Some of you wanted more bike stories, so here’s one about the most popular bike in human history. A week before the Tokyo Motor Show the Honda Super Cub surpassed 100 million in sales, stretching its uncatchable lead as the most popular motorized vehicle on the planet, so Honda took the opportunity to celebrate. Continue reading
VIDEO: Smoking Tire takes an old school 510 Wagon on a touge run
This video is about a month old, but it’s still worth sharing. Matt Farah’s Smoking Tire channel drives a lot of enthusiast cars, from Mustangs to Porsches, but this Datsun 510 Wagon is our kind of build. It was put together in the owner’s garage, has a Troy Ermish built 2.1-liter stroker, 280ZX 5-speed, Koyorad radiator, a roll cage, a SSR MkIIs, and a heavily modified suspension. Most of all, it looks like loads of fun. Continue reading
QotW: What tools do you keep in your JNC?
As clockwork-reliable as Japanese cars can be, when we’re talking about cars 30, 40 or 50 years old there’s always the chance of something breaking down. Most of us probably keep a few items in our JNCs at all times, whether we’re going out for an afternoon touge run or a days-long road trip, and especially when we travel to some far flung location to bring home a new project.
What tools do you keep in your JNC?
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “Tell us your most challenging ‘reach.'”
EVENTS: 2017 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 09 — Bikes
Hey guys, we’ve been totally slacking on a hugely important segment of Japanese Nostalgic Cars because, well, they’re not actually cars. But, even with two fewer wheels, motorcycles and scooters have been an integral part of Japan’s motoring history. Here are some of the examples that graced the Queen Mary lawn at JCCS. Continue reading
KIDNEY, ANYONE? Toyota Celica All-Trac Pace Car
To publicize the release of the turbocharged, AWD Celica All-Trac, Toyota and TRD USA built a pace car to lead the Long Beach Grand Prix. With race goodies like a roll cage, fuel cell and adjustable coilovers, was converted to circuit duty back when new. And now, after 30 years, it’s up for sale. Continue reading
Posted in for sale
Tagged all-trac, celica, gt-four, kidney anyone, long beach grand prix, st165, toyota
9 Comments
Tokyo Motor Show: Nissan brought a Fairlady after all
After all our bellyaching about how there was no Supra or Fairlady at the Tokyo Motor Show this year as many had expected, it appears that we spoke to soon! Upon examining our TMS materials more carefully, it turns out that Nissan did in fact bring a Fairlady, and we can’t believe no other media outlets have noticed. Continue reading
Posted in Tokyo Motor Show
Tagged e-Evolution, fairlady z, IMx, mitsubishi, nissan, TMS 2017, tokyo motor show
14 Comments
SEMA 2017: Toyota will always have trucks
Nissan may have the “it” cars, says our editor at large Ricky Silverio, but Toyota will always have trucks. Toyota may have misstepped when it brought a fleet of Camrys to SEMA, eliciting even a roast from Honda, but when it comes to classic off-roaders, rock crawlers, overlanders, or just plain well-restored vintage SUVs, Aichi has the market cornered. Continue reading
Posted in events
Tagged 4runner, baja, celica, FJ Company, FJ50, icon, land cruiser, Land Cruiser 60, land cruiser 70, Land Cruiser 80, pikes peak, sema, SEMA 2017, st205, toyota, tundra
2 Comments
(not so) MINICARS: Life-size Tamiya Bruiser Toyota Hilux pickup
As Marty McFly said, “All the best stuff is made in Japan.” Cars aside, this also holds true for hobby products. And in the land of remote controlled model cars, one kit persistently remains the best of the best in terms of realism, ingenuity, and sheer awesomeness: Tamiya’s metal ladder frame chassis Toyota pickup truck. As a tribute to its status among otakus, somebody has made a life-size, 1:1 scale version of it. Continue reading
Posted in minicars
4 Comments
SEMA 2017: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
As the largest trade event for custom cars in the US, possibly the world, SEMA can serve as a showcase for innovation and creativity, sometimes giving a spotlight for bloody knuckled backyard builds to shine. The flip side, though, is that SEMA’s high profile pressures talented craftsmen into pouring cash into cars whose sole purpose is to clothesline your eyeballs into submission and collect clicks for some up and coming brand. Is there anything more depressing than a “SEMA build”?
Luckily, most of the JNCs at SEMA were built first, then discovered for display because they represented a passion for the car, not a passion for the show itself. Here are some highlights (and lowlights) of the big shindig in Vegas. Continue reading
Posted in events
Tagged 240sx, 360 Modena, A80, acura, ae86, arrow, C-HR, c10, civic, Civic Type R, corolla, daihatsu, ef, eg, fd3s, ferrari, ford, GC8, Grom, gt-r, Hakosuka, hijet, honda, isuzu, lancer celeste, lexus, Lexus LC, Lexus LS, Lexus RC, liberty walk, mazda, miata, Miata ND, mitsubishi, mustang, mx-5, nissan, NPR, nsx, plymouth, r30, r32, r33, r35, Ridgeline, rx-7, s14, sema, SEMA 2017, sienna, skyline, subaru, supra, TLX, toyota
20 Comments
SEMA 2017: An unmolested Toyota MR2 gave us the strength to carry on
Dearest Martha,
As I took respite to pen this letter, I wondered if I would return from war the same man I was when I left home. SEMA is hell, my love. It has been just two days, but it feels like fortnights have passed. A fellow soldier nearly lost his leg from a surprise attack by a cursed foe and his mobility scooter mount. Supplies are scarce and dwindle by the hour, leaving us victim to highway bandits who would dare charge eight Union dollars for a frankfurter.
