-induced polyester fire. The celebration of 80s and 90s autodom is now on its fourth show in just two years, and the organizers tell us it was the biggest one yet. We attended … Continue reading →

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VIDEO: Mazda UK celebrates 40 years of the RX-7

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Ben Hsu

2018 marks 40 years since the debut of the original Mazda RX-7. According to Mazda UK, Mazda has sold 2 million rotary-engined cars, with 850,000 of them being RX-7s. To honor the occasion, they’ve produced a video bringing together three … Continue reading →

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MINICARS: Tomica Limited Vintage made an FD3S Mazda RX-7 and it looks amazing

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Ben Hsu

We haven’t written about Tomica Limited Vintage in a while, but the collectors’ offshoot of Japan’s most popular diecast cars has been quietly churning out excellent 1:64-scale models of classics for a while. The latest, however, is sure to make … Continue reading →

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