Just in time for 86 Day festivities, the Lamley Group has leaked that the Toyota Corolla AE86 Hot Wheels casting will be making a return to the pegs in 2014. This time around, the car will be silver with 80s-vintage graphics. Happily for hachi-heads, it has an appropriate red interior! Expect it to hit the pegs sometime this fall.
NEWS: Happy 86 Day from JNC
2013 is a momentous year for the compact, lively and influential car we know as the hachiroku. With Initial D perhaps getting its final curtain, along with the fact that the first AE86 rolled off the production line in Aichi exactly three decades ago, we at JNC would like to wish you a happy 86 Day!
In celebration of this August 6th, let’s rewind the clock back 30 years. Below is a Toyota exhibition video that features a duo of early GT-APEX Levins flown in from Japan (notice they are not Corolla GTs) and driven to their limits by rally drivers Per Eklund and Klaus Fritzinger. Continue reading
Posted in News, toyota
Tagged 86 Day, ae86, corolla, Klaus Frtizinger, levin, nurburgring, Per Eklund, spa francorchamps, sprinter, toyota, trueno, zandvoort
11 Comments
QotW: What’s your fondest hachiroku memory?
Tomorrow, August 6, is 86 Day and cities on both sides of the Pacific are gearing up for a celebration of the last FR Corolla. It’s perhaps a special one this year, as the Initial D story has come to a close. Maybe you’re not a fanboy, but there’s no denying the cultural ripples the O.G. drift machine has created.
What’s your fondest hachiroku memory?
There are many among the JNC staff. John remembers it as being the coolest car you could have in high school. Kev tracked one in Oz, long before Project Hako and even the US drifting boom. I crossed the country twice to get the AE86 of my dreams.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a toy. Click through to see the winner of the last QotW, “Which JNC should be revived for modern times?” Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week
Tagged ae86, corolla, levin, QotW, Question of the Week, sprinter, toyota, trueno
21 Comments
MINICARS: 2014 Hot Wheels X JNC Datsun 620
We’ve been sitting on this news for months, but now that it’s been leaked, we are stoked to share with you, our dear readers, the latest Hot Wheels wearing the JNC inkan — the Datsun 620! Continue reading
VIDEO: Wheeler Dealers goes to Japan
In Discovery Channel UK’s Wheeler Dealers: Trading Up, campy car trader Mike Brewer journeys across various continents to buy and sell cars for profit. In the fourth episode, he finds himself in Japan and gets a quick lesson in its used car culture. After failing multiple times at bidding on cars during a very fast paced auction, he winds up with a Daihatsu Tanto, which he’s able to sell for a profit after a quick detailing. He then spends his earnings on a white daruma Celica. A good investment, it appears. Continue reading
JNC GARAGE: Ben’s 1980 Toyota Celica Supra
On Monday Toyota UK posted a history of the Supra. This led at least one major media outlet to wonder aloud whether it had anything to do with rumors of the nameplate’s revival. Sadly, that same major media outlet led off with a photo of a Celica (-_-). Well, this seems a good a time as any to explain the intricacies of the Mark I Supra. Continue reading
NEWS: After 18 years of touge battles, this is how Initial D ends
The final chapter of the long running manga Initial D was released yesterday in Japan. After 18 years of publication the hugely influential story that introduced touge battles and the glory of RWD Japanese cars to a whole generation of enthusiasts has come to a close. Here’s how it ends (Warning: Spoilers ahead). Continue reading
QotW: Which JNC should be revived for modern times?
The revival of the Datsun brand didn’t go in the direction many Bluebird and Sunny enthusiasts wanted. We know an exact nuts-and-bolts resurrection of a 510 or B110 would not be practical, but cars with the spirit of those JNCs certainly could.
Which JNC should be revived for modern times?
How ’bout a modern day Mark II to battle Audi? A reborn Celica would, ironically, compete with the downsized, world market-friendly 2014 Mustang. Sure there are the obvious cars — RX-7, Silvia, etc. — but imagine a revived TC Cup consisting of lightweight, RWD equivalents of a revived Sunny, Savanna RX-3, and the Toyota GT86.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a toy. Click through to see the winner of the last QotW, “What’s the greatest open top JNC?” Continue reading
NEWS: Final chapter of Initial D to be published Monday
Eighteen years after a tofu delivery Toyota AE86 drifted onto the scene, author Shuichi Shigeno has announced that the hugely popular Initial D manga will come to an end on July 29, 2013.
Since 1995, the tale of a teenager with a gift for slinging his dad’s old hachiroku on the touge has sold over 48 million copies and made a hero car out of Toyota’s last RWD Corolla. Continue reading
Posted in toyota, Video Games
Tagged ae86, corolla, Initial D, levin, Shuichi Shigeno, sprinter, toyota, trueno
14 Comments
EVENTS: Mooneyes Open House, Mitsubishi Owners’ Day, SpoCom 2013 — Attend All the Shows!
Life is soooo hard in SoCal. Gorgeous women dress too scantily, it’s hard to decide between beautiful roads in the mountains and beautiful roads by the coast, and it barely ever rains. And then we have the horrible inconvenience of too many car shows.
