Japanese Nostalgic Car

QotW: What’s your best tale of JNC indestructibility?

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Ben Hsu

One of the greatest things about owning a JNCs is its reliability. Think that’s boring? Well, while macchine nostalgico Italiano owners are leaking vital fluids, Deutsch nostalgischen auto owners are trying to figure out why you need to remove the transmission to change a bulb, and British reminiscing motorcar owners are studying for Master’s degrees in electrical engineering, JNC owners are out there driving their cars. We’re so cocky, we sometimes even willfully abuse our cars, knowing they’ll just roll with the punches.

What’s your best tale of JNC indestructibility?

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 once-common car has suddenly disappeared?” Continue reading →

Posted in Question of the Week | Tagged QotW | 20 Comments

GRAND TOURING: Driving across Japan in a JNC, Day 02

Posted on March 6, 2016 by David Lovett

In Part 01 of our once-in-a-lifetime road trip, we set out from Nagoya and headed to Maizuru City via Lake Biwa. Our car was an Isuzu fresh off of a head gasket change, and while Day Two was yet another day of pure rain, a quick look at the weather radar showed it’d be the last foreseeable shower for a while. Regardless, we weren’t going to let our spirits be dampened by dampness! So we hopped back in the 117 and hit the road again, out of Maizuru, sticking to Japan’s northern coastline. Continue reading →

Posted in Grand Touring | Tagged 117, Grand Touring, Hakuto Jinja, isuzu, Tottori Sand Dunes | 30 Comments

EVENTS: 2016 New Year Meeting, Part 02 — The Parking Area

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Ricky Silverio

In Part 02 of our New Year Meeting coverage, we delve into the parking area to unearth gems as good as anything inside the show. Some of them aren’t able to make it simply because of the age cutoff, others perhaps have owners who don’t necessarily care about showing off their cars. In any case, being greeted by a row of gorgeous Bubble Era Soarers is reason enough to go exploring. Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged 280zx, 510, a20, b110, bluebird, cb400, celica, cressida, cresta, crown, daruma, datsun, dekotora, elf, fairlady z, gemini, Hawk, honda, isuzu, mazda, mirage, mitsubishi, new year meeting, nissan, rally, Rocket Bunny, rx-3, s110, s130, s30 z, Sera, Shakotan Boogie, soarer, sunny, suzuki, today, toyota, Wagon R, x70, z10, z20 | 15 Comments

EVENTS: The Mazda Ice Academy explains why Mazdas are so darn fun to drive

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Ben Hsu

The Mazda Ice Academy’s main reason for existence was to show off the Hiroshima automaker’s newfangled all-wheel-drive system. That was good, as we’d marveled before at how they managed to give a mid-size crossover better handling than many actual cars. We wanted to learn the secret, but by the end of day two the academy had turned into a session of drifting Miatas on a snow-covered mountaintop. With the top down. In below-freezing temperatures. As it turns out, the two are more closely related than you think. Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged mazda, miata, mx-5, ND Miata | 4 Comments

EVENTS: 2016 New Year Meeting, Part 01

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Ricky Silverio

The New Year Meeting is Tokyo’s premiere classic car show and it takes place at the end of January. You’ll likely never see a gathering of J-tin so diverse anywhere else, and the magic begins with a line of cars at the show’s gates. Right off the bat there’s a 1960s H31 Nissan Cedric, Sunny, Subaru Leone wagon, and a daruma Celica all queued up. Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged 117, 3K, 510, a20, bluebird, bosozoku, c10, c30, cedric, celica, corolla, corona mark II, daruma, drag racer, Farialdy Z, galant gto, h31, Hakosuka, honda, isuzu, kaido racer, kp47, laurel, le mans, leone, life, mazda, Mazda B360, Minica Skipper, mitsubishi, Musashi Crystal, new year meeting, nissan, porter cab, publica, Rilakkuma, S-Series, s30, skyline, soarer, starlet, subaru, t60, toyota, z20 | 9 Comments

