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
Occupy Tokyo with your Zokusha on Doukoho
Posted in bosozoku, japan
Tagged bosozoku, Doukoho Eve, garuchan, motorcycle helmet law, tsurikawa, zokusha
4 Comments
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
16 Comments
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
13 Comments
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
2 Comments
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
SEMA 2011 Part 01: Old School Modified
SEMA is all about the vast automotive aftermarket, from the tallest donk to the lowest drift machine. One category that has been notably absent is the Japanese nostalgic car, but things are moving in the right direction. One of the pioneers of bringing old school flavor to the biggest car show in the world is Enkei Wheels. Continue reading
SEMA 2011: Datsun 510 at Enkei Wheels Booth
A big company like Enkei Wheels could have just about any car they wanted in their SEMA booth. We are right chuffed that they chose a JNC for this year’s display. It also happens to be wearing their sexy new Apache II…
Photo: Sebastian Hill
UK Barn Find unearths massive Toyota Celica collection and a Mitsubishi Galant GTO
So you found a Cressida owned by a little old lady who drives it to church once a week? Big deal. An enthusiast lucky bastard in the UK who goes by ra28gt on Retro-Rides was looking for Celica parts and got a tip about a guy who might have some. What he found instead was a dusty barn packed with so much J-tin he needed two car carriers to take them home. Continue reading
Posted in for sale, mitsubishi, toyota
Tagged a20, a40, a60, Barn Finds, celica, galant, gto, mitsubishi, toyota
28 Comments
What should Toyota name the C-Pillar found on leaked production FT-86 photos and the 2000GT?
Over the weekend Teh Intarwebs was alight with photos of the production Toyota FT-86, seemingly leaked from a Japanese brochure on FT86club.com. While not as extreme in styling as the Scion FR-S concept, initial road tests say it delivers on everything promised, with handling like that of a Mazda MX-5. UPDATE: Specs leaked. 197 horsepower, 2662 pounds.
But the thing that caught our attention is a comparison to a sports car from Toyota’s past, and it’s not the AE86. Continue reading
Friday Video: Mazda 787B at the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans
As we get ready for SevenStock tomorrow let’s round out Mazda Week with a Japanese documentary chronicling the Mazda 787B‘s historic siege on Le Mans. We are so completely obsessed with this machine that we made a shirt.
The film hails from the early 90s, probably not long after Mazda’s historic win in June twenty years ago. It follows the team during the lead-up, prep, and ultimately the race itself. Ear drums will shatter. Women will weep. Cheesy 90s pop songs will be played. Watch all four parts below the fold. Continue reading
Mazda Luce RX-4 Lost in Time
The Mazda Luce still stands as one of the most beautiful coupes to come out of Hiroshima. Its American market equivalent, the RX-4, is extremely rare but here’s one just cold sitting in a Japanese barn waiting to roar again. Judging by that dust blanket it hasn’t been touched in decades, not even for a peek inside. Heck, even the Cyprus DMZ Toyotas have seen more action. Continue reading
SevenStock Preview: JNC Mazda 787B Anniversary Shirt
Orange and green. For Mazdafarians, the colors instantly evoke the livery of the Mazda 787B. You know the history — the 700-horse monster was the first and only Japanese car to win outright at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the only non-piston car to do so. Mazda entered three 787s, but only the winning #55 car wore Japanese clothing company Renown‘s over-the-top warpaint.
For SevenStock this year, JNC is honoring the 20th Anniversary of this legendary feat. Our tribute shirt will have orange ink over green fabric — look closely, there is no outline — and with three color screens it will be our most complex shirt yet. Continue reading
