The norm of our minicars articles is to report breaking news on miniaturized JNCs. Today, however, we’re telling you about a new Hot Wheels, um, minivan. Worry not, it’s a Honda! Not good enough? Read on, you’ll like it. Continue reading
QotW: How will Scion be remembered in 25 years?
The demise of Scion last week caught many, including us, by surprise. Though the Toyota offshoot lasted only 13 years, it left a strong mark on the automotive community. Be clear, we are talking about the automotive community, not necessarily the automotive industry. That’s because Scion was the only Japanese brand that really encouraged us to tune, modify and otherwise personalize our rides. The scene is quite different in Japan, of course, where you can walk into any Toyota dealer and be offered a raft of in-house tuning parts for everything from a Prius to a Hiace. Scion’s departure leaves the question of how it will be remembered when it’s time for them to join the 25 Year Club — An unexpected experiment? Toyota’s goth phase? A Millennial Datsun?
How will Scion be remembered in 25 years?
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, “How do you feel about auction prices affecting JNCs?” Continue reading
Happy year of the Monkey from JNC
Welcome to the Year of the Monkey! In mythology, the monkey is cleverest of all the 12 animals, but also active and adventurous. In fact, it’s sort of the perfect description of the Honda Monkey. Continue reading
ART CORNER: Beautiful dioramas of model cars from Japan
Takuji is a Japanese artist who places 1:43 and 1:64 scale minicars into beautifully constructed dioramas. From AE86s on touge roads to Mitsubishis tearing through a rally stage to mechanics tuning Skylines in a garage, each scene is a slice of automotive life, depicted on a desktop. Continue reading
Posted in Art Corner, minicars
Tagged 200sx, 323 GTX, 510, a70, ae82, ae86, alto, Art Corner, aw11, az-1, b110, beat, bluebird, c110, carol, carry, colt, corolla fx, fairlady z, familia, fj60, fronte, fto, Galant VR-4, Hakosuka, honda, Honda N-Series, jimny, K10, kei, kenmeri, lancer celeste, land cruiser, march, mazda, miata, minicars, mirage, mitsubishi, mr2, mx-5, nissan, rally, rx-3, s12, s30 z, safari rally, silvia, skyline c10, sprinter trueno, starion, starlet kp61, stepvan, subaru, subaru 360, sunny, supra, suzuki, toyota, violet, Vivio
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VIDEO: Hankook Tires shows why FJ40s are awesome
With the popularity of the FJ40 at auction, it makes you wonder if people who buy them will actually use them how they were intended. Sometimes it’s not cool when companies try to spice up their brand with an old Land Cruiser. This latest ad, called “Chasing Daylight” by Hankook Tires, is the opposite of that. 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 the 1 o’clock position. With such octane-fueled madness going on inside the venue, it was only natural that there’s be octane-fueled madness outside as well. In 1992, Skylines, Supras and Savannas paired off in tests of horsepower. Continue reading
“Iron, Lion, Scion” — Bob Marley
The news that Scion was dead leaked Tuesday night. Few outlets dared report it because it seemed too crazy to be true. At every single auto show last year, representatives continued to reassure the press and public that they were doubling down with new models, new campaigns, new investments. But it was true, and the fate of individual models was unknown.
We at JNC had a good “virtual water cooler” conversation about Scion’s failings over the Slack app that night, flowing into the next morning when the news was confirmed. It turned into a discussion about the tuner era and the missteps of the other Japanese automakers as well. Here it is, printed in its entirety (with minor edits for spelling and grammar), below. Continue reading
NEWS: Say hello to the Toyota FR-S
After news broke this morning about the death of Scion and that existing models would be transitioned to Toyota, we wondered whether the Scion FR-S would now get a proper name to fall in line with the rest of the world. The answer is no. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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NEWS: RIP Scion, 2003-2016
Scion is dead. After 13 years, Toyota announced this morning that the alternative, youth-oriented, no-haggle brand would be killed off and most of its products — some very recently launched — rolled under the Toyota marque. Continue reading
MARKETWATCH: 2016 Scottsdale auction roundup
If the 2016 Scottsdale collector car auctions are any indication, it may be time to declare that Japanese classic cars have gone fully mainstream. All five of the major Scottsdale auctions (Barrett-Jackson, RM Sotheby’s, Bonhams, Gooding & Co. and Russo & Steele) saw J-tin cross the block at a wide spectrum of price points, but with few exceptions their sales results followed broader market trends that also affected more traditionally coveted cars from Europe and the U.S., indicating that nostalgics have been assimilated at last into the general collector car community. Continue reading
Posted in marketwatch
Tagged 2000gt, A80, auctions, cosmo sport, fc3s, fj40, ford courier, hilux, land cruiser, mazda, rx-7, supra, toyota
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VIDEO: Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the super-rare 1983 North American FJ40
Jonathan Ward is the head honcho at ICON, a company known for its restomods of classic trucks. Ward started out restoring FJ40s and possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of them. He says the North American market 1983 FJ40 is the best FJ40, of all the FJ40s sold around the world. Specifically, he calls it “the shizzle.” In this video, he goes through all the details and differences that separate it from lesser FJ40s. Only about 350 were made. Continue reading
NEWS: Hiroshima high schoolers restore a Mazda Cosmo Sport, Part 02
As we reported back in September, last year a group of young Mazda employees and students from the local Hiroshima Technical High School embarked on the restoration of an L10A Cosmo Sports. It was part of an initiative to celebrate Mazda’s heritage as well as its Hiroshima roots, while the high school students got a heck of a summer vacation experience to boot. Here’s an update of the restoration. Continue reading
KIDNEY, ANYONE? Flawless EA81 Subaru GL Wagon
On eBay this week is probably the most well-preserved EA81 Wagon in existence. This particular 1981 Subaru GL 4WD is 4-speed manual-equipped, carburetor clad, and naturally aspirated. With 102,000 on the odometer the car has seen some use, but it has clearly been very carefully cared for. Continue reading
QotW: How do you feel about auction prices affecting JNCs?
