Author Archives: Ben Hsu

Tokyo Auto Salon: Subaru Rally Legends

Subaru’s headline at the Auto Salon was the Viziv STI Concept, a potential preview of its next Impreza WRX STI. To support it, they also brought out a pair of rally legends that spawned a generation of fans who bleed blue and … Continue reading

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Happy President’s Day from JNC

What better way to leave it all behind than with the memory of your last ride, a black Nissan President hearse? Get carried away by its grace, class, and dignity, and forget your troubles back on Earth. ‘Cause at the end of … Continue reading

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Happy Year of the Dog from JNC

For all those that celebrate the lunar new year, we at JNC wish you a happy Year of the Dog. Look at those li’l P’ups coming down the ramp, so eager to see you!

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NEWS: Subaru of America celebrates 50 years

February 15 marked the 50th anniversary of Subaru of America. Half a century ago, the company consisted of two guys hawking Fuji Rabbit scooters and trying to drum up interest in the Subaru 360 kei car. Now it sells nearly … Continue reading

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You can now get Honda-branded fashion at Forever 21

Most of us at JNC are what the kids today call “old” and therefore our fashion tastes very rarely converge with those who consider Snapchat a news channel. However, fashion retailer Forever 21 has a new collaboration with Honda that we finally get. 

Posted in nostalgic gear | Tagged | 5 Comments

VIDEO: This stunning Mazda collection goes beyond rotaries

When you hear Mazda collector, typically that means a fleet of rotaries or Miatas. Danny Irvine has one of the most impressive Mazda collections around, precisely because it goes beyond RX-7s and Cosmos. In fact, his stable includes everything from K360 … Continue reading

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Happy Valentine’s Day from JNC

Fall in love with the Nissan Skyline 1800 this Valentine’s Day. This series of commercials from the late 1960s can’t get any more romantic, with a walk along the beach, warming up in front of a fireplace, and attempts to push a … Continue reading

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Tokyo Auto Salon: Daihatsu Charade De Tomaso

If you’re into tiny hatchbacks and Italian sports cars with Ford V8s, in 1980s Japan you could get a car combining both of these worlds. The Daihatsu Charade De Tomaso melded the work of Toyota’s compact car subsidiary and the Argentinian-Italian car builder into one … Continue reading

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NEWS: Toyota teases MkV Supra

Toyota tweeted a dark image today of what is almost certainly the fifth-generation Supra. After not showing up at the Tokyo, Los Angeles or Detroit motor shows like it was rumored to, it looks as if it will make its public … Continue reading

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VIDEO: The origins of Suzuki in anime form

Suzuki has released a new animated video showing the origins The origins of Suzuki go back to the late 1800s, when founder Michio Suzuki was finishing up an carpentry apprenticeship at the age of fourteen. He devised an automatic loom, as … Continue reading

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Tokyo Auto Salon: Honda goes retro, announces plans for used car refurbishment

Continuing the tour of Auto Salon automaker booths, we arrive at Honda. The company has its fingers in almost as many types of auto racing as Toyota, but perhaps more overall thanks to its motorcycle division. It also debuted an unusual retro design to whet the appetite of vintage Honda … Continue reading

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Tokyo Auto Salon: A gorgeous restomod Hakosuka shows off Yokohama’s vintage tire revival

Draped in the company’s trademark colors of black and red, the Yokohama Tire booth at the Tokyo Auto Salon was among the best of the show. A gleaming white Hakosuka Skyline stood proudly at its center, and while the goal was … Continue reading

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VIDEO: Subaru, A Life Story on the Line

A new Subaru commercial follows the multiple generations of a family that owns nothing but Subaru wagons. It starts out with a daughter being born and leaving the hospital in a DL.

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Tokyo Auto Salon: A woman-run tuning house’s ultra-Japanese custom creations

The car world is still, unfortunately, very male dominated, with few woman-run shops anywhere on the planet. At the Tokyo Auto Salon this year, however, one of the most striking booths was that of L-Tide, a woman-led shop located in western Tokyo, and its … Continue reading

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Happy TE27 Day from JNC

Have a mango today, for it is TE27 Day. Take your Corolla Levin or Sprinter Trueno out for a drive to celebrate!

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Tokyo Auto Salon: Nissan, Mitsubishi show cars with American roots

We’ve seen how Japanese tuners glean inspiration from vintage American styles, but it’s interesting when actual automakers do the same. Though Nissan and Mitsubishi are of the same family now, their branding is still very separate. Coincidentally, both showed cars whose … Continue reading

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Tokyo Auto Salon: Banzai Sports SSS-face Sunny Truck

If there is one thing people will seemingly never get tired of it’s putting other Nissan noses on a Sunny Truck. The latest example, shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon recently, was by Banzai Sports and features a Bluebird SSS face on the evergreen … Continue reading

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VIDEO: Toyota’s football game ad had some vintage Aichi steel

The unavoidable championship football game that happened Sunday night isn’t a place you’d normally see some vintage Aichi steel, but if you were watching closely during the Superb Owl commercials, you might have caught some in Toyota’s “One Team” spot. 

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QotW: What’s your favorite JNC underdog story?

Unless you emerged from a coma this morning you know that the underdog Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl last night. It was a fantastic close game down to the final minutes. Of course, JNCs often had their own underdog stories and a … Continue reading

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Tokyo Auto Salon: The championship-winning TOM’s KP47 Starlet was rebuilt around its original engine

Toyotaku know the name TOM’s well. Tachi Oiwa Motorsport is the has been Japan’s premier tuner of Toyota and Lexus cars for decades, serving as something of an unofficial performance arm for the Big T. For the Tokyo Auto Salon this year, they brought out … Continue reading

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