Author Archives: Ben Hsu
Get an Okayama Circuit license as a reward for paying taxes
The city of Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, is offering one of the best citizenship benefits we’ve ever seen. The hometown of Okayama Circuit has begun offering residents a circuit license to drive on the famed race track as a reward for … Continue reading
VIDEO: Chip Foose draws an FJ40 Land Cruiser
Custom car designer Chip Foose is famous for his amazing takes on American cars from Detroit’s the golden age. He’s not typically drawing Japanese cars, but in a series produced for Hagerty, Foose takes his pen to one of the … Continue reading
QotW: What JNC would you take for a race around the world?
Today, February 8, is the birthday of Jules Verne, one of the first science fiction authors, born in 1828. One of his most famous works is Around the World in Eighty Days, in which a Londoner takes a bet of £20,000 … Continue reading
Infiniti Red Sport twin-turbo V6 confirmed for Nissan Z Proto
What has long been suspected has now been confirmed. The Nissan Z Proto has the VR30DDTT under the hood. Nissan hasn’t popped the hood of the Z concept for press, but a fan was able to snap a few shots … Continue reading
Toyota might build a Century-esque ultra-luxury SUV
According to a new report out of Japan, Toyota is planning to launch an ultra-luxury vehicle on par with the Century, except it will be an SUV. Spurred by a global shift from sedans to crossovers and sport utility vehicles, … Continue reading
Happy Daruma Celica Day from JNC
Today is February 2, or 2/2, as in TA22. As it happens, it’s a pretty good year to Celica-brate the Daruma. We just marked the 50th anniversary of the Celica a couple of months ago, and learned last week that … Continue reading
The next Nissan Pathfinder could have retro design cues
A new Nissan Pathfinder will be revealed later this week, and we’re going to make a prediction. It will have retro design cues taken from the first-generation. It’s not a complete shot in the dark, but it’s close. In this … Continue reading
QotW: What should Toyota do with the Celica name?
Last week we learned that Toyota has filed for a trademark for the Celica name. As readers have pointed out, the most likely reason is that they just want to hang onto the name to prevent others from using it. … Continue reading
VIDEO: Here’s a Nissan 240SX that doesn’t go sideways
This should be a fun one. You utter the words “Nissan 240SX” to anyone even marginally knowledgeable about cars today, and the first thing they’ll think is “drift missile.” But when the S14 debuted in 1995, that wasn’t even remotely … Continue reading
The Toyopet SA was Toyota’s first post-war passenger car
Introduced in 1947, the Toyopet SA was Toyota’s first all-new post-war passenger car design. It was advanced for a Japanese car of its time, but due to limitations on automobile production and Japan’s market conditions at the time, only 215 … Continue reading
Toyota has filed for a trademark of the Celica name
Toyota has filed for a ownership of the name “Celica” with the US Patent and Trademark Office. While this might indicate nothing more than a desire to hold on to the rights to that name, there’s been some speculation that … Continue reading
QotW: What should Toyota do with the Land Cruiser?
Even though true off-road vehicles are seeing a massive surge in popularity right now, Toyota has opted to axe the Land Cruiser, its oldest continuous nameplate, in the US after this year. It almost defies logic, and while it can … Continue reading
TAS2021: HKS’s new Advanced Heritage engine brings supercar tech to the RB26
Renowned tuning house HKS has unveiled a new complete engine solution to bring your 90s-era Nissan straight-six into the modern age. Called the Advanced Heritage concept, it takes Nissan’s tried-and-true RB26 and adds a bunch of modern technologies to improve … Continue reading
This is the most detailed Seibu Keisatsu DR30 Skyline model ever released
The DR30 Skyline from the television series Seibu Keisatsu is the latest car to undergo transformation into a super-detailed 1:8-scale subscription model. When all is said and done, it’ll take almost two years and ¥200,000 (about $1,930) to complete the … Continue reading
What will become of the Toyota Land Cruiser?
We have a bit of left over news from 2020 that we just couldn’t bring ourselves to write about in an already dark year. Toyota will discontinue the US market Land Cruiser would after 2021. It’s something that has been … Continue reading
QotW: What makes a good car company heritage collection?
On January 18, 2009 General Motors, auctioned off about 200 cars from its heritage collection, desperate for cash during the throes of the global financial crisis. Enthusiasts expressed dismay, but many of the cars were SEMA builds or movie cars … Continue reading
TAS2021: Here come Daihatsu’s Tokyo Auto Salon cars
Daihatsu has officially taken the wraps off their 2021 Tokyo Auto Salon builds. We saw mock-ups of them last month, but now videos of the finished cars can be seen in motion, complete with jaunty music. This is probably the … Continue reading
The GT-R50 Test Car looks like it came straight out of Star Wars
We will admit that the first thing to catch our eyes in these photos of the GT-R50 Test Car that’s now on display at Nissan’s Ginza showroom is the cases full of scale GT-R models. But, after looking at those … Continue reading
