EVENTS: 2016 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 02 — Skyline City

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This year’s JCCS was truly a special event for many reasons, but here’s another one: the numerous and diverse number of Skylines that showed up. Nearly every generation of post-Prince Skyline could be seen, and for a car that was never sold in the US that’s pretty amazing. But that’s not even the really amazing part. What really made this collection memorable was the sheer diversity in styles, representing the breadth Japan’s deep automotive culture.

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When most people in the US think of a hakosuka Skyline, they think of a flared, be-spoilered, two-door hardtop with a growling straight-six underhood. Luis Hernandez blew that notion right out of the water with his 1972 Skyline GL, the short nose, four-cylinder, four-door runt of the Hako litter. We applaud Luis’s effort to save this otherwise unloved model, while keeping its unique aspects like the surf line in tact.

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One of the most eye-catching cars of the show was Joel Tan’s Hako. Finished in a classic solid white with red livery inspired by Kunimitsu Takahashi’s works GT-R, it was an absolute stunner.

It was more than just a race car homage, though — it’s a brilliant homage to an homage of a race car. The ground-scraping height and gold SSR MkI wheels are perfect nods to the Skylines of Japan’s shakotan culture, themselves inspired by Nissan’s factory racers. Clean, simple, and to the point, it was one of our favorites of the show. We’re also suckers for spoiler-less Hakos.

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In the same vein was Christopher Kim’s 1973 Kenmeri, channeling perfectly the style of a Japanese equivalent of hot rod and kustom culture. From the Mizuno Works flares to the glitter rear panel, integrated upright ducktail to Datsun Cherry taillights, it is an awesome specimen of Japanese tradition done right and transported to America.

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We’ve seen a couple of extreme examples, but for the purists there was Diego Rodriguez’s genuine Skyline GT-R, looking almost nondescript in comparison. But make no mistake, this was a real KPGC10, complete with S20 engine #212 and appropriately skinny Watanabes, fully restored by a man who knows his way around a blue chip Japanese classic.

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In case one had any doubts about the universal appeal of JCCS, there was even a Datsun 240K imported from Australia by way of Middle East (where it was converted to LHD as required by law). Note the arabic emblem on the spoiler. The owner, Jamal, has a thread about it in the JNC Forum.

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Else where on the grounds of Queen Mary Park was yet another silver C10, this time wearing some extra-wide TE37-V with 90s tuner-style anodized lug nuts.

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Over at the International Vehicle Importers booth, a pair of Hakosuka wearing more traditional RS-Watanabes 8-spokes and Hayashi Streets showcased the type of cars this company can bring in for you.

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Matching the Hakos on the other side of IVI’s booth was a pair of equally influential R32 GT-Rs. The de-spoilered white example with beautiful Volk CE28, Project Mu brakes and Bride seats was a particularly fetching example of a clean 90s style. It can be purchased on the company’s website.

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Sage Automotive Group, owners of one of the largest Nissan dealerships in the country (and former Nissan Jam sponsor), arranged a lineup of Skylines and GT-Rs of nearly every generation (excepting the C210 and Prince-badged ones). We, of course, gravitated towards the classics like Phillip Shu’s 1971 Skyline 2000GT.

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Following in chronological order were Patrick Soliman’s Kenmeri, a JNC Editors’ Pick from yours truly in 2014, as well as Jay Kho’s DR30, a JNC feature car of 2015.

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Speaking of DR30s, another one of our show favorites was Eric Straw’s just-finished Tekamen. While it looks like a fairly normal sixth-gen Skyline, there’s a lot of hidden tricks under its sheetmetal, starting with the R34 RB26DETT stuffed under the hood. More will be revealed when we do a more detailed feature on this car soon.

To be continued…

We’ll have more 2016 JCCS coverage coming soon. In the meantime, in case you missed it, check out Part 01.

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12 Responses to EVENTS: 2016 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 02 — Skyline City

  1. Nigel says:

    Nice to see a 4 door Hako in there. (Any R31’s ) ??

  2. xs10shl says:

    Great lineup of cars. Amazing to see that many Skyilines, where only a few years ago, there were perhaps 2-3.

  3. Sean Morris says:

    Thanks. We brought in the R31 wagon too.

  4. LEONARD says:

    There were other cars then just Skylines. But yeat all I see are pictures of Skylines.

  5. Ant says:

    Not so long ago I’d have hated that purple Kenmeri. Now, it looks fantastic to me. Not too overdone, though maybe a little less tyre stretch would look even better.

  6. Censport says:

    Overall I prefer the Kenmeri, but a 4-door Hakosuka with the surf line intact gets me right in the feels.

  7. Luis says:

    Hi. I’m the owner of the 4 doors hako GL and I want to thanks you guys for this nice pictures and the good comments about my car. I will love to get some copies of your magazine. Thanks and keep up the good work that you guys do for the nostalgic cars. ✌️️??

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