KIDNEY, ANYONE? The finest replica of a Mugen CRX SCCA GT4 race car is in France

Posted on March 3, 2016 by David Lovett

In the early 1980s, Honda wanted to show the appeal of its high-performance vehicles to American enthusiasts. It set about building a racing car with the help of its tuning and racing division, Mugen, to compete in the SCCA GT-4 class. The weapon of choice? The Honda CRX. It debuted in 1985 at Road Atlanta, was campaigned all the way through 1990, kicking butt and taking names for the entire 6 years it ran. Honda had America’s attention. But they also caught the attention of an enthusiast from France. Continue reading →

Posted in for sale | Tagged crx, honda, kidney anyone, mugen, scca | 8 Comments

DESIGN: Nissan VP reveals challenges of designing with DNA

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Ben Hsu

We recently had the chance to glimpse into the the mind of someone who spends every day thinking and making decisions about the cars we buy, drive, and love. Taro Ueda is Vice-President of Design at Nissan Design America, the automaker’s studio in southern California, and he and his team were actually able to make the 2016 Sentra look good. Continue reading →

Posted in Design | Tagged B17, nissan, sentra, Taro Ueda | 18 Comments

VIDEO: Watch the R32 Skyline GT-R lap the Nürburgring

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Ben Hsu

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, to be precise, when Best Motoring took an R32 GT-R to the Green Hell and clocked an 8:22. That’s nothing compared to the 7:08:69 of the R35 NISMO GT-R, but it was absolutely mind-blowing 27 years ago. Continue reading →

Posted in Video | Tagged gt-r, nissan, r32, skyline | 4 Comments

PIXELLATED: Forza Motorsport 6

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Ryan Senensky

Welcome to a new series about JNCs in video games. Perhaps you can’t have the garage of your dreams in real life, but you can have it in pixels.

One of the best series of all time for JNCs, Forza has seen the release of its newest sequel since we ranked the Top 5 video games featuring Japanese Nostalgic Cars. Forza Motorsports 6 launched in September 2015 with a slew of Nihon steel that included not only perennial favorites like the Toyota 2000GT and hakosuka Skyline GT-R, but less common virtual racers like the 1986 Civic Si and 1974 Celica GT. Since then, The team at Forza developer Turn 10 Studios has been hitting it out of the park with DLCs, or Downloadable Content. Continue reading →

Posted in Video Games | Tagged datsun, forza, honda, mazda, nissan, toyota | 7 Comments

Does your classic Subaru belong in a museum?

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Ben Hsu

Do you have a classic Subaru? Do you want to display it in the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum’s upcoming exhibit of all-wheel-drive Japanese cars? Our friends at Subaru of America recently alerted us to the fact that they were loaning several of their own cars from their not-so-secret headquarters “attic” to the museum, but the Simeone Foundation still needs more. Continue reading →

Posted in museums, subaru | Tagged subaru | 7 Comments

NEWS: Mazda is the title sponsor of JNC Touge California

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Patrick Strong

We at JNC are very proud to announce that Mazda will be the title sponsor of the 2016 JNC Touge California. Mazda will bring out select heritage cars to drive along with us during the 200-mile event, and give participants a rare tour of vehicles from their vast heritage collection, which is not typically open to the public. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged mazda, Touge California | 6 Comments

KIDNEY, ANYONE? 1979 Isuzu 117 XG

Posted on February 29, 2016 by David Lovett

Giorgetto Giugiaro penned many stunning cars — the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint, Ferrari 250 GT, Iso Grifo — but here’s one that’ll throw the old guard at Concorso Italiano into conniptions: the lovely Isuzu 117 Coupe. It almost feels strange to be mentioning an Isuzu — perhaps best known in the US for making the ubiquitous GM box van — for sale in Detroit, but here it is nonetheless. Continue reading →

Posted in for sale | Tagged 117, isuzu, kidney anyone | 14 Comments

QotW: What once-common car has suddenly disappeared?

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Ben Hsu

It’s weird. One minute they’re everywhere, so common that you almost sick of seeing them. Seemed like every cool kid in town had one. Then one day you see one and you think to yourself, “Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of those!” and you realize this once popular enthusiast’s car is suddenly nowhere to be found.

What once-common car has suddenly disappeared?

