Many people want the beauty of a nostalgic car but still need a family hauler that won’t sacrifice modern amenities like working aircon, cruise control and fuel injection. A hakosuka-faced Nissan Stagea is here to answer your prayers. Continue reading
Tokyo Auto Salon 2011: Nissan Roundup
Tokyo Auto Salon 2011: Toyota Takes the Stage
Perhaps the biggest surprise of Toyota’s exhibition at the 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon was not a car, but a person. Company president Akio Toyoda took the stage and spoke about how driving the Lexus LFA in the 24hrs of Nürburgring is giving him renewed determination as an enthusiast. Keep in mind this is not the Tokyo Motor Show; TAS is a strictly aftermarket showcase, and although OEMs have a presence, the fact that Toyoda would personally address fans says a lot about how the company is trying to reconnect with enthusiasts. Continue reading
Posted in events, toyota
Tagged 2000gt, 2011, 3000 km trap, akio toyoda, century, crown, estima, fj cruiser, g's, hiromu naruse, jzs171, mazda, miata, mx-5, noah, pickup, police car, previa, tas 2011, tes concept t-sports, tokyo auto salon, toyota
8 Comments
Tokyo Auto Salon 2011: Electric Boogaloo
There’s a lot to see at the 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon, but let’s start with something both electric and nostalgic. Proving electricity can be fun, the Toyota Sports EV Twin weighs 700kg (1543lbs), can go 160kph (100mph) and has a range of 100km (62mi) on one charge. Continue reading
Posted in nissan, toyota
Tagged 2011, datsun, ev-twin, nissan, sanitora, sports 800, tokyo auto salon, toyota, truck, up15, watanabe, work equip 01, yotahachi
6 Comments
Defi Gauges for Nostalgic Cars
The onslaught of vintage gear keeps on coming. Shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon, Defi gauges for old school cars! Instead of a hellscape orange or aquarium blue, these glow a cool whitish-green and through a proper vintage typeface. These are prototypes, and the company is asking kyuusha fans which style they prefer, and in linked or standalone.
[Nori Yaro] Hat tip to Nils E!
Posted in Aftermarket
Tagged defi, gauges, nostalgic, old school, parts, tokyo auto salon, vintage
7 Comments
Friday Video: The Man Who Stole the Sun Mazda RX-7 SA22C vs RX-5 Cosmo
We posted about 1979’s The Man Who Stole the Sun three years ago but the video has since been taken down. Besides, that one didn’t include the car chase in its entirety, so here’s a new one that does. In fact, the complete movie is available. Continue reading
Posted in mazda, Video Games
Tagged cosmo ap, fb, mazda, rx-5, rx-7, sa22c, the man who stole the sun
1 Comment
Honda and Mazda Team Up to Make Small Cars Fun (Again)
In recent years, the biggest disappointment for Japanese car enthusiasts has been the lack of fun, especially the affordable kind. Gone are the RSXs and MR2s, and aside from the Mazda MX-5, what else is there for the average Joe?
Enter the B-spec class for cars in the sub-Civic class. If you think the use of economy cars for racing is strange, the principals behind it are even stranger. This new racing series was jointly created by new bedfellows Mazda and Honda. Continue reading
Posted in honda, mazda, motorsport
Tagged b-spec, fit, honda, mazda, mazda 2, motorsports, thunderhill
10 Comments
Rays Gram Lights 57V
This time last year Rays Wheels unveiled the Volk TE37V, a version of their iconic tuner wheel sized especially for RWD nostalgics. They couldn’t keep ’em on the pallets, so in 2011 Rays is following up with the new Gram Lights 57V! Continue reading
Have a Bosozoku New Year with Hatsuhinode, First Sunrise Run
Did you spend your January first running from the cops? Then you are probably a fine, upstanding citizen because that’s the preferred New Year’s tradition of the bosozoku. Continue reading
Welcome to the New JapaneseNostalgicCar.com!
Welcome to the brand new JapaneseNostalgicCar.com! It’s a new year and a website redesign is something the JNC team has been wanting to do for a long time. The goal was to get the look of site in line with the look of JNC magazine and update the back end with modern software.
Our next step is to update the forum and the shop, which will be much easier to use and contain many new treasures. Like any project, there will be a few errant gaps to close and bolts to torque, so please bear with us in the coming weeks. We hope you like the new site, and if you have suggestions or see any missing nuts, be sure to let us know!
Posted in jnc
18 Comments
Friday Video: Mitsubishi Galant GTO in 3000km Trap
The 1971 film 3000km Trap tells the story of a young man, played by Jiro Tamiya, whose wealthy businessman father has just lost a golfing bet with the president of a large Hokkaido department store. The wager? The “best sports car on the market,” a Mitsubishi Galant GTO. Continue reading
Posted in mitsubishi, Video Games
Tagged 3000 km trap, galant, gto, jiro tamiya, mitsubishi, shadows on the highway
11 Comments
Kidney, Anyone? 1969 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser
After the 2000GT, the second-most valuable vintage Toyota is not a car at all, but one of the original SUVs, the FJ40 Land Cruiser. Some have exchanged hands for $50,000 plus, and they are one of the few Yotas that are regularly restored to the exacting level typically reserved for high-end sports coupes.
Most wouldn’t buy a Land Cruiser unless the intent was to either go off into the great unpaved wilderness or preparation for a zombie pandemic, and workhorses are usually thrashed until the last limp. Then it’s off to the great glue factory/recycling yard in the sky, making any rust free and un-dinged examples rather difficult to come across. This one on eBay boasts only 53,800 miles on the original engine and a three on the tree manual. The opening bid is a “mere” $22,670.
JDM Legends in Hi-Def Video
We see images of incredible nostalgics all the time, but rarely are they captured so beautifully in dramatic lighting, unhurried tracking shots, and high-definition video. Check out the work put into these historic machines by our friends at JDM Legends in the video below the fold. Continue reading
Start 2011 Off with a Traffic Safety Omamori
In Japanese tradition, one should visit your local temple for New Year’s. There, for a small donation, you can get a wide assortment of omamori, amulets of silk, wood or metal that will bring you good luck in their respective categories. Typically people seek fortune in the realm of love, prosperity and health. And then there are ones concerning the not-so-ancient rituals of, say, driving an automobile. Continue reading
Datsun’s Leaping Hare Hood Ornament Wishes You a Prosperous Year of the Rabbit
The 1935 Datsun Model 14 was Nissan‘s first factory production vehicle and the management deemed, as was appropriate for cars of the era, that a sculpture be affixed to the vehicle’s prow. Luckily, the choice of a figure was right there in the car’s name. Continue reading
Friday Video: Nissan Cedric 330 vs Jeep
Nothing goes together like a funk bass and car chases. Seibu Keisatsu has been known to pit its various Nissan products against Detroit iron before, often to disastrous effect. This time, the Nissan Cedric 330 puts up an admirable off-road fight against a Jeep. It’s hard to imagine a modern mid-size sedan taking this much abuse without immediate spraining of control rods. Unfortunately, plot devices require more action after the commercial break, so the good guys couldn’t call a Nissan Patrol out of the arsenal. Watch the video below the fold. Continue reading
Posted in datsun, nissan, Video Games
Tagged 330, cedric, datsun, gloria, japanese cop show, jeep, nissan, seibu keisatsu
7 Comments
Isuzu Gemini Castor Cup One-Make Race
Poor Isuzu, known mostly for diesel trucks, perhaps the Bellett, and a weasely 80s spokesman. But from the late 70s to the early 90s, it was master of its own one-make race series. Like in Gran Turismo, this often made for interesting competitors when both front- and rear-wheel-drive generations of the Isuzu Gemini (aka Buick Opel / I-Mark) went doorhandle to doorhandle on the circuit. We’ll let Isuzu guru JT191 take it from here with video of the race action below the fold. Continue reading
Posted in isuzu, motorsports
Tagged buick, castor cup, gemini, i-mark, isuzu, one-make race, opel
2 Comments
True Gangster: Chinchilla Dash & Seat Covers
The chinchilla is a squirrel-like creature that has the misfortune to possess a thick, warm, velvety coat of evenly-colored fur. As a result, this native of the Andes Mountains region in South America has been nearly hunted to extinction. Around 2001 the rodent experienced an upsurge among rap lyrics in hat and coat form. But long before that, bosozoku were lining their dashboards and seats in Andean mouse fur. Here is a typical if ill-fitting dash cover, shown on an MS125 Toyota Crown. Peek below the fold to see seat covers. Continue reading
Datsun 240Z Stars in Russ Chimes' Midnight Club Videos
Being the semi-old farts that we are, we do not know why purveyors of electronica have flocked to the Datsun 240Z as the automobile of choice for their music videos. First it was “Like a G6” and “Rocketeer”, both by the Far East Movement. Now there’s this fellow by the name of Russ Chimes who released an EP called “Midnight Club”.
Don’t get your hopes up, though. The three-part story in the music videos have nothing to do with either the Devil Z nor the legendary Japanese hashiriya team Mid Night Club. Instead, it’s about some hipster kidnapping plot whose only saving grace is that it features a yellow 240Z fairly prominently. Watch the videos below the fold if you must. Continue reading
