Tag Archives: mark II

EVENTS: 2015 New Year Meeting, Part 03 — Bone Stock Beauties

Japan has been the source of some truly extreme car cultures. Sadly, a “custom car” was the type of vehicle deemed most unseemly by Japanese women in a recent survey. No matter. Despite a western eye that cherry picks the only the most severe … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2014 Meiji Jingu Classic Car Festival, Part 02

The annual Meiji Jingu Classic Car Festival offers something few other shows can claim: the chance to see its cars driving through public streets. It’s not simply witnessing them in motion, though It’s the fact that those public streets are in Tokyo, in some of the … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2014 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 03 — The Sixties

The Sixties were a time of rapid growth and optimism for Japan. Automakers just built whatever they felt like with no cares given to what western markets would bear, and before the companies themselves settled into a comfortable pattern of four-year lifecycles. There is probably no … Continue reading

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Hachimaru Hero ranks the top 80s Japanese cars

Hachimaru Hero (80s Hero) is the Bubble Decade’s counterpart to Nostalgic Hero. Both come from the same publisher but nowadays interest in 80s Japanese cars is picking up speed. Recently the magazine put out a reader survey asking for the … Continue reading

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ART CORNER: Fujimi’s Touge Series Box Illustrations

Long after earning driver’s licenses and pinkslips to our rides, some of us still find ourselves mired in plastic model cars. Perhaps it reflects the constraint suffered by many of us on budget, space, or sanity (of ourselves and/or family … Continue reading

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GRAND TOURING: Okinawa

To Americans, the name Okinawa immediately conjures images of US military bases. However, the archipelago located south of Honshu, Japan’s main landmass, is also a popular subtropical tourist destination. Okinawa literally means “a rope in the open sea” and is comprised of a 600-mile … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2014 Nostalgic2Days, Part 04

We start our final installment of our 2014 Nos2Days coverage with a beautiful butaketsu Laurel by Red Megaphone. The Nissan restoration shop is known primarily for its Skylines, but this white C130 hardtop showed that there’s more than hakosukas and kenmeris … Continue reading

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ART CORNER: The custom 1:24 models of Luis Aguilar, Part 02

We met Luis Aguilar at a local AE86 owner gathering and immediately had our brains melted by his astounding 1:24 scale plastic models. It wasn’t just his tremendous attention to detail that caught our eye, but his highly accurate adherence … Continue reading

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EVENTS: Naniwa Swap Meet

Among the items on our Japan bucket list was checking out a real swap meet. Turns out, automotive-themed ones are not terribly common there, but we were fortunate enough to have Osaka’s Naniwa Swap Meet coincide with our stay. 

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VIDEO: Fredrik Sørlie’s 2JZ Cressida drift machine

No big deal, just your average 2JZ-powered X30 Cressida drifting on a closed road in Norway. This is Norwegian drifter Fredrik Sørlie preferred commute. Watch the video below.

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EVENTS: 2013 All-Toyotafest, Part 04 — The Angular Eighties

Though just the size of California, by the 1980s Japan had become the world’s premier industrial giant. With unprecedented growth and technology advancements, Nihon’s cars of this Bubble Economy, especially Toyotas, established a unique design philosophy that was on full … Continue reading

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EVENTS: Classic Japan 2012, Part 02: Totally Awesome 80s

In Part 02, Adam Laws continues his coverage of Classic Japan 2012 from Melbourne, Down Under. —Dan Our second installment of Classic Japan coverage from Australia is focused on some quintessential 80’s classics. Bring on the boxes! 1986 saw the … Continue reading

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Merry Christmas from JNC!

And now for your holiday viewing pleasure, a GX71 Mark II driver performing a heartwarming rendition of Jingle Bells with nothing but his exhaust. Merry Christmas from all of us at JNC!

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EVENTS: 2012 Formula D Car Show & Drifting Championships

Formula D isn’t the kind of event we here at JNC normally cover, but in recent years stateside drifting has grown tremendously, and with that growth it has welcomed with open arms the nostalgics that made all this tail-sliding possible. 

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QotW: What’s the greatest Japanese racing livery?

Graphics. Livery. Warpaint. Originally meant to identify the country of origin and visually distinguish fast-moving cars on the track, they are now the domain of corporate sponsors. Either way, there have been some darn cool ones. Therefore we ask: What’s … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2012 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 06: Wagons & Hatchbacks

It’s no secret that many of us on the JNC team are certifiably nutty about wagons, yours truly included (There are a couple that aren’t, and they look at us as if we’re the weird ones when it’s clearly the … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2012 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 02: Sedans

In Part 02 of our coverage of the 2012 Japanese Classic Car Show we examine the fabulous four-doors that graced the Queen Mary lawn. 

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The beautiful Box Art and history of Aoshima model kits

Step inside any Japanese hobby store and you’re bound to be dazzled by both the beauty and abundance of Aoshima box art. Their highly detailed plastic model kits have been around for decades, and in many cases have done a … Continue reading

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In Saudi Arabia, rockin’ a Cressida has a whole new meaning

And now for your viewing pleasure, a pair of X30 Cressidas on plinths. Raising cars on makeshift rock structures is apparently all the rage among the youths in Abha, Saudi Arabia. But lest you think this is the Saudi equivalent of … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2012 Mooneyes Street Car Nationals, Part 03: Wagons

There’s a special place in the Japanese heart for wagons. Sure, they’re loved in America now, but over there in Japan they were always cool. At the Mooneyes Street Car Nationals, where sports cars and two-doors are the exception, not the rule, … Continue reading

Posted in events, mazda, nissan, subaru, toyota, wagons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments