Category Archives: Video
VIDEO: Gems from the Honda Collection Hall in action
Do you have several hours to waste? If not, don’t click any further. Since the beginning of the year, Honda has been uploading videos of cars from the Honda Collection Hall at Twin Ring Motegi and taking them for spirited spins … Continue reading
VIDEO: One man’s obsession with his Dekotora
Takuya Sosogi’s work is ostensibly the shipping of fresh fruit and vegetables. In reality, though, it’s modifying his Mitsubishi Fuso dekotora. Like many dekotora drivers, he became obsessed with “decoration trucks” after watching the 1975 film Torakku Yarō and hasn’t looked back.
VIDEO: Toyota Corolla 50th Anniversary
Last week Toyota threw a party in New York celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Corolla. This is a copy of the video that was playing on loop on TVs during the event. KE10, TE37, TE51, AL10, AE86, and a bunch of … Continue reading
VIDEO: Why Honda people love the Civic
The Honda Civic is adored by Honda lovers of all ages, especially the 1988-2000 EF, EG and EK generations. They’re loved not in the way Toyota guys idolize the AE86, but rather in the way that Mini guys adore the … Continue reading
VIDEO: Why you should buy a Datsun 510
“Experts across the world concluded it had to be a copy of the BMW. It wasn’t… As long as it could be dismissed as a copy, the global car industry didn’t have to face the real threat the Datsun 1600 represented,” … Continue reading
VIDEO: Restoration of the first US-market Honda begins
Last year we showed you one of the most significant Honda automobiles in the world. Many spectators at JCCS walked right by the decrepit Honda N600, not realizing that it was serial number N600-1000001. That makes it the first Honda automobile built … Continue reading
VIDEO: James May goes to Japan
In the latest episode of James May’s Cars of the People, the former Top Gear host travels to Japan and drives some JNCs. Specifically, he gets behind the wheel of a Mazda Familia (aka 323) hatchback in its hometown of Hiroshima, … Continue reading
VIDEO: Jay Leno drives the Fugu Z
Watch two car cultures collide as Jay Leno and Sung Kang (along with his “legit Asian” buddies) discuss the award-winning Fugu Z. The car may not be everyone’s cup of matcha — one of the builders has an interesting definition of … Continue reading
VIDEO: The most high-tech Japanese sports car of the 90s
What was the most high-tech Japanese sports car of the 90s? Quite possibly the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4, with its all-wheel-drive, twin-turbos and active aero. Today they seem to be taking a back seat to cars like the NSX, RX-7 and Supra … Continue reading
VIDEO: A nation of car enthusiasts helps restore a tsunami-destroyed 1971 Corolla
Five years ago, waves from the devastating tsunami that struck Japan’s eastern coast swept Masayuki Watanabe’s 1971 Toyota Corolla from its garage. Today, he got that car back.
VIDEO: Check out this Honda Head’s massive collection
In a video titled Honda Kokoro (Honda Heart), a collector welcomes viewers into his incredible collection of Honda memorabilia. If the wall of valve covers didn’t clue you in already, it is a collection of epic proportions, from bikes to Hot Wheels, generators to Honda-branded … Continue reading
VIDEO: A key part of Japanese industry now lost
Here’s a video, perhaps in the same grade-school documentary series as the one about Japanese industry in the 1970s. It has no cars, but you can still learn a thing or two. In particular, there’s a scene showing a family-owned sewing business (6:19 in the video … Continue reading
VIDEO: Watch loads of JNC goodness in this documentary about Japan in the 1970s
The video you’re about to watch is what American schoolchildren were taught about Japan in the 1970s. Throughout it all, there are brilliant scenes of Showa Era Japanese streets and the cars that populate them.
VIDEO: Watch the R32 Skyline GT-R lap the Nürburgring
Nowadays, for any performance car worth their salt, a Nürburgring lap is a spec sheet staple, right there under horsepower, torque, and 0-60 time. But the Nissan Skyline GT-R was doing it before it was cool. Way before. Back in 1989, … Continue reading
VIDEO: Drag racing outside Makuhari Messe circa 1992
Makuahri Messe is the big convention center in Chiba that hosts events the Tokyo Auto Salon and (before its move to Big Sight) the Tokyo Motor Show. If Tokyo city is at the 11 o’clock position of Tokyo Bay, then Makuhari is at … Continue reading
VIDEO: Drifting Hakone in 1992
Imagine a winding touge packed with Japanese drift machines — Silvias, RX-7s, Supras, Fairlady Zs and AE86s. So. Many. AE86s. Last year we showed a video proving that underground drifting was already reaching fever pitch by the late 80s. By 1992, Hakone Pass — one of … Continue reading
VIDEO: 40th Anniversary of TRD
Founded in 1976, Toyota Racing Development is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. At the Tokyo Auto Salon a video played on loop, showing highlights of the last four decades. From Starlets to AE86s to Celicas to Supras, this is … Continue reading
VIDEO: Rocky Auto’s 2JZ-powered Toyota 2000GT
One of the most talked about cars from the Tokyo Auto Salon was the Rocky 3000GT, a scratch-built replica of the iconic Toyota 2000GT, but powered by a 3.0-liter 2JZ inline-six. It was the creation of Okazaki-based tuner Rocky Auto, whose mad builds … Continue reading
VIDEO: Jay Leno drives a Hakotora
When the Japanese builders at 09 Racing debuted their Hakotora at the 2013 Tokyo Auto Salon, it was easily one of the most talked-about cars at the show. The name comes from the blending of hakosuka and sanitora, the Japanese nicknames for the C10-generation Skyline … Continue reading