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, “Which vintage barrel is the definitive “universal” JNC wheel?” Continue reading →

Posted in Question of the Week | Tagged QotW | 28 Comments

Register for the 2016 Touge California

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Patrick Strong

The deadline for entries for Touge California 2016 is fast approaching. We’re seeking 25 pre-1980 Japanese cars to accept the challenge of a 200-mile tour of some of southern California’s most scenic and challenging driver’s roads on April 2nd. We’ve had a tremendous response from owners of classic J-Tin from around the country, but we’re hungry for more. Continue reading →

Posted in Touge California | Tagged Touge California | 6 Comments

GRAND TOURING: Driving across Japan in a JNC, Day 01

Posted on February 27, 2016 by David Lovett

In 2015 we took a once-in-a-lifetime road trip across Japan behind the wheel of a proper Showa Era icon. The chariot of choice was an Isuzu 117 Coupé, and it would serve as our trusty steed for 10 days and over 2,400 kilometers before the trip was done. This is the story of an epic journey covering the entire southern half of Japan by JNC. Continue reading →

Posted in Grand Touring | Tagged 117, ae86, corolla levin, Grand Touring, isuzu, Lake Biwa, toyota | 21 Comments

EVENTS: Old Car Heaven, Part 02

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Skorj

While Part 01 of our Old Car Heaven coverage concluded with a mob of rare Mitsubishis, we begin this installment along the perimeter of the show and a bevy of box vans. The Nissan Caravans were part of the Nissan Commercial Car Club, as the event celebrated not just vintage cars, but trucks, buses, and 3-wheelers as well. Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged 2000gt, 240rs, 330, 430, 935, barikan, bus, c10, caravan, cedric, cedric 130, city, civic, corona, cosmo sport, crown, csp311, daihatsu, e20, f40, fairlady roadster, fairlady z, Fairlady Z432, ferrari, ff-1, gloria, gto, Hakosuka, honda, honda z, HopeStar, Initial D, isuzu, Junior, kenmeri, KITT, kpgc110, Lotus Europa, mark II, Mazda T1500, midget, nissan, piazza, pontiac, porsche, prince, r30, s110, s30 z, s54, seibu keisatsu, shelby, silvia, skyline, skyline sport, subaru, t40, toyota, wagons, x30 | 18 Comments

NEWS: Honda CEO wants engineers back in the driver’s seat

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Ryan Senensky

In what sounds like a cruel April Fool’s joke, Honda announced Wednesday that it is basically undoing its entire product development strategy of the last seven years. Takahiro Hachigo, the new CEO who is barely a year into his tenure, announced Wednesday in Tokyo that Honda is shifting the development process of new platforms away from its sales and marketing departments and back to engineering, the way founder Soichiro Honda intended. Continue reading →

Posted in News | Tagged honda, Takahiro Hachigo | 27 Comments

SHOP LIFE: The Barrel Bros’ super wheel restorations

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Kevin San

One of the most important (and expensive!) purchases you’ll make for your ride, are a nice set of wheels. J-nostalgics just don’t look right without the right vintage wheels, and so you’re probably already a veteran of cruising Yahoo Auctions Japan, looking for that ideal set of Watanabes, in the correct size and offset to get that perfect fender-scraping fitment.

Recently, we were invited to spend a day at Barrel Bros in Sydney, Australia to check out their work in restoring and modifying vintage JDM wheels. If you want something like a custom set of 15-inch wide 80s era RAYS, then this place is your new church. Continue reading →

Posted in Shop Life | Tagged 330, Barrel Bros, cedric, longchamp xr-4, ssr | 17 Comments

EVENTS: Old Car Heaven, Part 01

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Skorj

Recently I was invited to accompany the Prince Driver’s Club to Kyuusha Tengoku, or Old Car Heaven, on the outskirts of downtown Tokyo. With many cars expected, we were asked to assemble on site at 06:00 in the morning. The early departure on a cold Tokyo day was made tolerable though as it provided us — and one snarling Skyline GT-B — with an unobstructed high-speed run out the Shuto-ko and over the Rainbow Bridge to Daiba. Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged a20, b110, c10, celica, cherry, clipper, colt, crown, datsun, e10, e70, F30, galant gto, gloria, Hakosuka, hiace, honda, kujira, lancer, leopard, masterline, mazda, mitsubishi, ms75, nissan, Old Car Heaven, porter, prince, rally, s10, s54, s60, safari rally, sambar, silvia, skyline, skyline sport, sprinter trueno, subaru, sunny, toyopet, toyota, vamos, wagon | 29 Comments