Category Archives: Question of the Week
QotW: What are you asking JNC Santa Claus for this year?
There’s a legend in Japan that a jovial, rotund man in a white suit with a big red dot on it lives at the northernmost tip of Hokkaido. He keeps a list of lonesome car boys and girls and for … Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week
13 Comments
QotW: What mods have you regretted making on your JNC?
We were all young and dumb once. Our tastes change as we mature and we realize that what we once thought was cool is actually something cringe. Turns out a giant wing and underglow don’t really make a car go … Continue reading
QotW: How can Nissan be saved?
There’s been some shocking rumors about Nissan circulating in the past week or so. According to The Financial Times, an anonymous senior official from the company said that Nissan has about “12 or 14 months to survive.” Sales have been … Continue reading
QotW: What indispensable items are in your toolbox?
It’s the holidays and we need some gift ideas. So tell us the things that have made your automotive wrenching easier, saved your butts, or are simply so satisfying to use that you want to spread the joy. They can … Continue reading
QotW: What automotive things are you thankful for this year?
It’s almost Thanksgiving (here in America, at least), a time when we reflect on the things we’re grateful for in life. In an automotive landscape that can often look bleak, what are some of the silver linings and rays of … Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week
14 Comments
QotW: What’s your favorite feat of civil engineering?
Cars wouldn’t be any fun if there were no roads to drive them on. Today, November 18, is Civil Engineering Day in Japan, and it honors those who built the highways, bridges, and tunnels that help us get where we’re … Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week
8 Comments
QotW: Which marque would you never recommend?
Earlier this year we asked which marque you most often recommend. We presume that, as car enthusiasts, friends and family will ask you about what car they should buy. But what about the cars they shouldn’t buy? What are the … Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week
17 Comments
QotW: Which JNC has the best-looking rear?
Today, November 4, is Butt Day in Japan. Now as you pick your brains up out of the gutter you should know that the holiday comes from the popular children’s character Detective Butt, who is a crime solver with a … Continue reading
QotW: What’s your favorite animated JNC?
October 28 is International Animation Day, and what better day could there be to ask about your favorite animated cars? We’ve always had a soft spot for a certain white FC RX-7. Among the legendary Takahashi brothers, the older Ryosuke … Continue reading
QotW: How do you clean old stains from floormats and carpets?
I’ll admit this QotW is purely for selfish reasons, but we are trying to do a deep clean on my AE86 and the carpets have very old stains from an unknown substance. We’ve tried everything — a Bissell carpet cleaner, … Continue reading
QotW: What is your favorite form of motorsports, and what car would you compete in it with?
Today, October 14, is Sports Day in Japan. It was created in 1966 to commemorate the opening of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, an event that set off a massive infrastructure program — bullet trains, expressways, satellite broadcasting — that helped … Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week
9 Comments
QotW: LED headlights, yea or nay?
Today, October 7, is National LED Light Day. One of the easiest mods to update a vintage car is LED lights. They instantly improve night time visibility and vision with technology decades newer than old school sealed beams. However, one … Continue reading
QotW: What complete JNC body shell should be reproduced next?
The AE86-osphere went kind of nuts last week when it was revealed that they can buy a complete unibody Sprinter Trueno shell on Alibaba. The iconic drift sled is a good candidate for this treatment, as the majority of original … Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week
16 Comments
QotW: What’s the most 90s car?
As someone who lived through the 1990s, I feel like the decade is hard to pin down. A lot of what is called 90s is actually an 80s aesthetic, and everywhere you look there are claims that 90s fashion is … Continue reading
QotW: How would you make a Mazda ad?
It’s hard to make a car commercial stand out. Beautiful people, beautiful landscapes, the promise of adventure. Every company portrays their wares as thrilling to drive, even when they’re duller than dry dirt. What happens when you have cars that … Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week
4 Comments
QotW: Have you ever seen Japanese government vehicles outside of Japan?
In the US government vehicles tend to be American. It probably makes politicians look bad if they buy foreign cars, but some slip through. We’ve heard some states have Subaru police cars though we’ve never seen one. The Pentagon used … Continue reading
QotW: Which once-derided Japanese car will make a comeback?
History is filled with flops, but even some of the worst cars get a second chance at glory after some time has passed. There are owners who now love Chrysler K-cars, Pontiac Azteks, Trabants, and other forms of automotive awfulness. … Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week
11 Comments
QotW: What’s your ultimate hashiriya build?
The announcement of the first Tokyo Xtreme Racer title in two decades dropped last week, just a few days before the anniversary of the Rainbow Bridge’s opening on August 26, 1993. Coincidence? Probably, but it does raise the question of … Continue reading
QotW: What’s your favorite captive import?
On August 12, 1981 Suzuki, Isuzu, and General Motors signed a deal to co-develop compact cars. In hindsight we know that this deal didn’t result in any game-changing products. Instead, it produced a lot of rebadged models under the defunct … Continue reading
QotW: What’s your Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi dream build?
If you’ve been following industry news you might have heard that, last week, Honda and Nissan not only strengthened their strategic partnership, but added Mitsubishi. The alliance is for fast-tracking electrification technologies — and to compete against the Toyota, Subaru, … Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week
12 Comments
