Hot Wheels‘ “Cars of the Decades” is a special edition series that selects one iconic model to exemplify the decade in which it was born. Each car comes in special packaging and paint schemes reflecting that period — flower power for the 60s, art deco for the 40s. Cars like the ’32 Ford, ’57 T-Bird and ’67 Camaro have embodied their respective eras, but next year the Toyota AE86 Corolla will represent the 80s. Continue reading
This is the new Scion FR-S
Tonight we round out the new Toyota 86 with the launch of its third brand, the US-spec Scion FR-S, in Hollywood, California. Why have we been dedicating all week to a brand new car? Because the reborn Toyota hachiroku is one of the most important cars to be released in the last ten years. It’s definitely important for Toyota, possibly even more so than the Lexus LFA supercar, as it returns Japan’s automotive giant to its sporting roots. Continue reading
2011 Tokyo Motor Show: Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ Unveiled
The Tokyo Motor Show is under way and we were on hand to bring you the first live, in-the-flesh shots of the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ, as well as initial reports on what it actually feels like to sit in the driver’s seat. Continue reading
This is the new Subaru BRZ
Hot on the heels of the Toyota 86 (pronounced “Toyota hachiroku”), Fuji Heavy Industries has unveiled its counterpart, the Subaru BRZ. As expected, differences are minute. The front fascia is cleaner, headlights smokier, taillights redder, the “86” fender badge is now a faux vent, and any triple-oval badges are now the Pleiades system. Continue reading
This is the new Toyota 86
So it’s happened. A nickname coined by gearheads based on a chassis code uttered among only the otaku-est of drift/touge/rally nerds has been plucked from obscurity to become its own actual model name. Over the Thanksgiving holiday ToMoCo announced that the car we’ve known only (in Japan at least) as the FT-86, new FR Sports, or “new lightweight sports car,” will, after much speculation, be called simply the Toyota 86. Continue reading
Occupy Tokyo with your Zokusha on Doukoho
It’s time for our yearly commemoration of Doukoho. On November 22, 1978, over 3000 bosozoku motorcycles and cars swarmed the streets of Tokyo, cruising, parading, revving and generally causing a ruckus. They were out to celebrate the end of an era. Continue reading
Posted in bosozoku, japan
Tagged bosozoku, Doukoho Eve, garuchan, motorcycle helmet law, tsurikawa, zokusha
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Classic CM: Nissan Sunny Lexprix to the rescue!
The 1982 B11 Nissan Sentra was, even by the most generous metric, not a beloved car. Like most automakers Nissan had emerged from the Decade of Disco bruised, battered and choked with performance-sapping emissions equipment. The early Eighties were known for further crippling previously zippy rear-wheel-drive J-tin by transforming cars like the Sunny into a new generation of pullers.
But, the Eighties were also known for birthing the turbocharger! Perhaps the American B11 would not be so easily forgotten if we had received a Sentra-fied version of the 1982 Nissan Sunny Leprix Turbo, which had a 115hp version of the oddball E15ET motor and could apparently bust through colonial deco walls unscathed to foil Tommy-gun-toting kidnappers in a quasi-Western, quasi-1920s gangster orgy of American cinema tropes. But honestly, the Leprix had us already at first sight of its mirror-image “TURBO” grille. Continue reading
Friday Video: 1972 Japan Grand Prix Touring Car Race
It’s a sweltering day at Fuji Speedway and the grid is packed with TE27 Corolla Levins and Nissan Sunnys and (front-wheel-drive!) Cherrys. Watch Nobuhide Tachi win this round of the 1972 Japan Grand Prix Touring Car championships in his famous orange-on-white Toyota Celica 1600GT. That is all. Continue reading
Posted in Friday Video, motorsports, toyota
Tagged 1600gt, celica, fuji speedway, ta22, toyota
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What would you buy if the US changed its import ban from 25 years to 15?
Here’s a cause we can get behind. There’s a petition at the White House website asking for two things. 1.) That the Department of Homeland Security stop wasting tax dollars seizing grey market imports, and 2.) that the DOT and EPA lower its vehicle import age from its current 25 years to 15.
Our neighbors to the north have long had access to some truly brilliant JDM goodies, everything from Honda Beats to Mazda JC Eunos Cosmos, thanks to Canada’s 15 year import restriction. Apparently, their government is wise enough to realize that a few die-hard enthusiasts driving cars from countries with pretty good safety standards already are not going to cause the collapse of civilization. Continue reading
EVENTS: 2011 Art Center Car Classic
The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California is one of the most prestigious transportation design schools on the planet. Its annual car show gathers the best of the automotive world, but its emphasis is not on horsepower or racing. Rather, it’s on design, that elusive quality that elevates some cars to objects of sheer lust, and relegates others to the trash heap of history. We are happy to report that this year saw one of the strongest showings of Japanese cars in the history of the event. Continue reading
Green Bosozoku Celica is simply sublime
Celica fans usually prefer zenki models with the smiley-er smileys and hood flutes, but this is one post-facelift daruma that makes us green with envy. Let’s see if we can name all the zokusha traits this fine specimen exhibits.
- garish color combo and quasi-racing livery
- bubble flares
- racing mirrors
- tsurikawa
- deep, deep, minus-offset SSR MkIIIs
- ankle-slicing air dam
- square headlight swap with two covered in stickers
Please, bosozoku Claus, bring us one and we will be good little boys for the rest of the decade.
2011 Tokyo Motor Show Preview: Retro-electric Honda motorcycle concepts
The Tokyo Motor Show is widely known as a place where Japan’s auto industry cuts loose with the funkiest concepts their engineers can conjure. At the last biennial show in 2009, Honda showcased its future electric tech under a nostalgic, N360-inspired wrapper with the Honda EV-N. This year, they’ll be doing the same with motorcycles. Continue reading
Posted in Motorcycles
Tagged beat, honda, motocompo, motor compo, rc162, rc163, takahashi kunimitsu
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Friday Video: Return of Seibu Keisatsu
It’s been a long while since we’ve seen a car chase from the most famous Japanese cop show of all time, Seibu Keisatsu. The plot is simple — actually, who needs plot? This funk-era free-for-all is all about C210 Skyline Turbo vs 330 Nissan Cedric vehicular pursuits where a single gunshot can blow off major body panels, topped off with a generous helping of police brutality. Assault your senses below. Continue reading
Posted in nissan, Video Games
Tagged 330, c210, car chase, cedric, datsun, gloria, japanese cop show, nissan, prince, seibu keisatsu, skyline, skyline japan
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EVENTS: 2011 SevenStock
SevenStock is SoCal’s annual gathering of all things rotary, a celebration of an engine so competitive it was banned from SCCA, IMSA and Le Mans. This year, the Mazdafarian Mecca was the Pomona fairgrounds, home of the NHRA Museum. That seems only fitting, as the Wankel is also a stupendously capable quarter-mile killer.
In fact, they are so good at it that it’s pretty rare in the States to see an old school rotary with any sort of JDM flair. But this first-gen Mazda RX-7 was oozing JDM cool with bolt-on fender flares, low-down stance and stepped-lip meshies. Continue reading
Subaru celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Sambar
It’s not fast, luxurious or particularly sexy, but the Subaru Sambar is a key part of Japan’s automotive history and one of its first kei trucks. If you’ve ever set foot in Japan you’ll know these little breadboxes are everywhere, scooting down impossibly narrow streets that would beach your average UPS truck at the first turn. The Sambar debuted in October 1961, and Fuji Heavy Industries is commemorating its 50th anniversary. Continue reading
JNC 787B Le Mans Anniversary Shirts now Available!
Our “no outline” Mazda 787B Anniversary Tribute shirts are now available for purchase in the JNC Shop. Sorry for the wait, but many of the most popular sizes sold out at SevenStock.
Our most complex shirt yet proudly features the quad-rotor race machine that won the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans in its iconic orange and green livery. Click here to get one.
Save the planet in style with the JFE Fairlady SR311 EV
Being environmentally friendly doesn’t mean you need to drive a car shaped like a lozenge. The JFE Engineering Corporation in Japan has converted a Datsun Fairlady Roadster to run on electrons. Here it is taking part in an EV car challenge at Tsukuba Circuit. Continue reading
Posted in nissan
Tagged datsun, electric car, fairlady roadster, jfe, nissan, sr311, srl311
5 Comments
SEMA 2011 Part 02: Old School OEM
We were excited to show you some modified nostalgics debuting at the aftermarket circus that is SEMA, but it can be even more rewarding when manufacturers bringing out classics from their own collections. Continue reading