We’ve seen some pretty astronomical prices for J-tin in recent years. We always knew cars like the hakosuka and kenmeri GT-Rs, Toyota 2000GT and Fairlady Z432 were going to be rise in price. Frankly, they were never that cheap to begin with. This week, we saw even new-ish cars (like the R32 GT-R) and unloved stepchildren (like the 280Z 2+2) take a leap in price. Are you laughing all the way to the bank, or desperately trying to build a time machine? We suspect where you fall on will largely depend on whether you already own your dream car or not.
How do you feel about auction prices affecting JNCs?
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 greatest ‘in the wild’ JNC sighting?” Continue reading
VIDEO: JNC Project Hakosuka hits the skidpan!
Since 2011 or so, a very nice LSD unit has been sitting under a cloth in the corner of the JNC Hakosuka garage. I never finished gathering all the parts I needed to install it until I had some spare time before Christmas, and as luck would have it, the Sydney Datsun Club announced a day of fun at the skidpan for early January. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to test out the newly drift-compatible Hako. Continue reading
Happy 96th Birthday to Mazda!
96 years ago today, Toyo Kogyo was founded in Hiroshima by Jujiro Matsuda. Predecessor to Mazda, it moved from making corks to precision machinery, eventually into motor vehicles, and onward to the rotary engine, sports cars, and racing. Here’s to another 96 years! Continue reading
Posted in Holidays
Tagged 787b, cosmo sport, mazda, miata, r360, rotary engine, RX-Vision, Toyo Kyogo
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EVENTS: Initial D World meet
If people are willing to dress up as country squires, high-mannered butlers, and Maggie Smith for Downton Abbey season premieres, then why not an Initial D-themed car meet? As the most popular work of Japanese automotive fiction of all time, it’s a bit surprising that such events aren’t more commonplace. For those fortunate enough to be in the San Francisco Bay Area, last weekend saw the third annual Initial D World Meet. Continue reading
NEWS: Toyota to buy Daihatsu, make it a global brand
Toyota has announced it will buy out Daihatsu in a stock deal worth about $3 billion. The Big T currently owns a controlling stake in the small car manufacturer, approximately 51.2 percent, and Daihatsu has served as Toyota’s kei and compact car arm since the companies began their alliance in 1967. Though they have shared many platforms in the past (the photo above is a Toyota Corolla-based Daihatsu Charmant), the formation into a single company will allow Toyota to take the Daihatsu brand global. Continue reading
PROFILES: Randy York’s rare 1973 Datsun 510
Long before social media, Randy York was one of the first members of the Bluebirds email list. He ran United Five-Ten Owners (UFO) SoCal from the mid-80s through the 90s before it faded, and was a founding editor for the definitive 510 bible, Dime Quarterly, which started in 1995 and ran until 2008. It is with great sadness that we tell you that Randy York recently lost his battle with cancer. It is in his honor that we are re-running this story, originally published in 2008, today.
There’s no question that one of Nissan’s biggest sales successes in the USA was the PL510 series, sold from the end of 1967 until the end of 1972. Initially, the 510s had many features unique to the year they were built. The ’68 model was one-of-a-kind in many ways, such as hand-clap wipers. The ’69 model had several changes to make it singular as well, like the addition of round rear side markers and an updated dash. When the ’70 came along, it was changed up yet again with different lights, badges, an all new dash, and many other updates. For whatever reason, be it saving money on production, or cutting down on R&D time, from that point on they were essentially all the same. Very little differentiates a ’70 from a ’71 from a ’72. And then came the ’73. Continue reading
