Japanese Nostalgic Car

We at JNC often discuss diecast cars or model kits, but there’s another world of vintage automotive toys that many have fond memories of. In postwar America slot cars were the phenomenon that bridged the gap between toy models and real motorsport. They turned basements and strip-mall tracks into high-speed battlegrounds. And because they arose at the same time road racing series at SCCA and IMSA hit fever pitch, many of the cars mirrored real-world cars like Shelby Cobras and BRE Datsuns. Admittedly this is a bit of a niche topic, but we’re curious.

What was your favorite slot car experience?

The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What car did you love as a kid but realized was terrible when you got older?” Continue reading →

Kids don’t know anything, and as a kid there were many cars that I thought were incredible until I grew up and my brain got better. Growing up in the 80s, I had the obligatory Countach poster on my wall, thought the DeLorean was fast for hitting 88 mph, and wished for nothing more than a talking Firebird. Conversely, I grew up reading the big four buff books and thought Japanese cars were cheap appliances that people only bought because they couldn’t afford a better car from Europe. Even as an grown-up who should’ve known better, I briefly indulged my childhood dream of owning a C3 Corvette, but as they say, don’t meet your heroes. If I only knew then what I do now, I could’ve saved myself a pricey mistake.

What car did you love as a kid but realized was terrible when you got older?

The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What automotive T-shirt do you wish existed?” Continue reading →

Today, July 20, is T-shirt Day in Japan. It was chosen to coincide with Marine Day, which celebrates the ocean, on the third Monday of July, but also because T is the 20th letter of the alphabet. The T-shirt isn’t just a simple yet convenient way to cover your torso. It’s also a conversation starter, a way of declaring your loyalties, or a canvas for a pointed statement. And it’s pretty easy to find a shirt with, say, a Miata on it, but what about more obscure automotive references, bad dad jokes, or hot takes? Something that will identify your allegiance the second someone sees it?

What automotive T-shirt do you wish existed?

The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “If you could only drive cars from one marque for your entire life, what marque would it be?” Continue reading →

We all have our favorite marques, but how committed are we really? Back in the day, if you grew up a Chevy man, you’d stay a Chevy man for life. I knew a guy whose dad bought a new Chrysler every other year well into the late 80s. I remember him trading in a perfectly good (relatively speaking for an 80s Pentastar product, of course) New Yorker for a slightly newer, zero-mileage facelifted example. Sometimes the allegiance was multi-generational.

Brand loyalty isn’t really a thing anymore, but let’s pretend you had to pledge your devotion to just one marque for your entire life, and for every stage of it. What would you pick for your school-age set of wheels, family hauler, and midlife crisis-mobile? And we’re limiting it to marque, not company, so no cross-pollination between Nissan and Infiniti, for example, but Datsun is grouped with Nissan because that was a name change.

If you could only drive cars from one marque for your entire life, what marque would it be?

The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What selfless car-related thing do you do for others?“. Continue reading →