Author Archives: Ben Hsu
MARKETWATCH: The rise of Japanese collector cars is duly noted
We realize that here at JNC we sometimes get a bit too otaku for the casual Japanese car enthusiast, with liberal use of chassis codes, Japanese nicknames, and, well, words like otaku. For those of you just joining us, Hagerty Insurance, which … Continue reading
MOTORSPORT: Watch the fire-breathing Skyline Super Silhouette decimate Group 5
The Group 5 Skyline Turbo is one of the most legendary race cars in Japanese motorsport history. By now you know that its extreme Super Silhouette aero inspired a whole genre of tuning, but why was it so epic?
Posted in motorsport
Tagged dr30, fuji speedway, group 5, KDR30, masahiro hasemi, nissan, r30, skyline, super silhouette, Tsukuba Circuit
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QotW: What’s the rarest JNC?
We all know there were 351 Toyota 2000GTs made, but that does not make them rare. To see one, just walk into any car museum in Japan. There’s plenty of well preserved ones at US car shows too. How about a modernized … Continue reading
EARTH DAY: Nissan built a hybrid-electric pickup back in 1973
Long before the Leaf — back in 1973 to be precise — Nissan had already been messing around with electric cars for decades. However, while the prevailing idea of an electric car was an office chair-sized bubble on wheels, Nissan built a space-tastic … Continue reading
Prince’s Purple Rain Honda motorcycle was awesome
The artist known as Prince passed away today at the age of 57. His musical achievements are well documented, but if you were a young motorhead in 1984 when Purple Rain came out, his custom Honda was the coolest bike around.
Behold the bonkers trippiness of these Yellow Hat commercials
Yellow Hat is a nationwide Japanese chain of auto service stores whose ad agency has clearly huffed one exhaust molecule too many. The completely Mr Sparkle-ized ads exist ostensibly to notify you of Yellow Hat’s tire and battery services, but the execution … Continue reading
NEWS: Mitsubishi admits to falsifying fuel economy data
Mitsubishi Motors admitted publicly this morning that its employees falsified fuel economy test data for over 600,000 vehicles. Production of these vehicles has halted and an independent investigation will be conducted.
VIDEO: Jay Kho’s Wild Card DR30 Skyline
A DR30 Skyline in signature red and black colors should be either a.) fighting crime on the mean streets of urban Japan or b.) in Hasemi livery tearing down the Fuji straight. So what’s it doing gliding down The Strip with the lights … Continue reading
QotW: What’s your most heroic repair story?
The theme of this week at JNC was Things Breaking Down. Our webhosting company has installed some new software that will hopefully make things more stable from here on out but it just goes to show, not everything can be as clockwork … Continue reading
NEWS: Owner of Toyota 2000GT crushed by tree files lawsuit
Remember that story of the Toyota 2000GT that was ruthlessly crushed by a tree and an uncaring universe? Well, it’s back in the Japanese news again, as the owner prepares to file a lawsuit against the province in which the accident occurred.
NEWS: Toyota’s new concept was designed to be passed down from one generation to the next
Toyota has created a car that lasts 100 years so it can be passed down within the family from one generation to the next. “But they already make the Camry!” you might say. That is true, but the Toyota Setsuna concept isn’t just an insanely … Continue reading
Happy 4/11 Day from JNC
In honor of today, here’s a photo from the time we drove a Datsun 411 through a sea of supercars during Monterey Historic Car Week. Happy 4/11!
QotW: What nostalgic-new body kit will be next?
The new Rocket Bunny Boss kit that turns unsuspecting FDs into some kind of Mazda centaur with an RX-3 head on an RX-7 body was, um, polarizing. It’s not the first new cars have been faceswapped with older fronts — as you can … Continue reading
A note about last weekend’s outage
The JNC server experienced a disk failure Friday night. It took almost the entire weekend for our webhost to diagnose and rectify the problem. We had to restore to the most recent backup, which was taken at 9:00am Friday. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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KIDNEY, ANYONE? Custom Toyota Hilux Dually with fifth wheel and camper
Okay, time to pack it up. It’s done, people. This is the last car you’ll ever need to buy. Sell your house, quit your job, and leave the grid in the comfort of this custom Toyota Hilux and its matching camper.
NEWS: Mazda is working on a new, possibly turbo, rotary engine
Last fall at the Tokyo Motor Show Mazda revealed a stunning vision for the future. Appropriately, it was called the RX-Vision, and as the name implies, it was a rotary-powered sports car in the tradition of the Mazda RX-7 and Cosmo Sport. While … Continue reading
QotW: What’s the most interesting JNC throwback design cue?
Automakers often incorporate classic design cues into the modern cars. Sometimes they’re obvious, like the quad taillights of the Nissan GT-R. Sometimes they’re obscure, like the C-pillar of the second-generation Scion tC. There are probably some that only the most die-hard otaku … Continue reading
GRAND TOURING: Godzilla invades New York — Behind the scenes of the NY Auto Show with a Hakosuka GT-R
There is no US city more hostile to the automobile than New York. Most of its 8.5 million residents don’t own cars. Here, they are nothing more than 3,000-pound accumulators of parking tickets and dents. Some of the city’s roads aren’t even paved. Then we … Continue reading
Posted in Grand Touring
Tagged c10, gt-r, Hakosuka, kpgc10, nissan, ny auto show, skyline
11 Comments
VIDEO: One man’s obsession with his Dekotora
Takuya Sosogi’s work is ostensibly the shipping of fresh fruit and vegetables. In reality, though, it’s modifying his Mitsubishi Fuso dekotora. Like many dekotora drivers, he became obsessed with “decoration trucks” after watching the 1975 film Torakku Yarō and hasn’t looked back.
