Author Archives: Ben Hsu

SevenStock Preview: JNC Mazda 787B Anniversary Shirt

Orange and green. For Mazdafarians, the colors instantly evoke the livery of the Mazda 787B. You know the history — the 700-horse monster was the first and only Japanese car to win outright at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the only … Continue reading

Posted in mazda, motorsports, nostalgic wear | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Wednesday Wall: Mazda Cosmo Sport & Familia Rotary Coupe

Are you enjoying Mazda Week here at JNC? As we approach SevenStock 14 this Saturday, October 29, we wanted to give you this beautiful wallpaper to decorate your desktop. This is probably the single most famous photo ever taken of Mazda‘s … Continue reading

Posted in mazda, Wednesday Wall | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

This Mazda Familia is a Korean Nostalgic Car

Guess what kind of car this is. Go on, guess. If you said Mazda Familia you’d be only sort of right. Mechanically, its a second-generation Familia with a cheap eggcrate grille, quad headlamps, and either a 1.0 or 1.3 liter … Continue reading

Posted in mazda, Rebadged | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

What’s in a Name? Mazda Savanna RX-3 and RX-7

Mazda knew it had something special when it created the RX-3. Back in the early Seventies Mazda was dropping rotaries in everything it could get its hands on. The Familia Rotary (R100) was getting on in age and had been named … Continue reading

Posted in mazda | 5 Comments

Friday Video: No Honor Among Stop-Motion Diecast Thieves

Our friend Luxe37 is back with another brain-churningly awesome action short, creating with stop motion animation what was really going on in our childhood minds as we made vroom-vroom noises across the kitchen floor. Well, actually this is quite a … Continue reading

Posted in minicars, mitsubishi, nissan, toyota | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Flared Toyota Corona T100 is nobody’s pet

The Toyopet name lasted a lot longer in Japan than the US. That’s the badge on the back of this purple people eater, but it ain’t no pet. Looks more like a wild animal.

Posted in toyota | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments

Somebody Buy this 1971 Toyota Corona RT90 Coupe for $1200!

Listen up, Toyotaku. There’s an extremely rare RT90 Toyota Corona coupe for sale in Fresno. The Corona is kind of Toyota’s red-headed stepchild, having continued on with a leaf sprung rear long after the rest of the line from Corolla … Continue reading

Posted in for sale, toyota | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

Wagon Want: KP37V Toyota Publica Van

Show of hands, who would rock this? “This” being a Toyota Publica Van that is the exact reason why we love old Japanese cars. Look, it’s barely larger than an OG Mini but has funky-sleek lines, looks totally bitchin’ on SSR MkIIs no … Continue reading

Posted in toyota, wagons | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Hot Wheels Datsun Bluebird 510 is “Faster Than Ever”

Are you tired of seeing yellow 510s and a billion different Mustang variations at your local Hot Wheels rack? Soon this mean red and black Datsun Bluebird 510 will be showing up at your local toy store in the “Faster Than … Continue reading

Posted in datsun, minicars | Tagged , , , , | 33 Comments

Friday Video (sort of): S40 Crown in Reborn Toyota campaign promising “Fun to Drive, Again”

Toyota has launched a mysterious website called Reborn-Toyota for the Japanese market. The sparse page has nothing but a slideshow depicting actor “Beat” Takeshi Kitano and singer Takuya Kimura dressed as 16th century daimyo warriors looking gangster behind the wheel of a piano black S40 … Continue reading

Posted in cm, toyota | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Kidney, Anyone? Vintage TE27 Toyota Corolla Levin Rally Car

Here’s something we wish we saw more of in the States — a vintage Japanese race car with well-documented motorsports provenance. According to the auction, this TE27 Toyota Corolla Levin is one of three imported to New Zealand in 1973 to … Continue reading

Posted in for sale, toyota | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

Bosozoku Toyota 2000GT answers the question no one asked

The Toyota 2000GT was a little too early for the golden age of the Fuji GC series, and for that we are thankful. But in an alternate universe here’s what a gurachan MF10 might look like.

Posted in minicars, toyota | Tagged , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Behold the bridge of the USS Mazda Cosmo

This is the interior of a third-generation Mazda Cosmo. The first generation 1967-72 Cosmo Sport had space-age styling on the outside. Then Mazda brought back the Cosmo name in 1975 for the Mazda RX-5, and the only thing spacey about … Continue reading

Posted in mazda | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

Friday Video: Japanese Demolition Derby Circa 1976

We have absolutely no idea where this video is from, what is going in it, and why it is happening. All we can say is that it’s from approximately 1976 and shows the senseless wreckage of many rare vintage Japanese … Continue reading

Posted in nissan, toyota, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Rumors of Datsun comeback comes back

It seems like every few months now a new article is published claiming the return of the Datsun brand. It’s the same old story. It would be Nissan’s bargain-price brand, likely for developing markets, and not in the US. The last … Continue reading

Posted in nissan | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Vintage Toyota Land Cruisers are in advertisements everywhere

There’s an adage that says once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence, three times is a trend. If that’s the case, then old Toyota Land Cruisers are about to become fashion icons. Just in the last month alone, we’ve … Continue reading

Posted in cm, toyota | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Kidney, Anyone? 22,000-mile 1989 Toyota MR2 SC

Where have cars like this gone? Back when Jean-Luc Picard was captain of the Enterprise, the only thing that could make Toyota’s lightweight midship runabout even more fun was taking its high-revving 4A-GE — the same one found in the legendary … Continue reading

Posted in for sale, toyota | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

Kidney, Anyone? 1977 Datsun F10 Wagon

Another garage-stored east coast car comes out of hiding, this time in Rhode Island. Ladies and gentlemen, may we present to you this cherry Datsun Cherry. That’s the Japanese market name for the 1977 Datsun F10, the diminutive front-wheel-drive coupe … Continue reading

Posted in nissan, wagons | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Friday Video: Intersection pimps CR-Z, but first-gen Honda Prelude is all class

The French arm of Intersection, the half-automotive half-fashion magazine, recently pimped an unsuspecting Honda CR-Z. Is a gloss beige sport hybrid with orange tires laughably ridiculous, or so avant garde that our uncultured pea-brains can’t comprehend it?

Posted in honda | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Vintage Racing: SCCA GT4 TE27 Toyota Corolla

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Isuzu, here are some more vintage racing snaps. A couple of weeks ago at JCCS, we met a dude from T. Creations Paint Designs of Pasadena. He had collected some photos of this car, the … Continue reading

Posted in motorsports, toyota | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments