Since the opening of the Yamate Tunnel, provided traffic is light of course, traversing Tokyo to join the out-going expressways has become a lot easier. In ten or fifteen minutes, you can join the Joban for a quick run out to Ibaraki and further. Continue reading
By dint of being held in a European country known primarily as a tax haven, the Geneva Motor Show is where the latest Paganis and limited edition Lamborghinis are unveiled to the world’s Bond villains. However, this year Mitsubishi surprised everyone by cold dropping a bone stock Lancer Celeste on the party. Continue reading
Like the beautiful brown Datsun 510 last week, this is not that AE86, but a lesser loved 1984 Toyota Corolla SR5. Still, it’s a 55,000-mile, RWD hachiroku, probably the best preserved example in the entire country and it’s on eBay right now. Continue reading
It’s the official first day of spring and time for sakura to bloom. Happy Spring Equinox from JNC!
If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit the Mazda Museum at the company’s headquarters in Hiroshima, Japan, now is your chance. Mazda has made the entire facility tourable on Google Maps. You can see its collection of wonderful cars from Carol to Cosmo, and even get close enough to read some of the placards.
Five areas and two floors of the museum are visible: the Entrance Hall, exhibits about the company’s History and Future, as well as displays about Mazda’s Technology and its Rotary Engine. Click around on the interactive map below the fold to navigate your way around. It’s the next best thing to being there. Continue reading
We know most of you have multiple cars. Your JNC, your kiddie haulers, your daily drivers, and so on. But let’s say you could only choose one vehicle to suit all your needs, and it had to be 25 years or older.
If you could only have one JNC as your car, what would it be?
And no, you can’t sell it. You’re stuck with it forever. There aren’t enough Toyota 2000GTs in the world to go around anyway. We think that a nice 510 wagon could serve most purposes and be just fun enough to keep life interesting.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a toy. Click through to see the winner from last week’s question, “What’s the craziest thing you’ve done to get the JNC (or part) of your dreams?” Continue reading
Is your beautiful car life supported? The auto insurance sales department at American Home Direct would like for you to buy some of their premiums after watching this melodramatic tale. A man must trade in his red kenmeri for a Bluebird once he has a newborn son, to whom he gifts a green S30 Fairlady Z toy. Continue reading
Raise your hands, who wants a showroom condition Datsun 510? Well, no, it’s not that 510, but the A10 Stanza was a fine machine in its own right. After all, it did win Australia’s Southern Cross Rally three times in a row, and right now there’s one of the cleanest examples we’ve ever seen on eBay near Dallas, Texas. Continue reading
Many JNC readers (and staffers) are of a certain age, one where their childhood memories are filled with golden afternoons glued to television screens to watch the epic war between Autobot and Decepticon unfold. I am of that age, and I still remember the very moment when I tore the wrapping paper off my first Transformer. It was Bluestreak, the Datsun 280ZX with shoulder mounted laser cannons, and it was the happiest fucking day of my life. Now Takara Tomy, the Japanese toy giant that brought us Tomica, has released a highly realistic remake of my embodiment of joy in 1984. Continue reading
We begin Part 03 of our Nostalgic2Days coverage with four generations of beautiful ‘Ladies. There’s the Wangan wedge Z31, disco club S130, world beating S30, and the pre-Z roadster spanning two decades of sporting Nissans. Continue reading
We’ve met a lot of crazy JNC owners over the years and heard even crazier stories. From buying a one-way ticket from LA to Philly in order to drive back with a set of Celica smiley bumpers, to putt-putting a Subaru 360 that had been sitting for years from Denver to Savannah, we’ve heard them all.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done to get the JNC (or part) of your dreams?
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a toy. Click through to see the winner from last week’s question, “What’s the best mod you can make to a classic car?” Continue reading
Welcome back to JNC‘s Nostalgic2Days coverage, from the Pacifico Yokohama convention center. The building itself might be located in the city’s Minato Mirai 21, or “Future Port of the 21st Century” district, but the cars are all from back in the day.
In the case of the Mooneyes booth, we’re talking way back in the form of an unrestored RS56 Toyota Crown pickup. The workhorse has led a hard life and has the patina and bed bars to prove it. A JZ-series swap would make this the ultimate sleeper, but we appreciate the fact that the Mooneyes crew decided to show it as is. Continue reading
Since 1977, Toyota has been putting celebrities with varying degrees of track experience into race-prepped cars and unleashing them onto the streets of Long Beach. The carnage that unfolds is, thankfully, limited primarily to the sheetmetal of two dozen freshly painted Toyota sport coupes, but the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race has nevertheless been an annual ritual for over three decades and counting.
This year, the chariot for this vehicular gladiator match is the smokin’ hot Scion FR-S, complete with a slew of not-yet-on-the-market TRD goodies. So when Toyota gave us the opportunity to wring one of these tuned neo-hachiroku out at Willow Springs Raceway, who were we to refuse? Continue reading
The latest dispatch from guest writer David Lovett of Classic Car Nagoya covers Part 01 of the annual Nos2Days event, where we first encountered CCN years ago. —Ben
There’s one show every year I absolutely refuse to miss. Nostalgic 2 Days happens every year in February, and while Tokyo isn’t always the easiest drive to make, it’s worth it for this show. The vendors always bring out there A-Game as it is organized by Nostalgic Hero magazine. Continue reading
While we’re on the topic of mods for your classic car, cooling is an important part of keeping your nostalgic in tip-top running order. Stock radiators in older cars were usually pretty flimsy to begin with, and after years of use, can be prone to leaks. We always love it when companies pay attention to the needs of JNC owners, and Japan’s Koyorad has been coming out with a series of old school-specific radiators recently. Continue reading
Last week’s QotW broke records for having the most answers since we started doing our weekly polls. JNCers had opinions both plentiful and strong about the absolute worst mods that could be foisted upon classic cars. Well okay then, smarty pantses, what about the flip side?
What’s the best mod you can make to a classic car?
We aren’t opposed to mods, but whatever they are we hope they are reversible. Therefore we’re going to go with a simple “low down sus” and a set of proper vintage barrels. Not only will this enhance the typical Japanese car’s innate handling prowess, it also looks fantastic. No cutting of wires, sheetmetal or upholstery required.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a toy. Click through to see the winner from last week’s question, “What’s the worst mod you can make to a classic car?” Continue reading
It’s time to get your Toyota ready for the 2013 All-Toyotafest.
The date is May 4, 2013 at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, but registration will close on either April 10 or when all spaces are filled, whichever come first, so don’t delay!
All Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles are welcome, old or new.
Click here to go to the registration page.
Looking at old dealership photos is like stepping into a time machine. One fateful day in what appears to be 1977, an employee at Choshi Mitsubishi in Chiba Prefecture decided to take some photos of his or her workplace. If we’re right about the date, this the same year the original Star Wars debuted and most of the JNC staff was still in diapers. Continue reading
Watch footage from 76 years of Nissan motorsports, starting with the monopoly-piece looking 1936 Datsun racer to the futuristic 2012 Nissan DeltaWing. The video commemorates the new NISMO headquarters grand opening February 26, which will shift the seat of Nissan’s performance arm from Omori, Tokyo to its new home in Tsurumi, Yokohama (the former location of Nissan R&D). Continue reading
We continue with more parking lot finds in Part 04 of our 2013 New Year Meeting coverage. Our previous installment featured some bosozoku style rides that caused some controversy, despite their important place in Japan’s tuning culture. Today’s shakotan style selections are also decidedly old school Japanese, and perhaps will be a bit more amenable to Western tastes. Continue reading
