Author Archives: Kevin San
Honda Motocompo
In 1981, one of the better products in the Honda range was the City. Bigger and wider than a traditional kei-car, it was also more powerful and substantial, with a 1.3L 63ps motor and a curb weight of 675kg. It … Continue reading
Posted in honda
13 Comments
Tokyo Daze: JDM (Jedi) Parking
Since there’s quite a bit of interest here on Japanese culture, we’d add a regular segment for little snippets of JDM life. The first cab off the rank is….JDM PARKING! Once thing you notice when you travel around Japanese cities … Continue reading
Posted in Tokyo Daze
5 Comments
JDM Classic Values: 1997 vs 2007
A few days ago, we posted up a link to JDM old-car dealer Harfee’s (here) and one of our readers expressed a little surprise at the prices that some classics fetch in Japan. Of course, nobody would be surprised that … Continue reading
Posted in Miscellaneous
9 Comments
Enkei Reissues Vintage Wheels (huzzah!)
In conjunction with Mooneyes Japan, Enkei has re-released five of its 70s-era wheels: the Dish, the Baja I & II, the Mojave and the 5-Spoke (pictured above). More details here. Prices start at about Y29,000ea (about A$300ea) and they come … Continue reading
Posted in Miscellaneous
3 Comments
Mazda Carol Hot Rod!
In last week’s Tokyo Autosalon report. we made mention of a supercool Mazda Carol-based hot rod. Well, we have some more details on it now, it was built by students at the…*deep breath*…Shizuoka Professional College of Automobile Technology. Especially notable … Continue reading
Posted in mazda
2 Comments
Auto Classica: Oldschool Nissan Meets High End Luxe
A few weeks ago we profiled Tokyo Hakosuka tuner Victory50. But Japan has quite a few Hakosuka/Old Nissan tuners as you would expect, and a particularly notable one is Auto Classica. Located in Yokohama, Auto Classica is decked out like … Continue reading
Posted in Miscellaneous
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Cool JDM Thing of The Week: I Rev…therefore I am
One of the cool things we saw in Japan during Autosalon is the I Rev Car Series. It’s a box set, which includes a 1/24th scale car model kit, a DVD featuring the car, a booklet reproducing some original brochure … Continue reading
Posted in Nuts and Bolts
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FlexAuto: The Mother Lode
A couple of days ago we posted a link to classic JDM dealer Harfees’s. But today, we seem to have hit the jackpot with FlexAuto, which has many, many more interesting used cars in stock. Check out their stock, you … Continue reading
Posted in Businesses
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Tomytec: little classics
The fact that Tomy make little toy cars should come as no great surprise to any GrandJDM reader. But did you know that it also has a special line of classic toy cars? Well…you do now! It’s called TOMYTEC. They … Continue reading
Posted in Businesses
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Harfees!
If you want to buy a race-rep Hakosuka, a GT-R replica Kenmeri or a super-tough 240Z with ZG nose and flares, then you got to Rocky Auto or Red Megaphone. But what if you wanted something low and slow, like a slammed … Continue reading
Posted in Businesses
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Tokyo Autosalon ‘08: GrandJDM reports…
Saturday: it was a very, very cold and drizzly day today (so no carpark pics, sorry) but it was a great day at TAS08. Maybe the lousy weather kept the crowds away, but it was considerably less crowded than last … Continue reading
Posted in events, Japan Stuff
9 Comments
Normal Transmission Will Re-Commence in a Few Days
Apologies in advance for a bit of a quiet period on GrandJDM over the next couple of days, be we’ll be incommunicado for a short while because we’ll be travelling to JDM-Land for the Tokyo Autosalon. Of course we’ll take … Continue reading
Posted in Miscellaneous
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Boso Bikes: Violent Running Tribe!
Lately we’ve been featuring a lot of lowdown/garuchan cars, and why not? They’re cool and old school. But there is another side of the whole bosozoku scene, and that’s the bikes.
Posted in Lowdown/Garuchan
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Chevy RX-7….or Mazda Corvette….or whatever
So, are you one of the people who were pissed off that GM never produced the rotary-engined Corvette? Wanna take matters into your own hands? Wanna show GM how it’s done? If so, then we have a solution for you!
Posted in mazda
4 Comments
More Seibu Keisatsu!
Just for all you Seibu Keisatsu fans out there, here’s a follow-up to our earlier articles (here and here) on everyone’s favourite 70s Japanese TV cop show. We’ve found some older pics of the crazy modified cars that they used … Continue reading
Posted in Japan Stuff
6 Comments
GT-R Pants!! They’re GT-R…..PANTS!
Ages ago we shone a light onto a JDM clothing label which had a lot of hot rod influences, mixed in with cool old school JDM car touches. It was Samurai Motor Club. But checking their website today, we find … Continue reading
Posted in Businesses, Japan Stuff
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When the sharknoses come out to play…..bring earplugs
Yesterday we did a piece on a rarely-seen Hakosuka sharknose, and while we’re on the subject of these of lowdown/garuchan/yankee/bosozoku sharknosed cars, let’s look into the culture a little bit further. When we see these cars parked up, it’s easy … Continue reading
Posted in Lowdown/Garuchan, Video
8 Comments
Hako-Sharknose. Kill it with fire?
A sharknose conversion is a pretty commonplace staple of the JDM lowdown/bosozoku/yanki/garuchan scene, and in general they are an homage to the outlandish styles of the Silhouette racing cars of the late 70s and early 80s. Hence sharknoses are usually inflicted … Continue reading
Posted in Lowdown/Garuchan, nissan
9 Comments
0-300km/h: JDM Tuner wars of the 90s
JDM tuners are nothing if not enthusiastically competitive, and today, that manifests itself in the regular Super Lap time trials at Tsukuba raceway. It’s where all of the major tuning houses pit RX7s, Lancer Evolutions, Imprezas and Skyline GT-Rs against … Continue reading
Posted in Miscellaneous
2 Comments
Hakosuka: rea-dee…..set-tto…..gooooooooo!
Ok. So it’s blurry. It’s short. It’s on a low res camera phone. But the sound’s good and it’s a street drag race between two Hakosukas from back in the day. And you don’t see that every day.
