QotW: What’s the scariest looking JNC?

All Hallows’ Eve is upon us, and ghosts and ghouls are stirring from their slumbers to creep into our dreams. Ancient carriages from the East don many visages, but some are truly menacing. Which chilling masque makes your heart race upon an encounter on a dark night, or perhaps lost in an abandoned warehouse?

What’s the scariest looking JNC?

The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What JNC do you spot the most on the road today?

The answers to last week QotW were truly depressing. From BlitzPig‘s bleak illustration of the mid-west’s car-scape to Martin Kočka‘s description of post-Communist Czech Republic’s meager selection to エーイダン‘s account of Canada’s Camry and Cavalier-packed streets, it’s not a great scene for JNCs out there. I guess we really are spoiled here in California. As such, the winner is Tama5, who noticed a little-discussed trend in the Golden State:

They’re not a “JNC” in the traditional sense but they deserve special recognition:

Drive anywhere in Southern California and you will see an astounding number of late 80s-early 90s Toyota pickups still hard at work. You’ll even see interesting variants like 1-ton ex-Uhaul box trucks and flatbeds with dual rear wheels. Hire anyone for landscaping work and it’s likely they’ll show up in an old Toyota pickup.

Unfortunately it’s impossible to sell a truck that small anymore. CAFE favors larger vehicles and modern safety regulations make them larger anyway. (Even the 2wd Tacoma is huge now). My guess is the little Toyota pickups will remain on the road to fill this niche until Sacramento mandates self-driving cars…

Honorable mention: The 3rd-generation Toyota 4Runner is nearly as ubiquitous out here.

Omedetou! Your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop.

JNC Decal smash

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11 Responses to QotW: What’s the scariest looking JNC?

  1. Mark Newton-John says:

    Of course, it’s the Datsun F10. Although not a JNC for another twenty years, the Nissan Juke also has that wild cat eye look.

  2. cesariojpn says:

    Technically not a JNC for another 6 years(?), but the first gen Daihatsu Copen has that weird looking smiley face. It’s almost like one of the characters from Super Mario Brothers who is a ghost and…..Boo, thats it!! It looks like Boo from Super Mario Bothers! Just add a tongue and it’s a near match.

  3. Gary Tubesing says:

    So. As a former RX-4 owner I’m curious why it’s pictured in an article about scariest JNC. I never thought mine scary; in fact, I thought the lines (I had a coupe) very attractive. Except maybe for the rear end which, to some tastes, was a bit overdecorated. Road & Track kind of thought so too; the taillights were almost too busy for the space.

  4. alvin says:

    The scariest looking JNC appears to be a cute, doe-eyed Lady by day. At night however, it turns into gnarly tooth-bearing beast!
    http://www.zcarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HalloweenRoadster.jpg

    Happy Halloween JNC!

  5. nlpnt says:

    The one that’s hiding more r-u-u-u-u-s-s-s-t than you th-i-i-i-i-nk (/spooky voice)

  6. Tj says:

    The first car that springs to mind when being asked what the scariest JNC might be is the original Mazda Cosmo with its spaceship styling invoking thoughts of extraterrestrial visitors bringing with them interstellar domination and enslavement,l. But no, these days it’s a cutesy nostalgia trip back to what the 60’s thought the future might look like. It’s more fun than scary.

    Or, how about the Subaru 360? Stay with me! It’s adorable cuteness is just a ploy, simply bait to lure unsuspecting victims into… Yeah nah, I just started making that up to fill out the position of a second suggestion trying to pad out the narrative.

    No. The scariest JNC is far more familiar to all of us and yet, it takes many different forms. We all know it’s terror but are unable to describe it to others potentially facing the same threat.
    You see, it’s an insidious threat. Manifesting most innocently at first before stealthily wrapping it’s tendrils around your brain stem, slowly feeling out just what buttons in your subconscious it needs to push. By the time you notice, it’s too late.
    It has control. It owns you now. Down to your very bones.

    It isn’t some rare and exotic parasite that you pick up by chance on some far flung adventure into the unknown. It’s right here. Never far from you at any time no matter where you go. In fact, it could be in your garage RIGHT NOW!!
    The scariest JNC of all is the unfinished project car.

    It’s burrowed in your garage like a cancerous growth. And like a cancerous growth it indeed grows larger as the pile of spare parts stacked on top of it grows and grows until eventually it becomes a mantle for whatever other junk you need to put in your garage but can’t reach to put on the back shelf because of the three gearboxes, spare seat and some random fibreglass kayak that you’ve never seen before that are now blocking the way.
    It will drain you of your time. It will drain you of your funds. It will drain you of your tolerance of the question “when are you going to get rid of that heap of shit”

    Indeed friends, the JNC that instills the most fear isn’t some conquer from the stars or some camoflauged predator. It’s the one that’s been in our lives all along.
    It’s the one we’ll never let go.

  7. Karel Bonk says:

    Mazda RX7 FD

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