EVENTS: The Bayline Gathering, Part 03

We begin Part 03 of our Bayline Gathering coverage with a pair of matching ’85 A60 Celica ‘verts. San Francisco’s hills form one of the most beautiful urban landscapes in America and navigating them with an open top must make for a pretty bitchin’ drive.

San Francisco Bay is gorgeous but the San Leandro marina, with its mammoth concrete edifices, could be a stand in for the edge of Tokyo Bay. That’s particularly true when there’s a brutish S130 parked at water’s edge.

Beside the 280ZX was its successor, a Z31 300ZX, stanced out on the factory gold wheels of a 1984 50th Anniversary Turbo. Extreme Z31 love or a flaunting of the blingy wheel trend? Either way, rad concept.

The only problem with being situated by a wide body of water is that it’s rather windy.  Marilyn Monroe would have had gawkers lined up all day. We at the JNC booth had them too, but it was probably due to Patrick Ng‘s gorgeous TE27 Corolla SR-5.

Of course, we had to show a little Nissan love too, so flanking our booth from the other side was NorCal native Lou S.‘s beautiful gray RHD Fairlady Z. It sits on a full Arizona Z-Car suspension and some exclusive custom-offset Panasport Japan 17-inch barrels.

L28 power! The lickably flawless engine bay was the work of Rob Fuller, owner of one of the Bay Area’s top Z tuners, San Jose’s Z Car Garage, who specialize in the big brake upgrades those 17s are sized for.  You can read more about the build here on Rob’s Z-car blog and check out the gallery below for more photos.

Perhaps feeling outdone by the plethora of JDM Skylines at the show the Z contingent had a second right-hand-drive S30 present, what looks like a JDM Fairlady 240Z-L.

Just gaze upon the purity of that cockpit — the cross-stitched console, the vintage racing seats, the simple wooden-y shifter. Everything you need, nothing you don’t. It’s about driving, kids.

Sunny Liang‘s slick 1973 240Z and its Star Road style Work Equip 03s was hanging with the crew from Oak-town’s Performance Options. Sunny won Reader’s Choice for Car of the Year on Speedhunters last year. You can read more about his car here.

Lest you think all Zs at the show were modified, here’s a bone stock 1983 280ZX T-top. Apparently Nissan had some Turbo hoods that needed using for the final model year, because even non-turbos such as this one had the NACA duct on the hood.

A friend from Japan once said, “Gather 100 Mark II owners and you’ll have 100 different styles of Mark II.” Well here’s two. Technically the zokusha‘ed-out one is a Corona Mark II, but by the X60 generation it had dropped the “Corona.” Of course we Americans know it as the Cressida and this MX63, resplendent in Apricot Metallic, is one of the cleanest we’ve seen. All it needs is a rear bumper and some period barrels and it’ll be cruisin’ in high style.

SoCal might have the numbers when it comes to rotaries, but Bay Area Wankels exude a subtler style. Somewhere tucked away in the hills of NorCal are brilliant specimens of Mazda like this banana yellow RX-2 sedan on period correct Enkei 92s.

Roaming through the parking area we noticed this panda-perfect AE86. With gunmetal Wats it was a shoe-in for the star of a certain anime about drifting through the mountains of Japan.

Elsewhere at the gathering, a slightly less pristine hachiroku exhibited clever drift rat touches like a fender still wearing junkyard paint pen markings, a sticker where the radio antenna should be, and a connecting rod turned tow hook.

Speaking of hachis, Jojo CollantesTE27 might look like a mango on the outside, but underneath the daily driven Corolla has a complete AE86 suspension and drivetrain. For those who remember the Bay Area autocrossing scene, Jojo drove an N2-fendered Starlet sponsored by Ling Nam Chinese-Filipino Noodle House, a cornerstone of NorCal dining.

We saw a stock-height Datsun 710 sedan in Part 02; here’s its polar opposite. What are they, growing on trees in NorCal? It’s got quite the shakotan street racer thing going on. You can almost imagine it tearing through the streets of 1970s Tokyo.

This installment wouldn’t be complete without at least one killer wagon, and this is it. A slammed army green TE72 on SSR MkIIs and a roll bar? Total sex machine.

We’ve heard the clamoring for daruma love, so here’s Ray Santos‘ WiqdToy, a 1971 Celica powered by a Honda S2000 motor. Before purists start pounding their keyboards, the F20C has already been long established by Roper’s Rule of Three as one of a trio of engines that is okay to swap into any car.

More photos await in the gallery below, and we have more Bayline Gathering coming up so stay tuned. In the meantime, in case you missed them check out Part 01 and Part 02.

Photos by Ben Hsu, Ricky Silverio, and Justin Principe.

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17 Responses to EVENTS: The Bayline Gathering, Part 03

  1. Nigel says:

    Every car there looks like it had some awesome in it.
    Really like the 280Z and the 300Z, the green Corolla goon and that maroon 710.
    So much greatness in one area.
    (Great coverage guys).

  2. Aaron says:

    TOSCO’S! Has to be the meanest wheel ever made. They would probably spit in your face if they could. TE27 takes the cake.. your wallet, and your girlfriend, and whatever else it wants…

    rule of three? So it’s 2JZ, LS and F20C…

  3. dickie says:

    more Appliance wire mags!

  4. EffinMike says:

    Yes, please elaborate on this “Roper’s Rule of Three”! I second the notion of a JNC wiki (as suggested in a previous post)! It’s great to see some A60 love. Thanks for this awesome coverage!

    • Ben says:

      JNC’s Tech Editor John Roper (datsunfreak in the forums) wrote a column about how cross-marque engine swaps are considered blasphemy, but there’s 3 exceptions that make it ok: F20C, Mazda Rotary, and the SR20. I disagreed with the last one, but hey, he’s a datsunfreak! 🙂

      • Seanskee says:

        I’d have to oppose.. I am nobody but I think the Rotary is hands down a given sr20.. egh ok.. but the F20c? … I think 1j should be in it’s place… or is there a different rule for 6cyl, 8cyl, etc.. ??

        • John says:

          Seanskee, if you get a chance to read the whole editorial, it might make more sense. 😉

          But you’re right in that the 1JZ/2JZ has a solid argument in it’s favor.

      • John says:

        Ben, I’m right on this one and you know it. 🙂

      • Ben says:

        Perhaps I’m just bitter that the SR20 carried on in the chassis Toyota should have succeeded the AE86 with 😉

  5. Toy_yoda says:

    That 710 sedan sitting on Appliance Wiremags is just plain awsome, kudos to the owner!

  6. madfaber says:

    Love the attention that japrods are getting, the 280zx, the z31 and that red AE are rad! more please! clean is boring

  7. Jeremy says:

    So much beauty. Are there more events like this around here? I’d really like to be more aware as to when these sort of gatherings are happening in the Bay Area. 🙂

  8. Pete240z says:

    Those seats in that RHD S30 are classic. Can I get a set for my Accord? Wow, those are impressive.

  9. Art says:

    Thanks for the picture, you guys know your info. And yes, it’s extreme Z31 love. Admit it the stock wheels look good.

  10. Zipppo says:

    WIQDTOY is still looking just as good as it did when it first was completed. The car is well built and crazy fast. All I can say is I always have really admired this build. AWESOME car!

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