Author Archives: Ben Hsu
Event Horizon for the Weekend of Apr 30, 2010
If you know of or would like to publicize an event, send us a tip at the feedback address at the bottom of this page. This week: Thursday, April 29 / Santa Clara, CA: South Bay Old School Classic Import Meet … Continue reading
Nissan C110 Skyline Design Sketches
For those in love with the lines of the kenmeri Skyline, these design sketches from Car Styling gives us a peek into what could have been. Imagine the alternate universe in which one of these designs was chosen for the … Continue reading
Friday Video: Senseless Skyline Van and Mazda Luce Destruction
In this brief but heart-wrenching video, we see the tragic demise of two JNCer favorites, a VC110 Skyline Van — a kenmeri wagon in English — and a zenki Mazda Luce/RX-4/929 whose bumpers some of us would eat a live … Continue reading
Nissan Says Hey, We're Doing BRE Livery Too!
Well, well, well. It seems that Nissan is not about to let Mazda usurp the iconic BRE livery after all. Just days after the announcement of a factory-backed BRE Mazda MX-5, Nissan says they will revive the graphics on a … Continue reading
The Straight Sixes: Hakosuka, Kenmeri, Fairlady Z
Apita is a supermarket chain in Japan, and a good a place as any to meet up for a cruise. [Minkara]
Autoweek’s 40th Anniversary of the Nissan Z: In conjunction with the release of the 40th Anniversary Nissan 370Z, Autoweek is devoting much of its upcoming bi-weekly magazine to the Z-car. [Autoweek]
Friday Video: Bosozoku Crackdown!
Why are we so fascinated with the bosozoku lifestyle? Is it the outrageous rides, the demented hoonage, or the don’t-give-a-crap attitude? Here’s someone who is not fascinated: the police. In this footage from 1993, the Japanese constabulary put up an … Continue reading
Character, I Has It: MX36 Toyota Cressida Wagon
There really isn’t much to say about this MX36 Cressida, except that it is awesome. Slammed on Enkei 92s and rockin’ the original faux wood paneling, it’s loaded with character. [Kyusha Kai]
Kidney, Anyone? Rocky Auto RB20DET C130 Nissan Laurel
We like pig butts and we cannot lie. Rocky Auto has long been the purveyors of nostalgic Nissans prepped for the Modern Age. And although the focus of their bionic creations are typically S30 Zs or hakosuka with RB26 motors in … Continue reading
Gasp, Foreign Street Rod! Anyone who’s been to Toyotafest or JCCS has seen the Mooneyes Toyopet Crown V8, but once upon a time it was a cover car for Custom Rodder magazine. However, the entire article is spent defending the very … Continue reading
Wednesday Wall(s): Vintage Hondas by BOW
Kazuhiro Ikeda is one of Japan’s most well-known automotive artists. Going by his pen name BOW, he has drawn for Car, Car Graphic, Cycle World, and many others. Not only do his drawings of vintage machines look fanciful and fantastic, they … Continue reading
I Wanna Glide Down Over Mulholland
In the 80s, Los Angeles’ Mulholland Drive was the site of some epic street racing. As these videos on Jalopnik show, its winding canyon path was the perfect setting for cat-mouse chases. Datsun 510s and S30 Zs battling it out … Continue reading
The Mazda Family Tree, 1960-Present
In honor of Mazda’s 90th Anniversary, here’s the complete genealogy of every Mazda from 1960 to present day. Three-wheeled pickups from the early days are absent, but those were commercial vehicles. This family tree contains all the passenger cars, stretching … Continue reading
Friday Video: Freeway Speedway
It’s kind of hard to believe we’ve gone this long without any mention of the Freeway Speedway series. The six films followed a young driver making his way in the illegal Shutoku battle scene of the 80s and 90s. At … Continue reading
EVENTS: Nos2Days 2010
We’re getting all sorts of goodies from Nippon this week. Our Japanese operative, known only as “Turbo,” snapped these photos last weekend at Nos2Days, the two-day car show put on by Japan’s OG classic car mag, Nostalgic Hero. Onto the … Continue reading
Kidney, Anyone? 1971 Honda 1300 Coupe 9
You know that work of art we posted a couple of weeks ago? Here’s what it looks like on the outside. The Honda 1300 Coupe 9 was Old Soichiro’s front-wheeled, air-cooled, quad-carbed answer to the Toyota Corona and Nissan Bluebird, … Continue reading
Counterfeit JNC Stickers Now Available!
Look what April Fools Santa Claus brought us yesterday. Could there be a more appropriate gift for the occasion? An operative in Indonesia managed to track down some counterfeit JNC stickers for us. The JNC staff is already calling dibs … Continue reading