We have endured wastelands of misshapen composites, towering pickups taller than they are wide, and wheels so grotesquely oversized it’s a wonder the wagons they are affixed to can move at all. I trembled on the brink of abandoning all hope until we saw it, and it bestowed upon us the strength to carry onward: a virgin AW11 MR2. Continue reading
QotW: Tell us your most challenging “reach”
SEMA has some magical vehicles on display. Even more magical are the clean, eat-off-the-floorpan quality restorations. I’d say most of us are not privy to that level of pristine. For most of us, we spend countless nights wrenching to get a JNC back up on its feet. But, sometimes, we have that one bolt, that one clip that is so easy to see, but impossible to reach. I want to know about your experience:
Tell us your story of a difficult reach while trying to repair or diagnose your JNC.
My own tale involves the same engine pictured above (but not my ride). It was my first engine swap. I just got the head back from the machine shop, put it back on and torqued all the head studs, just installed the headers and intake and finally the valve covers. But I had an extra water jacket in the corner of the shed. Oops. I spent three hours trying to tighten two 10 mm bolts on the back of the head. The gap between the head and the firewall was about half as thick as my flat hand. I had to make the “scissor” motion with my fingers while holding a wrench and only getting 1/32 of a turn at a time. To add more stress to the mix was a plastic vacuum sensor with 2 brittle nipples on the end. As I got one bolt secure enough to hopefully not leak, one of those vac nipples snapped when it got clocked by my thumb… Words were exchanged between me and that water jacket. Many words. On my fourth rebuild, I still have that same head minus all the vac lines and that water passage where the jacket would have bolted up to is now welded shut.
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “JNC Battle! NSX vs Supra” Continue reading
SEMA 2017: Datsun is the new “it” marque
Despite brief surges in sport compacts, drifting, VIP, and other trends from the land of the rising sun, SEMA is still mostly an American car show. If we had to put a number on the resto modded muscle cars pushing 1,000 horsepower, lifted pickups, and acres of new Camaro/Mustang/Challengers, we’d say it was 85 percent of the show. This year, however, we noticed a trend. There were Datsuns among them. Continue reading
SEMA 2017: Into the Badlands star Daniel Wu’s Datsun 510
One of the standout cars at SEMA was a 1972 Datsun 510 sitting in the Toyo Tires Tread Pass section. Though owned by a celebrity — Into the Badlands star Daniel Wu — that’s hardly the most interesting thing about it. In a show full of carbon fiber excess and House of Kolor assaults on the senses, it was an honest, no-nonsense build in the five and dime tradition. Continue reading
SEMA 2017: Toyota brings fifteen Camrys to world’s biggest tuner show
We’re not sure if Toyota is trolling the entire aftermarket community, but Japan’s largest carmaker basically filled their entire SEMA display with nothing but Camrys. There were no tricked out Toyota 86s, lifted Land Cruisers, or slammed Siennas. Nope, just fifteen family sedans, including a lineup of every generation sold in America (the newer end of which looked like every Sunday afternoon parking lot in the San Gabriel Valley). The purpose of the collection seemed to be in support of the all-new 2018 Camry. Go forth and tune it, I guess. Continue reading
SEMA 2017: Jun Imai debuts his widebody Datsun Z
Five years ago, we watched as the pink slip of a dusty blue 1974 260Z was signed over to Jun Imai. It appeared as if attempts to turn it into something greater had been cut short, leaving a car that was neither stock nor carefully modified. If you had told us then that the tired Z would one day be a SEMA Show booth car, we would’ve bet good money against it. Continue reading
Tokyo Motor Show: Daihatsu brought the wrong Compagno
Daihatsu’s booth at the Tokyo Motor Show was the only one that had any sort of nostalgia factor. They even brought out a classic Midget and classic Compagno to sit prominently on stage beside the concepts they inspired. Unfortunately for the latter, they brought the wrong car. Continue reading
Posted in Tokyo Motor Show
Tagged compagno, daihatsu, DN Compagno, TMS 2017, tokyo motor show
9 Comments
Happy Halloween from JNC
What’s the first rule of entering a dark garage with a classic car? Don’t go in there alone. Happy Halloween from JNC!
Tokyo Motor Show: The heritage is strong with Daihatsu
Daihatsu came out strong this year with heritage models. We’ve already seen the Daihatsu DN Compagno concept, which shared the stage with a classic Compagno. Also at the Daihatsu stage was its most iconic nostalgic car, a 1959 Midget. Continue reading
Posted in Tokyo Motor Show
Tagged daihatsu, DN Pro Cargo, kei, midget, TMS 2017, tokyo motor show
2 Comments
QotW: JNC Battle! NSX vs Supra
Tokyo Motor Show was a blast but we were really hoping to catch a glimpse of the new production model Supra. Sadly, we all will still have to paw over spy shots and 3-D renders for now. Honda came out with yet another great looking EV concept, this time a sporty coupe, but the NSX is still waiting for a dance partner…
Since we can’t judge (yet) Toyota’s new monster, I thought we could consider the last gen iterations. Which early 90s asphalt brawler did it better? The Toyota A80 (MKIV) Supra, or the Honda (Acura) NSX? What makes one better than the other? Styling? Technology? Raw driving characteristics? Let us know!
Who had the goods? NSX or Supra?
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What car should our Touge Rally Master get?” Continue reading
Tokyo Motor Show: 2018 Toyota Century
The Toyota Century is not just an executive sedan, it is a pillar of Japanese tradition. And like most Japanese traditions, it has carried on virtually unchanged for a long, long time. At the Tokyo Motor Show, however, nearly 50 years after its debut in 1967, the Toyota Century has undergone only its second full model change. Continue reading
