Author Archives: Ben Hsu

EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 06 — Road & Race

The last installment of our JCCS coverage was a homage to bone stock beauts, but a huge contributor to the popularity of Japanese cars has always been their tunability. Here are the JCCS cars that were built for street and circuit, not preservation. 

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VIDEO: Sung Kang’s Datsun 240Z Dream Build

Sung Kang is perhaps best known for his role as Han in the Fast & Furious movies. Like his character in the films Sung is a car guy as well, and is currently building a Datsun 240Z with the help … Continue reading

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Street Neo Classics Preview: Meet Hot Wheels designer Ryu Asada at the JNC booth this Sunday

This Sunday marks the inaugural Street Neo Classics show, an event for 80s and 90s Japanese cars, brought to you by the people who created JCCS. We at JNC will of course have a booth there, and joining us to sign autographs … Continue reading

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VIDEO: A Fairlady Z for future generations

We’ve admired Glenn Chiou’s Nissan Fairlady Z ever since the moment we laid eyes on it at the 2012 Bayline Gathering. Over the years, we’ve seen it progress into what is quite possibly one of our favorite S30 Z builds in the states.

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EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 05 — Stock as a Rock

This year’s Japanese Classic Car Show seemed to have more diversity in bone-stock rides than ever. We might be reaching a point where fans of J-tin are truly beginning to appreciate unmolested cars. Along with the other time warps peppering our other … Continue reading

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QotW: What was the last great golden era Japanese car?

The era of the Japanese performance car is one of automotive history’s great epochs. With everything from kei sports cars to supercar killing sedans, there was seemingly nothing the Japanese wouldn’t build. Despite cars like the Nissan GT-R and Lexus LFA, … Continue reading

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ART CORNER: Oh look, someone already digitally modified a Toyota S-FR

Here’s a Toyota S-FR photoshopped with a Zero theme, some better airflow, and gunmetal Wats. It was sent to us by a fan that shall remain nameless because he works for a car company that is not Toyota. Let’s hope the S-FR sees production … Continue reading

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NEWS: Two more retro concepts from Toyota

While the Yotahachi-inspired S-FR Concept  is getting all the attention, Toyota is actually bringing several other concepts to the Tokyo Motor Show at the end of the month, two of them with throwback styling. 

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NEWS: Toyota S-FR Concept is the Sports 800 reborn

Toyota has previewed a new sports car concept ahead of the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show later this month. According to the automaker, the Toyota S-FR “continues the proud heritage of Toyota’s fun-to-drive lightweight sports cars.” Of course, this year was the 50th anniversary … Continue reading

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JCCS 2015: A tribute to legendary figures in Z-Car history

When it debuted in 1969, the S30 Z promptly redefined the sports car, tearing down any remaining barriers, psychological or otherwise, to owning a Japanese car. It became the first piece of Nihon steel you could own with pride in America, which set the Z … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 04 — Workhorses

This year’s JCCS had a higher turnout, truck-wise, than any other in recent memory. Former workhorses that managed to survive — or evade — decades of hard labor showed up en masse on Queen Mary lawn to enjoy their new status as classics. 

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VIDEO: Mitsubishi sends off the Lancer Evolution by showing you how it was made

It’s the end of the line for the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. The company is building 1,000 Final Edition cars for Japan and another 1,600 for North America. After that, they’ll be no more. The Final Edition cars will get several trim and mechanical … Continue reading

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QotW: What’s the best shade of JNC red?

I hate red. It’s too loud, it fades to a powdery pink over time, and it’s often too obvious a choice. In Japan, red was forbidden on passenger cars until Soichiro Honda embarrassed MITI with a scathing editorial in the newspapers, thus opening … Continue reading

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COLLECTIONS: Subaru’s heritage exhibition at its Tokyo headquarters

Subaru recently opened an exhibition of its most iconic cars at its headquarters building in Japan. Loosely translated as “The Finest Cars of the Six Stars,” its name is a reference to the six-star constellation makes up the Subaru logo. If you’re in Tokyo, check … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 03 — Made in the 80s

Have chrome-bumpered bullies been making you feel bad that your urethane-capped car isn’t truly a classic? Tell them to take a chill pill. Now that 1990 is the 25-year cutoff, everything that was built in the Eighties is officially a classic.

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NEWS: Mazda to unveil heritage sports car concept at 2015 Tokyo Motor Show

Mazda is set to unveil a new sports car concept at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show next month. That in itself is already cause to celebrate, but Mazda has gone on to state that this will be a heritage model. Sources from within … Continue reading

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KIDNEY, ANYONE? 14,500-mile Toyota AE86

The march of AE86s coming out of the woodwork continues. Now what could very well be the lowest-mileage Toyota Corolla GT-S left in the world has surfaced in Waxhaw, North Carolina. With just 14,500 miles on the clock, this USDM version of … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 02 — Shakotan Boogaloo

In Japan, shakotan is simply means a lowered car. Many different styles of car can technically qualify as shakotan, but if we’re going to steal a traditional Japanese term, we might as well apply it to traditional Japanese cars. You know it when … Continue reading

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VIDEO: Cruising and drifting Hakone in 1989

Talk about time travel. What were you doing in 1989? In Japan, car enthusiasts were lining up at Hakone Nanamagari Touge like it was a playground slide. A notoriously twisty section of mountain road, it is part of the most famous of Japan’s touge, the birthplaces … Continue reading

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QotW: What JNC would you get if you had a time machine?

Time travel is real, but it only goes to one point on the space-time continuum: Showa Era Japan. For some reason, you have a briefcase full of 1960s-era yen in large bills. You also know of a remote garage in rural Japan … Continue reading

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