Fuji Heavy Industries recently launched the Subaru Philosophy blog, and although it has only two posts so far things look promising. The first describes the origins of the company name and the logo (spoiler alert: the Pleiades constellation), while the second one details the 1966 launch of the Subaru 1000, which was meant to compete with the Nissan Sunny, Toyota Corolla and Mazda Familia. Here’s to the hope of many more archival photos surfacing at this particular URL.
QotW: What’s the coolest vintage barrel?
No other car culture comes close to Japan’s in terms of wheels. The sheer enormity of selection can be matched only by the magnitude of a rim collector’s obsession. From ninja star designs to barrels deep enough to bathe a baby in, variations and possibilities (and prices) know no bounds. So it’s about time a Question of the Week asked:
What is the coolest vintage barrel?
There’s nothing like a black Watanabe, but then again there’s the more-expensive-than-most-cars pink Hayashi Yayoi “sakura” and everything in between. We can’t decide, so it’s up to you, dear reader.
As always, the most entertaining, well-written, or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a random JDM toy. Click through to see the winner from last week’s question, “What car would you buy today to preserve for posterity?” Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week, wheels
Tagged cube, lexus, lfa, nissan, Question of the Week, vintage barrels, wheels
44 Comments
Lexus LFA engineer Chiharu Tamura drives a Subaru 360
Chiharu Tamura may be a hero to many for his work as Deputy Chief Engineer of the Lexus LFA. To us, it’s because he drives a 1968 Subaru 360. Not even 27 of these 20PS kei jidosha would equal a single LFA’s output, but apparently a man who works on a 553-horsepower supercar needs only an air-cooled two-stroke twin to get around. Who says a Toyota–Subaru union can’t yield great results? Check out TTAC for the full profile.
[Image: Bertel Schmidt]
Friday Video: Kamikaze Road V
And now for something completely different, one of the many home-grown videos of Japan’s car culture from the age of VHS. This one’s called Kamikaze Road V, and shows of the somewhat unrefined side of 1980s bosozoku style, when people were throwing anything and everything at their cars and seeing what stuck. Nowadays, the true nostalgic ‘zoku have filtered out some of the gaudier aspects of this era, like excessive venting and Benz grilles, and kept the cool stuff like deep barrels, stretched tires and flares. All we can say is we wish they kept the hair too. Continue reading
Posted in Friday Video, nissan, toyota
Tagged bosozoku, datsun, gurachan, Kamikaze Road, nissan, shakotan, toyota
10 Comments
Four new Choro-Q Zero models spotted at Shizuoka Toy Show
The discontinuation a few years ago of Choro-Q, also known as Penny Racers or Turbo Tricksters to USDM fans, will remain one of the great injustices of modern Japanese society. Last year the line was relaunched as Choro-Q Zero with a focus on 80s-era nostalgics, but the initial four models were all that came of 2011. Meanwhile, we’ve been giving away out-of-production models as QotW prizes while patiently waiting for the reboot to gain momentum. Now four more iconic 1980s Japanese rides have been spotted at the Shizuoka Toy Show, bringing the total to eight. Continue reading
Wednesday Wall: 100 vintage Honda motorcycle wallpapers for your desktop
Honda Japan has given us some beautiful digital artwork for our computer desktops over the years, but mostly of the four-wheeled variety. Well motorcycle fans, your prayers have been answered. In a series called Motorcycle Graffiti, Honda dishes out 100 wallpapers covering the breadth of their two-wheeler history. Continue reading
Posted in honda, Wednesday Wall
Tagged cb400, cb750, honda, integra, monkey, motra, spacy, super cub, superhawk, wallpaper, Wednesday Wall, z50
9 Comments
24 Hrs of LeMons: Rust-Bound Rotary Rides Again
There’s something heroic about a 40-year-old Mazda RX-2 that’s more rust than steel charging down the banked lanes of Texas World Speedway. In this case, however, one may just as easily witness a decidedly unheroic banzai-flagged Mitsubishi Cordia or sombrero-clad Chevy Monza doing the same. Such are the sights of the 24 Hours of LeMons, the not-misspelled enduro series in which $500 is the upper price limit of each participating car. Continue reading
Question of the Week: What new car would you buy today to preserve for posterity?
Inspired by Jason’s article about Project Neo86, this week’s QotW should be obvious:
What car would you buy today to preserve for posterity?
Kev reported that today Toyota Australia announced a starting price of $29,000 for the GT86. For comparison’s sake, a new Aussie MX-5 is $45,000, a Subaru WRX $42,000, and a fully loaded Corolla $32,000. We think that the Scion FR-S‘s affordability is a key reason why it’ll be nostalgic in 2037. It’s price ensures that plenty of young enthusiasts will be able to enjoy them (and beat them to death) today. But in 25 years when they get wistful for the cars of their youth our FR-S will be waiting.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining, well-written, or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a random JDM toy. Click through to see the winner from last week’s question, “What’s Japan’s most luxurious car?“ Continue reading
Project Neo86: Introducing the JNC Scion FR-S
When the original AE86 and Silvia were killed, no one expected that Japan would simply walk away from its automotive roots. But walk they did, and light, agile, affordable RWD cars remained absent from the market for what turned out to be well over a decade. So naturally we went bananas when Toyota announced that the FT-86 would satisfy our yearning for a return of this past period, this irrecoverable condition. After all, that is the very definition of nostalgic, and Nostalgic is our middle name! Continue reading
Posted in Project Neo 86, toyota
Tagged ae86, fr-s, gt 86, hachiroku, Project Neo86, scion, toyota, toyota 86
35 Comments
Motorsports: The Honda S800-based Macransa Tojiro-III
Whilst roaming around the Speedway paddocks for our 2012 Fuji Jamboree coverage we spotted this FRP creation stamped with a vintage Mark of Soichiro below a Honda Twin Cam Club decal. What could this contraption be? Why it’s the 1966 Macransa Tojiro-III, a home-brewed Japanese race car based on the Honda S800. Continue reading
Posted in honda, motorsports
Tagged alpine, dome, fuji jamboree, fuji speedway, honda, lola, lola t70, m63, Macransa T-III, Macransa Tojiro-III, Minoru Hayashi, motorsports, porsche, porsche 904, renault, s500, s600, s800, soichiro honda
8 Comments
EVENTS: 2012 Fuji Jamboree, Part 02
In Part 01 of our 2012 Fuji Jamboree coverage we focused on machines that took to the Speedway. Blood red hakosuka with Okamoto logos? You know those black Wats are ready to cut loose on Fuji’s tarmac. However, as every good otaku knows, the parking area of any Japanese car fest puts on just a good a show as the event itself. Continue reading
Posted in events, honda, isuzu, nissan, toyota
Tagged a20, b210, bellett, butaketsu, c10, c110, c130, c210, celica, daruma, datsun, fuji jamboree, fuji speedway, gc10, gc110, Hakosuka, hayashi, hayashi street, honda, isuzu, kenmeri, kp30, laurel, MkII, motorsports, nissan, publica, ra28, rs watanabe, s500, s600, s800, skyline, ssr, starlet, sunny, sunny excellent, toyota, watanabe, yonmeri
15 Comments
Question of the Week: What’s Japan’s most luxurious car?
From the world’s first production GPS system in the JC Eunos Cosmo to the Cressida’s redundant stereo volume dial next to the steering wheel, Japan has always been a pioneer of automotive luxury. That is why this week we ask,
What’s Japan’s most luxurious car?
The obvious answer is the Toyota Century, the uber-exclusive limousine whose name marked the 100th birthday of Sakichi Toyoda, founder of the Toyota industrial empire. Its overall shape has barely changed since its debut in 1967 and its basic underlying engineering ran for 30 years, until 1997 when its V8 powertrain was upgraded to a V12 that Toyota builds exclusively for this one model. Among the many accessories offered on the Century over the years are a self-leveling air suspension, built-in refrigerator, massaging seats, and a pass-through on the front passenger seat-back so the VIP in back can stretch his legs out while non-verbally dominating the chauffeur with his foot odor.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining, well-written, or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a random JDM toy. Click through to see the winner from last week’s question, “What’s the most overrated nostalgic car?” Continue reading
EVENTS: 2012 Fuji Jamboree, Part 01
If the sight of a Skyline and Savanna in nostalgic warpaint doesn’t stir your soul, we’ll go ahead and notify your next of kin. Add to that a sprinkling of Starlet, Sunny, and a snazzy Japanese-colors retro racing helmet perched just so, as if placed by a set decorator for Rush, and you’ve got to pinch yourself to make sure it’s real. Ouch, it is, and it’s the 2012 Fuji Jamboree. Continue reading
Posted in events, honda, isuzu, mazda, motorsports, nissan, toyota
Tagged 110s, 1600 sports, 2000 sports, 240z, 260z, 280z, 330, 510, advan, alpine, b110, bellett, bluebird, bmw 2002, c10, c110, c130, cedric, cosmo sport, datsun, europa, fairlady roadster, fairlady z, familia, familia rotary coupe, fuij speedway, fuji jamboree, fuji speedway, gc10, gloria, gordini, gt-b, gt-r, Hakosuka, honda, isuzu, kenmeri, kgc10, kgc110, kpgc10, kpgc110, laurel, lola t70, lotus, m63, macransa, mazda, motorsports, nissan, passol, porsche 904, publica, r100, renault, rs watanabe, rx-3, s30, s500, s54, s600, s800, savanna, skyline, sports 800, starlet, sunny, toyota, toyota sports 800, wagon, watanabe, yamaha
19 Comments
Benvenuto l’Alfa Miata! Mazda X Fiat collab announced
And so it comes full circle. In 1989 Mazda launched the template for the modern roadster, the MX-5 Miata. It was so pure in formula that the Japanese model name was simply “Roadster,” a tribute to British and Italian droptops of yore. Except they weren’t really of yore. Alfa Romeo’s Spider was still clutching onto the segment for dear life with technology that was three decades old, and yet somehow that was the US market’s roadster of choice.
The rise of the Miata ushered in a new era of top-down two-seaters like the BMW Z3, Porsche Boxster and Mercedes SLK, driving the final coffin nail into the very roadsters that inspired it. Alfa retreated from our shores into the waiting arms of Fiat, where Italy’s GM slowly sucked out any remnants of its soul.
Yesterday in Japan Mazda announced that a new tie-up with Fiat that will give Alfa Romeo the MX-5 platform for an as of yet unnamed roadster. Cue African “Circle of Life” chant! Continue reading
Posted in mazda
Tagged alfa romeo, eunos, mazda, miata, mx-5, na, nb, nc, racing mate, roadster
20 Comments
Question of the Week: What is the most overrated nostalgic car?
We’ve asked what the most underrated nostalgic was, but we neglected to find its flip side. Thus we ask you this week.
What is the most overrated nostalgic car?
The one car which we had high expectations for — because of it’s flame-spitting 450 horsepower Group A circuit victories — was the Skyline R31 GTS-R. 800 made homologation special, RB20DET-R motor with plenty of bespoke touches like a tubular high mount manifold for the giant T04E blower, massive intercooler bigger than the radiator, and more. The first time I jumped into one was 30 seconds before powering onto the track. And my first impression was, “This thing is broken.”
It poured itself glacially onto the pit lane exit like we were driving Ms Daisy with my right foot welded to the firewall. 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 rpm passed without any meaningful acceleration. At 5500 the boost gauge began to indicate that the oversized huffer was beginning to show some interest. By 6000rpm the scenery was starting to blur. But at 7000rpm the rev limiter called an end to play. Couple this paper-thin powerband with very soft, understeery handling and you end up with a car that was virtually impossible to guide to a decent laptime. Maybe one corner in five you get the perfect (and extremely rare) combination of engine on boost, and chassis hooked up enough to get the tail drifting to help out the overheated front tires.
A real disappointment, and an object lesson that what is good for the racers, is often not so great for the street. The previous R30 RS-Turbo was a far better car in comparison.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining, well-written, or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a random JDM toy. Click through to see the best comment from last week’s question, “Which Japanese car was the biggest manga star?” Continue reading
Posted in manga, minicars, nissan, Question of the Week
Tagged choro-q, minicars, nissan, Question of the Week, r31, skyline, subaru, subaru 360
39 Comments
Akio Toyoda’s favorite cars built by Toyota’s rivals
In case you needed more proof that Akio Toyoda is a car nut of the highest order, yesterday the ToMoCo head honcho rattled off his favorite cars that are not Toyotas. The occasion was Toyoda’s inauguration as chair of JAMA, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, but in this day and age finding a CEO that will praise his competitors is rarer than rocking horse poop. Continue reading
Posted in isuzu, mazda, mitsubishi, nissan, toyota
Tagged 110s, acura, akio toyoda, bellett, cosmo sport, dakar, honda, isuzu, mazda, mitsubishi, montero, nissan, nsx, pajero, skyline, toyota
5 Comments
Vintage Toyotas spotted on the set of Ron Howard’s Rush
Hollywood doesn’t exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to movies for the die hard car nut but hope looms on the horizon. Ron Howard’s Rush, a biopic about the legendary rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda during the 1976 Formula One season, is filming now and is due for release in early 2013.
The team behind the project is excellent — the director of Apollo 13 and Backdraft, the writer of Frost/Nixon and The Queen, and the producers of last year’s Senna — but the real promise lies in the photo above, shot by Top Gear. Continue reading
Posted in toyota, Video Games
Tagged celica, crown, daruma, f1, formula 1, fuji speedway, james hunt, kujira, ms75, niki lauda, ra21, ra22, ron howard, rush, s60, ta21, ta22, toyota
5 Comments
Friday Video: New NSX commercial could explain what’s wrong with Honda
Remember in the 80s and 90s when Honda could do no wrong? Compare those steallar lineups to the current one and even the most die hard Honda head is asking himself, “What in Soichiro’s name is going on?” Honda Japan’s latest commercial could explain. Continue reading
EVENTS: 2012 All-Toyotafest, Part 04
We’ll let Patrick Ng‘s gorgeous TE27 kick off the fourth and final installment of our 17th Annual All-Toyotafest coverage. This tasty mango began life as a 1973 SR-5, an ultra-rare US-spec version of the Corolla Levin, with metal flares and all straight from the factory but minus the twin-cam 2T-G. Patrick’s ground-up resto-mod addressed that particular issue and added a whole lot of period correct TRD goodies to boot. It was the perfect car to have at the JNC booth. Continue reading
Posted in events, toyota, trucks, vip, wagons
Tagged 2012 All-Toyotafest, 4runner, 5-axis, a60, ae83, august, aw11, barikan, camry, celica, corolla, corona, e70, estima, feroce, five axis design, fj40, fj45, fr-s, gt 86, hilux, junction produce, kp61, land cruiser, levin, liftback, ma61, mr2, n1, pickup, previa, ra21, ra22, ra28, ra29, riverge, riverside, rs watanabe, rt40, rt52, s-5, scion, soarer, sprinter, sr-5, ssr, star shark, starlet, stout, supra, sw20, t40, te27, te72, tom's, tosco, toyota, toyota 86, toyotafest, trd, trueno, v10, vip, watanabe, work wheels, z10
16 Comments
Five Axis Design developing Retro Series Scion FR-S
Five Axis Design is well known for creating stunning aero kits and drool-inducing concept cars for Scion, Toyota and Lexus vehicles. But in the midst of all the SEMA-style glam, if you looked closely there were always clues that an old school heart was beating beneath. So when the production neo-hachiroku hit the streets we knew they’d have something special in store and they proved us right. Today Five Axis Design announced the development of a Retro Series Scion FR-S. Continue reading
Posted in toyota
13 Comments
