Japanese Nostalgic Car

Unlike many American, British, and German classics, finding new or like-new parts for classic Japanese cars can be very difficult. It’s not like a ’69 Camaro, where you can open a Year One catalog and get everything you could possibly want to build a complete car out of nothing but a shell. This is especially true if you have a JDM model that was never sold on these shores.

What’s the hardest restoration part to find for your JNC?

What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s the most confoundingly engineered JNC?”  Continue reading →

Japanese cars are known to be superbly engineered, plainly logical in their construction, and easy to work on (which is weird, since they break down much less than other cars). But after reading your answers about difficult repairs from last week, we know there are exceptions so illogical they would make Spock commit seppuku.

Some are easily explained, like the Toyota 5M’s impossible-to-reach fuel filter due to its master cylinder placement in the change from right- to left-hand-drive. Some can be attributed to sheer stubbornness of philosophy, like the Honda Vigor’s forward-transmitting driveshaft. And some are the result of epic screw-ups when the company is so big that the engine and transmission engineers don’t tell each other which way the drivetrain is supposed to rotate, like on the Twin-Stick Mirage/Colt.

What’s the most confoundingly engineered JNC?

What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s the hardest repair job you’ve done on a JNC?”  Continue reading →

It’s Labor Day here in the US, so as you’re enjoying a day off from your real job why not tell us about your other job, the one in the garage? Sure, Japanese cars are famously easy to work on and extremely logical in layout, but once in a while, there’s still a confounding, daunting task that requires blood, sweat and knuckle skin.

What’s the hardest repair job you’ve done on a JNC?

What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your most prized JNC part?”  Continue reading →