Just in time for All Hallows’ Eve, we come to you with a question of the most sinister looking JNC. Some people think old wagons are just creepy because they look like hearses. An S40 Gloria wagon in particular looks like something that might be driven by the Addams family. A modded JZA80 Supra would strike fear into any rear view mirror it appeared in, but the smoothed out shape of car it self doesn’t look all that scary. Then again, you probably wouldn’t want to approach a Toyota Century with tinted windows if you saw one in a dark alley. There are several ways to skin this cat.
What’s the most sinister looking JNC?
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “Can you help a fellow JNC reader find a ride-on car for their daughter?”
Turns out there are a surprising number of Japanese car-themed ride-on toys still being produced. TheJWT pointed out that a company produces ride-on version of Liberty Walk’s Lamborghini and Ferrari. Daniel brought our attention to a Toyota Hilux version that’s available in Argentina (and the US). While on the topic of Toyota, Michael K. found Land Cruiser and Tundra options, as well as Lexus LX and LC alternatives if your kid prefers the finer things in life. According to クロネコ Japan offers an Alphard new, but if you want to get spendy you can go for a vintage Eunos Roadster for a pretty steep asking price, shipping not included. Fred Langille came up with a great solution, which is to modify a Subaru 360. Personally, I got my son, a future world rally champion, this Subaru Impreza.
Speaking of Subaru, the winner this week is the appropriately named 555jay, who gave us probably the worst option for actual car but the best answer:
Japanese, but not JDM : Subaru made BRAT-skinned gas-powered go karts back in the late 70’s. Perfect if you want to raise your kid the way we were raised: with a bit too much carbon monoxide.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Mitsuoka Orochi is a pretty nasty looking piece of work. Named after an 8 headed dragon, it looks like nothing else on the road to this day, I’d have a heart attack if I clocked one in the rear vision mirror (before immediately pulling over to grab a photo). The Evangelion special edition would probably make my kids cry.
I looked at the Evangelion edition, but It’s not scary: it actually looks really cool!
I always find hearses looking sinister, but when I first saw these Japanese hearses it blew my mind. They are supposedly known as miyagata reikyushu and are basically wooden shrine-like structures with gold plating built on top of ordinary cars. Even though they look lovely during daytime, I wouldn’t want to encounter one around midnight!
If you wish to know more, Daniel O’Grady from Wasabi Cars covered one a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9GE-mFEGek
Which is more sinister? the one who suddenly makes a horrible metallic noise and sees in the mirror an oil stain behind… and silence… and slowly loses speed…
Prince Skyline Sport came out of the gate with evil eyes. Then Hakosuka inherited some of that.
Not really a JNC, but for me it’d be the Lexus LFA especially in the matte black they had when the car first came out. If it must be 25 years or older, the blacked out Mitsubishi Starion shown here before is striking.
Off the bat, some cars just have a sinister vibe to them. I feel like that with the high end cars like JZA80 Supras, FD RX7s and R34 Skylines. Just because they are race bred and are staples in building great cars.
Then again, now the current Prius Prime and Sienna have pretty aggressive lines nowadays.
I feel when Kaido racers make something Chibaragi style like this.. which is my goal for one of my cars lol. That aggressive with a silhouette tribute…
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https://www.f31club.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/E38182E381B6E381AAE38184E58891E4BA8BF31E383ACE38391E383BCE38389E8A197E98193E383ACE383BCE382B5E383BC2014411_1.jpg
Definitely VIPcars before Americans followed. That’s because they had a mystique to those builds and the people behind them.
I remember my friends took me to a Parking area in 2006, we saw these VIP cars and my friends were scared to because those guy had “serious attitude” and they might fight. But I was so intrigued because I never seen a Diamante and 929/Sentia done before.
https://www.f31club.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/DSCN3781.jpg
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Black Toyota Century. Sinister because with tinted windows….you just know in the back seat is a Yakuza boss.
A Nissan Patrol Y60 Safari Short Roof Long Wheel base all black, Lifted and running on wider mud tires. Something in these lines but with wider wheels,
View large on black
Dekotora Trucks.
Now, I’ll fully qualify that this answer leans on my connection to 70s/80s-era American zeitgeist about carnivals having creepy undertones plus ‘trucks coming to run you down’ movies like Duel and Maximum Overdrive. Triple marks if the Dekotora has a clown or demon motif.
1984-1989 NIssan Z31. Its angular styling and gun-slit headlights when they are closed give it this ‘The bad guys definitely drive this car’ vibe.
The ’77 Celica: Any dark color on this guy and he’s a real creep. Dark brown, dark silver, or black will work, but there could be more colors to make you scream at least once if you see one wearing one of those colors. This is the car you’d probably see in a horror movie. Or make one like it’s a junker, and that’s what’s going to haunt you in your sleep. This is almost like a 240Z, like the Devil Z, but I’m deciding to pick the ’77 Celica. “GRGRGRGRGRGRGRRGRGR!” “BOOOO” “AAAHHHHH!!!” (Faints)