Author Archives: Ben Hsu
The Story of Diane Krey, the “Mary” behind the Kenmeri Skyline
The C10 hakosuka GT-R made “Skyline” a legend among Japanese gearheads, but the C110 kenmeri made it a household name. Its popularity was due in no small part to the now re-famous Ken & Mary television commercials that gave the fourth-gen Skyline its nickname and … Continue reading
Friday Video: Mitsubishi Colt Targa in Armor of God
Twenty-five years ago the film Armour of God broke the following things: Hong Kong’s box office records, a tree in Yugoslavia, and, in a stunt gone awry, Jackie Chan‘s skull. Chan was rushed to the hospital to remove a fragment … Continue reading
Animated Hondas from new “Blue Skies for our Children” ad campaign
Honda’s new ad campaign features some animated classics and a Watchmen-like generational mirror. The only question that remains is why, when the son gets to the EG, doesn’t slam it while riding around in baseball hat cocked at a 45 … Continue reading
JNC Project Hako and Kev’s Sexy Aussie Accent
Listen to those sonorous vowels flow from the maw of JNC Aussie editor Kevin San as he talks to Hoon TV about his world-famous Project Hako.
Scion FR-S Drifter and First 86 Program
Toyota made two announcements today regarding the US-badged neo-hachiroku. Firstly, ToMoCo expects sales to be so piping hot that they built a website just to give the enthusiasts a chance to be one of the initial (no pun intended) 86 … Continue reading
Kidney, Anyone? Frame-off Restored 1981 Toyota Hilux Trekker
A die-hard Toyota truck nut (not to be confused with the plural) in Southern Pines, North Carolina has conducted a frame-off restoration of a 1981 Toyota Hilux Trekker. These ur-4Runners started out as a half-built Hilux pickups, which were then … Continue reading
Friday Video: Liberty Walk’s Boso Roots
We first caught up with JDM tuning house Liberty Walk a couple of years ago at SEMA when we saw their catalog for the mini-hako. Sadly, it wasn’t on hand because LB was there to promote their main business of … Continue reading
Kidney, Anyone? Toyota Celica TA64 Group 4 Rally Car
Even if you were a mere fetus in the mid-80s, you must know by know of the legendary Group B rally cars — machines like the Audi Quattro, Ford RS200 and Peugeot 205 Turbo — that kicked off the AWD … Continue reading
Aoshima Gurachan Collection Nissan Fairlady 240ZG
Yesterday we showed you some Aoshima 1/6 models of vintage Japanese racing barrels. On the opposite end of the scale scale Aoshima offers these bosozoku sleds from the 1/64 Gurachan Collection. The series has been out for a while, but … Continue reading
JNC’s Top Stories of 2011
As the year draws to a close, we’d like to wish all JNCers a happy new year. May all your roads be smooth, and your all schools be old. For this year’s nengajou, we chose this photo of the real-life version … Continue reading
Fuji-go and Sakura-go Ride Again
53 years ago, Nissan sent a pair of Datsun 210 sedans to compete in what was known as the “World’s Cruelest Rally.” The 1958 Around-Australia Mobilgas Trial was a tortuous, 19-day circumnavigation around the continent, over mostly unpaved roads. Named … Continue reading
Toyota 86 and Sports 800 reunited for the holidays
It may be AE86 Jr., but when the holidays come the Toyota 86 prefers to spend time with its great grandpa, the Sports 800. A picture perfect family reunion, or is this Toyota telling us, “Hey, we made a front-engined, … Continue reading
Haunted by the Ghosts of Nostalgics Past
For someone who loves driving, I am notoriously bad at recognizing landmarks. It’s embarrassing, really. Ex-girlfriends have raised many an eyebrow, astonished at how I could fail to notice — even though “we’ve passed by a thousand times” — that a new … Continue reading
Merry Christmas from JNC
We at JNC would like to wish you a Merry Christmas. May your travels in an old, airbag-less car be safe and your stockings filled with rare NOS parts. And if you are absolutely sick of hearing “Silent Night” over … Continue reading
2011 Hot Wheels Holiday Hot Rods Datsun 240Z
There’s one more Hot Wheels car we have to mention, and that’s the 2011 Holiday Hot Rods Datsun 240Z. Each year Hot Wheels selects a few castings to don Christmas themed apparel, and this year the Datsun 240Z made the … Continue reading
Friday Video: Osaka JDM’s Wonder Civics
Okay, so you’re unlikely to see an S800 at the Norm Reeves Honda show tomorrow, but what about the E-AT Civic? The third-gen Civic is a wholly under-appreciated chassis among hipster Honda kids, despite the fact that it was largely … Continue reading
MOTORSPORTS: The not-so-famous Yoshimura-tuned Honda S800 racers
Like we said yesterday, the Honda S800 was one of the premiere Japanese race cars of the Sixties. The yellow-and-red 1968 S800 RSC is the most famous, but many more have buzzed down Suzuka’s main straight. Some of Japan’s most … Continue reading


