Category Archives: Uncategorized
Bubble Era Toyota classics meet their successors
The British sure know how to appreciate the classics. In fact, Toyota UK is quietly amassing a proper heritage collection of the company’s best and brightest. Back in April they found what they describe as “quite possibly the best original MR2 in existence” in the … Continue reading
QotW: What JNC would you live in?
One day you’re sitting on the most expensive real estate in the world, the next day the Asset Price Bubble pops. You’ve been forced out of your swanky Aoyama penthouse apartment and the banks have repo’ed your collection of late-80s Wangan monsters. What JNC would you live … Continue reading
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21 Comments
19th Annual All-Toyotafest, a preview
JNC on the way to the 19th annual All-Toyotafest, stopping for an early morning breakfast of champions. Supra-size me!
NEWS: Toyota USA moving headquarters to Texas
Toyota USA might be moving its US headquarters to Texas, unconfirmed reports say. UPDATE: It was confirmed this morning by Toyota in an official press release. The move would put Toyota USA’s executives closer to its manufacturing hubs in San Antonio, … Continue reading
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31 Comments
T-minus one week: Toyotafest!
Just a reminder that at this time next week, you should be at Queen Mary Park for the biggest Toyotafest yet. This year registration filled up in a matter of days, something that’s never happened before, so you know it’s … Continue reading
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8 Comments
QotW: Which JNC had the greatest interior?
Interiors. They just don’t make ’em like they used to. Do you want to sit in the infinite blackness of an East German coal mine or the tan aftermath of a khaki explosion at the Dockers factory? Back in the … Continue reading
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28 Comments
KIDNEY, ANYONE? Prototype Honda CB750 for $148,000
The Honda CB750 was earth-shattering when it debuted in 1969 that a new word had to be coined to describe it. And lo, the superbike was born. Soichiro Honda rocked the world with his large-displacement, transverse-mounted SOHC four-cylinder, unheard of in … Continue reading
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NEWS: Toyota celebrates 35 years of TRD, revives 1980s Super Off Road video game
One a giant indoor dirt course at the Chicago Auto Show today Toyota Racing Development celebrated 35 years in the US by launching a new lineup of TRD Pro trucks. Though Toyota’s in-house tuning skunkworks has been responsible for everything … Continue reading
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8 Comments
QotW: What’s the greatest JNC rivalry?
Now that the SuperBowl is over, it might be time to ask what was the greatest ever contest of wills involving at least one classic Japanese marque. There have been many throughout the ages. Datsun vs Alfa Romeo in SCCA … Continue reading
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9 Comments
JNC THEATER: Boso Panic – The Big Crash
1976’s Boso Panic: The Big Crash was your typical action movie from the era. All the gritty ingredients were there: bank robber anti-heroes, a femme fatale, gunfights, and loads upon loads of car chases. What sets it apart is the fact that it … Continue reading
Posted in JNC Theater, Uncategorized
Tagged Boso Panic, crown, hilux, JNC Theater, toyota
15 Comments
PROFILES: Touring Osaka in a Seibu Keisatsu Skyline
Driving through Japan in a red-on-black DR30 Skyline festooned with emergency lights is akin to prowling rural Georgia in an orange ’69 Dodge Charger. Or Miami in a white Testarossa. Or Los Angeles in a black ’82 Firebird with a … Continue reading
Posted in nissan, profiles, Uncategorized, Video Games
Tagged 117, co10t, corona mark II, cosmo, crown, daihatsu, Hiroyuki Narazaki, isuzu, mazda, nissan, osaka, president, r30, r31, rx-5, Ryu Asada, seibu keisatsu, skyline, toyota, x20
19 Comments
QotW: Which car had the most entertaining celebrity spokesperson?
Japanese automakers have been using celebrities to pitch their cars for decades, forcing them to declare nonsensical phrases, speak Japanese, kiss the product, or barely say anything at all. None of it was ever meant to be seen by western … Continue reading
EVENTS: 2013 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 03 — Mad Tuning Styles
The Japanese Classic Car Show showcases a wide variety of makes and models, but perhaps even more diversity can be found in the subject of this week’s QotW — the multitude of tuning styles. Not only are there differing genres … Continue reading
Posted in events, honda, mazda, nissan, toyota, Uncategorized
Tagged 240z, 411, 510, a20, a60, accord, ae86, bosozoku, celica, corolla, corona, corona mark II, cressida, daruma, datsun, e70, hachiroku, hilux, honda, japanese classic car show, jccs, mazda, nisei, rotary, rx-3, s30, sprinter, supra, t40, te27, toyota, trueno, wagons, x30, x70
13 Comments
JCCS PREVIEW: JDM Legends & JNC!
Here’s some teaser shots of a car you’ll find at our booth if you come to the JCCS this Saturday. It’s being assembled by our friends at JDM Legends right now. Any guesses?
JNC Forum is live again.
Over the weekend the JNC forum experienced a catastrophic database crash equivalent to a con-rod through the block. For four days we worked with our webhost to trouble shoot the problem. At one point we thought we had lost … Continue reading
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FUTURE NOSTALGIC: 2014 Toyota Sienna SE
Yes, we put a tsurikawa on a minivan. But not just any minivan. We’re talkin’ bout the baddest baby boomer bus on the block — the Toyota Sienna SE. Call us crazy, but we think this is one of the … Continue reading
EVENTS: 2013 Nissan Jam, Part 01 — SoCal Standards
It may surprise you to learn that SoCal, epicenter of car culture that it is, lacks a dedicated all-Nissan show. Oh sure, there’s plenty of club shindigs, marque-specific events, and informal meets, but nothing on the order of a Toyotafest … Continue reading
QotW: What year was the peak of Japanese car design?
The Japanese auto industry has undergone many design eras — the jet setting Sixties, the techno-boxy Eighties, the lozenge Nineties. But like an old curmudgeon you know there’s a single year in your minds after which everything went downhill. What … Continue reading
QotW: Which nostalgic car makes the perfect daily driver?
Some of us are blessed with enough parking to house multiple cars. Others must choose only one to fulfill all their practical, reliable and/or economical reqs while maintaining a veneer of old school Japan cool. Therefore we must ask: Which … Continue reading
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50 Comments
Friday Video: Celica Panic!
After seeing a prototype of Jun Imai’s latest design in the flesh at JCCS last weekend, we’ve had nothing but Celica on the brain all week here at JNC.
