Author Archives: Ben Hsu
Snowler Patrol
In our recent article on Brian Baker’s 1964 Honda T500F, we gushed ecstatic over the Snowler option, a factory Honda accessory that could transform your innocent little trucklet into a half-track with skis on the front wheels, perfect for tagging … Continue reading
Posted in honda, kei, trucks
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Get Your Wangan On
Akio Asakura was just another high school senior who couldn’t graduate due to one too many a late night cruising in his Z31 300ZX 2+2. That is, until one fateful day when he stumbled upon a lightly scuffed 240Z with … Continue reading
Posted in datsun, manga, nissan
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PROFILES: 1964 Honda T500F
Forget the Ridgeline, here’s Honda’s first pickup! [LINK]
Posted in honda, kei, profiles
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A Wonder from Down Under
Our friend toyotageek has the most comprehensive collection of Toyotabilia we’ve ever seen, and it’s all on his blog. We’ve been so busy that we let our visits to his site lapse (sorry!) but recently we were pleasantly surprised and … Continue reading
Posted in japan, racing, rally, toyota
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All Your Childhood Memory Are Belong To Us
We were going to keep our mouths shut, seeing as how the original Transformers cartoon debuted in 1984 and isn’t quite old enough yet, but we simply could not remain silent on the issue any longer. Something had to be … Continue reading
Posted in Video Games
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He's a Demon on Wheels!
Okay, at first we weren’t going to mention this, seeing as how the Duper Wachowski Bros. turned one of the best films of all time, The Matrix, into one of the most inexplicable franchises of all time. But what the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Day of the Zed
And now for something completely different: Zedfest 2007 was last Sunday at the famous Silverstone Circuit in Ol’ Blighty, and 167 Datsuns and Nissans took to the track in a parade lap that set a record for most Japanese cars … Continue reading
Posted in datsun, nissan
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100 Years of Daihatsu
Although Daihatsu had only a five-year stint on American shores, the company has been around for a whole Benjamin in Japan. The dapper gent in the bowler you see on the right is Iyokuma Kurokawa, the first president of Hatsudoki … Continue reading
Rotary Coterie
On this day in 1967, sales began for the Mazda Cosmo Sport, aka Planet Earth’s first mass-produced rotary engine. Okay, so mass production is a relative term, with 1,519 hand built cars rolling out Hiroshima. Nevertheless the car did put … Continue reading
Posted in mazda
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EVENTS: TORC All Toyotafest
Here it is, the last article from the recent trio of So-Cal shows. We have a small amount of stuff coming from Japan soon, so stay tuned!
EVENTS: Z Car West Coast Nationals
You want Z’s? Huh, do ya? Here’s some.
Posted in datsun, events, nissan
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EVENTS: Solvang Roadster Meet
The first article from our recent journey to the west has been posted.
Posted in datsun, events, nissan
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Lost Kannons
Gather ’round the campfire kids, it’s time to tell the legend of the lost Crowns. About 10 years ago, Shige Suganuma of Mooneyes was given a set of mysterious pictures taken at a junkyard in Northern California, one that served … Continue reading
Posted in toyota
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B. Diddy's Civic Up for Grabs
The Honda Civic of legendary pinstriper, cartoonist and father of the Rat Fink, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, has come out of hiding and is for sale on eBay. Though Roth was a hugely influential figure in the Kustom hot rod … Continue reading
Posted in for sale, honda
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JNC Returns East, City of LA Mourns
Well, not really, but the leaving part is true. With the TORC All Toyotafest said and done, it’s time for us to haul ourselves back to the east coast, where the summers are humid and the nostalgics are sparse. We’ll … Continue reading
Posted in jnc
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Oh, the Humobility!
To commemorate it’s 100th anniversary, Daihatsu has opened a museum (it’s the reverse-D-looking thing on the left)at its headquarters in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. Called Humobility World, the four-story hall contains two floors devoted to milestone models such as the 1963 … Continue reading
Posted in japan, kei, museum
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Cruisin' in a PT Cruiser? No, Rollin' in a 'Rolla!
For our first few days in So-Cal, we found ourselves, lamentably, in a PT Cruiser. A rental, obviously, but not the most ideal mule for vast concrete expanses beginning with “The,” as in “The 405” or “The 110.” It had … Continue reading
Posted in rental cars
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Straight Outta Copenhagen
Dang, did we take a wrong turn at Amesterdam? We are completely smitten by the quaintness of the Danish town of Solvang, site of the annual Datsun Roadster Meet. We wish there was some time to kick back with a … Continue reading
Posted in datsun, nissan
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