The annual Nostalgic 2 Days show in Yokohama is a fantastic weekend of cars organized by Nostalgic Hero magazine. It’s as if the pages spring to life, with many of its featured cars gathered in one spot. Though it does tend to be a little Nissan-heavy, it does give attendees the opportunity to see a wide variety of models, from Cherrys to Skyline GT-Rs. We start, however, with perhaps the most iconic name of them all, the Z.
Tuning house Star Road of course brought out a trio of their famous shop cars, both in milder tune and in the urethane widebody kit of their own design. We have gone over both in depth before, and while I personally found the widebody a bit too extreme before, it grows on me more each time I see it.
Of course, Star Road also took the opportunity to display their gorgeous Glow Star rims, and exclusive design for the house but made by Work Wheels. Star Road has also added their own brakes to the line of aftermarket parts on offer. The kit consists of forged 4-pot calipers and 11.26-inch 2-piece rotors, with fitment for the S30 Z, Hakosuka, and Kenmeri.
At the RS-Watanabe booth, the star car was the Rocket Bunny Fairlady Z. Naturally, it was wearing the TRA Kyoto Pandem widebody kit, made famous stateside by Sung Kang’s Fugu Z. While the iconic Watanabe 8-spoke is still the company’ hero wheel, they took the opportunity to show off some of their lesser known offerings as well.
Such barrels included the revival of the Toyota Works wheel, later popularized by TOM’s and which Ricky covered in depth when it debuted in 2015, as well as a street version of the 4-spoke design used on the Z when it raced at Le Mans in 1976.
Perhaps the coolest wheel at the booth, however, was something you can’t even put on your car. It’s a 1:6-scale replica of the famed 8-spoke in a variety of sizes and finishes mimicking the real thing. They cost ¥12,000 each (US$108) and are about as big as the palm of your hand.
OS Giken had a booth, and as you might expect, the big draw was the TC24-B1Z motor. Costing somewhere in the mid-5-digit range, the custom twin-cam head for Nissan’s L-series straight six with gear-driven cams is said to produce a naturally aspirated 400-plus horsepower.
Not only is it mechanically stunning, it’s aesthetically beautiful as well, whether in a car, on and engine stand, or taken down to its individual pieces.
At the Barramundi Design booth was another Pandem-kitted Z. It looked like there was a new wheel design but as it turns out the 5-spokes were a custom set. The company builds complete vehicles as well, but the ethos is more towards the modern-rocket-in-vintage-car-sheetmetal side of the spectrum, and their wheels fit that hard core, utilitarian vibe.
Mizukami Auto is a restoration shop in Saitama Prefecture. The company has been showing at Nos2Days since 2007 and is a pretty extensive operation that even includes an in-house jigs and paint booths. A beautifully restored G-nose Z stood as example of their work.
Osaka-based Tea Valley is one of many classic car restoration and sales shops often seen in the pages of Nostalgic Hero. While they specialize in just two models, the S30 Z and Hakosuka Skyline, if you venture to their shop in Nishinari Ward, you’ll find everything from AE86s to R35s for sale.
At the Custom Car display, a Z31 2+2 with molded flares lurked between a resto-modded S30 and a Z32 that was more stereo than car.
Advan reprised their display from the Tokyo Auto Salon, albeit on a smaller scale. The astounding Z432-R made a comeback, showing off their revived HF Type D model tires, along with an classic A3A wheel.
Speed Forme is another Osaka-based company that makes aero parts for the S30 Z. As shown on the display car at their booth, these include the carbon fiber front lip, fender flares, and a side skirts.
Saitama-based RS Start is another shop specializing in Skylines and Zs. Showing a beautifully restored Fairlady Z432 and a resto-modded Hakosuka, their forte is in making some of the harder-to-spot items, such as weatherstripping, rubber taillight gaskets, pedal pads and wheel hubs.
Last but not least, the show isn’t all cars. At least one booth was selling shop manuals for cars like the C10 Skyline and the 1969 S30 Z — just in case seeing the variety of Zs got you in the mood to start tearing into your own.
To be continued…
Stay tuned for the next installment of our Nos2Days coverage. In the meantime, in case you missed it, check out coverage from Nos2Days 2016 (Parts 01, 02, 03, and 04), 2015 (Parts 01, 02 and 03), 2014 (Parts 01, 02, 03, 04) and 2013 (Parts 01, 02,03).
Those Barramundi Design 4 spoke wheels look quite tasty.
As it turns out, those 4-spokes are a custom one-off set. I’ve updated the article.
A sincere question…
Are unmodified cars not worth more in Japan?
I wonder about this as all I see here are photos of Z cars, Skylines, etc… always heavily modified. Are there no collectors in Japan that value originality?
Club S30 has all stock cars.
Yay! A Z31…and a 2+2, no less. Love it!
Still not sure about the wide-arched stuff. I know there are sometimes references to old racing trends in there, and some of the work is undoubtedly executed well, but much of it detracts too much from the original lines of the car for me to really find it appealing.
I agree. Much of it is too over-the-top for me, although those Speed Forme fender flares are a tasteful touch, I think.