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
How do you keep a Toyotaku occupied for days? Well, 2013 is The Toyota Motor Corporation‘s 75th anniversary and as part of the celebration, they’ve released a ginormous interactive family tree that shows every Toyota model ever built. Ever. Sort by model name, body type or engine type, then click on the pop-up bubbles for more information. You can even download a PDF version too. Happy birthday, Toyota!
There’s purists and there’s everyone else. At least that’s how the purists see things. We don’t expect everyone to keep their JNC showroom original, but there are things that simply should not be done.
What’s the worst mod you can make to a classic car?
Our vote goes to upgrading the stereo — holes drilled for amps, wiring harnesses hacked, and worst of all, door panels cut for speakers. See the 1973 Datsun 510 in the above photo for example. It was an original blue plate one-owner car, but the owner decided to cut a big ol’ hole in a piece of un-patchable vinyl that’s now impossible to find. Sadly, this was all too popular a mod during the 80s and 90s.
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, “Who’s the Baddest President of a Japanese Car Company?” Continue reading
We sure feasted our eyes on beautiful examples of Nihon steel in Parts 01 and 02 of our 2013 New Year Meeting coverage. The real show, however, is in the spectator parking area, which is packed full of shakotan sleds and kaido racers too scandalous for the event itself. Continue reading
Discovery Channel Japan’s Retro Car Kings has been recut into English. The one-hour show visits several of Nihon’s classic car builders, with styles varied as the cars themselves. There’s a bit of everything no matter what your poison, whether it’s the pure restorations of TA Auto or the wild engine swaps of Rocky Auto or the kaido Porsches of RWB. Info on the cars themselves is lacking, but it’s nice to hear the men behind these tuning houses describe their differing philosophies. Watch the video below. Continue reading
Today’s MiniCar news is another secret we’ve been dying to tell you for months (and would have if had it not been for Mattel’s legion of embargo enforcement ninjas). One of the rarest nostalgic Hot Wheels to be released this year is going to be the Datsun 240Z you see here. Only about 3,000 pieces will be made and first dibs will go to members of the Red Line Club. Continue reading
A car nut can’t get much better a gig than working for Jay Leno. And once you finish building your custom Datsun 510, like Tonight Show prop master Greg Elliot, the boss man himself might even feature it on his web series and pour heaps of praise upon it.
Leno calls the Voodoo Blue Bluebird “one of the most iconic sports sedans of the early Seventies” and more fun to drive than a modern BMW 3-series. However, his highest acclaim is reserved for when he names it “the ’57 Chevy of the future,” encouraging collectors to snap them up because they’ll never go down in value from this point onward. So, JNCers, if you’ve been holding off on that 510 project, better get one while you can. Continue reading
