Japanese Nostalgic Car

Until six or seven years ago, most of the collector world openly scoffed at the idea of a Japanese classic. Today, prices are going up and the tide has shifted. However, even amongst the true believers there’s still a few cars that surprise us with their popularity.

What’s the most unlikely JNC?

We recently visited Nissan USA’s collection (more in an upcoming article) where they have a mint Datsun B210. Nissan tells us that at a recent car show where they brought out several of their museum cars, the B210 garnered the most attention among their display vehicles. Want even more love? Put Honey Bee graphics on it!

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 the last QotW, “What JNC would you live in?” Continue reading →

Last week Dave wrote about M2, the Mazda specialty shop designed to hear feedback delivered directly from the customer’s mouth. If only more companies would do that.

What would you tell automakers to do?

Japanese automakers once made the most perfectly ergonomic dashboards known to man. Some still do, but the one automaker that’s fallen farthest from its heyday tree is Honda. Look upon in wonder at this Honda dashboard from the days when Old Man Soichiro still had a hand in his company: the thin-spoked steering wheel, the trio of logical gauges, the well-bolstered and gorgeously upholstered seats. Compared to modern-day Honda’s Romulan warbird consoles it is a thing of utter beauty, so minimalist and functional, and even has a small tray formed by negative space. All this in an Accord, no less! And if you ask us, there’s a tragic dearth of blue interiors these days. So yeah, we’d tell Honda to make more of these, less of those.

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 the last QotW, “What’s your favorite period-correct license plate for your JNC?”  Continue reading →