That was our dilemma one warm Saturday when we found ourselves confronted with the Mooneyes Open House, Mitsubishi Owners’ Day, and SpoCom. Right. Fire up the Cressy. Continue reading
MINICARS: Kyosho X DMC Limited Edition “Panda” Toyota 86
A while back our friends at DaBox Model Cars decided to make a limited edition car based on Japan’s car of the moment, the Toyota 86. They were looking for a tribute to the original AE86 on which it was based, so we at JNC lent a hand to the design process. Continue reading
KIDNEY, ANYONE? Deep Yayoi “Sakura” Barrels
The Yayoi “sakura” wheel has long been considered the holy grail of vintage Japanese barrels. Now, a never-used ultra-deep set can be yours for the low, low price of — pinky to mouth — one million yen ($10,000 USD). Continue reading
VIDEO: The ultimate Mazda fan’s marriage proposal
What’s the most romantic spot for a marriage proposal? This video, which has been making the car blog rounds, proves there was no place better than the cockpit of a Lola Mazda ALMS race car.
Ian Browning and Sarah Bunting are two die-hard Mazdafarians who own a pair of FC RX-7s. At this year’s ALMS race at Mosport Park Ian popped the question while Sarah was in the driver’s seat of the #16 Dyson Racing race car. Spoiler alert: she says yes. It must have something to do with the cool JNC Daytona shirt he’s wearing. Watch the video below. Continue reading
VIDEO: “I am bad till I die. Is there anything wrong with that?”
We in the west might think of bosozoku culture as part of “true” Japanese car culture where its extreme style and foreignness is unlikely to ever fully make the cross over to the west. The truth is, most true Japanese people hate the bosozoku. They are known for holding up traffic with their antics and if anyone tries to get by, well, that’s what the twirling baseball bats are for.
In this video called, “Underground Hero: Love to Hate Me,” Maiham Media explores the life of a gangster as they bousou around Tokyo. As scary looking as these professional troublemakers are, they are not above letting a cool car sweep them off their feet. Continue reading
QotW: What’s the greatest open top JNC?
It’s summertime, and what better way to enjoy the sun than to take a drive with the top down? Japanese cars come in all shapes and sizes, but one body style Nihon tends to lay off of is the convertible. Therefore, we must ask:
What’s the greatest open top JNC?
It’s a tough decision, but given the historical significance of the Honda S-series, we’d probably have to go with Old Man Soichiro’s passion project. Not only did it signal the company’s foray into passenger cars, thus launching the Honda automotive empire, but it was loaded with technology found only on Formula 1-level cars at the time. The 10,000 rpm wonder can still be seen racing vigorously in classic events in Japan today, and is one of the most iconic nostalgic cars from the land of the rising sun.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a toy. Click through to see the winner of the last QotW, “What’s the most Japanese non-Japanese car?” Continue reading
NEWS: Happy 60th birthday to Fuji Heavy Industries
Rejoice, Subarites, for it is the 60th birthday of your beloved parent company. Fuji Heavy Industries was founded on July 15, 1953, formed when five former companies of the disbanded Nakajima Aircraft Company. The new logo showed five smaller stars behind a larger one, a symbol that graces the nose of every Subaru car. Continue reading
Posted in News, subaru
Tagged ff-1, fuji heavy industries, leone, subaru, subaru 1000, subaru 360, subaru p-1
6 Comments
VIDEO: Teruhisa Inoue’s B110 Sunny
Teruhisa Inoue owns the world’s most famous B110 Sunny. Here is a video of it. Continue reading
The return of Intelligent Sport” and a introducing a new member of the JNC family
By the time Nobuaki Katayama began work on the original Lexus IS, he was already a rock star within Toyota. He’d chief engineered all-time greats like the Lexus SC and JZA80 Supra and, in his younger days, worked on the legendary AE86. He’d put in five years in the trenches of Toyota’s European motorsports program and in his spare time, according to company lore, was often seen behind the wheel, tail out, on rally stages.
As the so-called enthusiast’s Lexus, the IS 300 had a lot of weight to shoulder. The world was waiting for the still-young brand to prove it wasn’t just a wannabe. You see, Lexus wasn’t just the flagship marque for Toyota. It was, and still is, the flagship marque for all of Japan. With the third-gen IS dropping worldwide, it’s time to look back on Katayama’s legacy, and see whether the latest incarnation is a worthy successor. Continue reading
KIDNEY, ANYONE? 13,000-mile Honda CRX
It’s impossible to find an unmolested Honda CRX, you say? Make that almost impossible, because a unicorn just showed up in El Cajon, California. It has zero things in common with the Toyota Century Ben just posted, except for its astounding odometer reading. Continue reading
KIDNEY, ANYONE? 20,000-mile 1981 Toyota Century
If a Crown is just too common and a 2000GT too small for your old school flossin’ needs, here’s your chance to destroy all comers with a 1981 Toyota Century. The ultimate Japanese VIP sled is now for sale on Las Vegas craigslist $15,000, tagged, titled and ready to roll on US roads. Continue reading
