We get so used to concepts like takeyari and tsurikawa it’s easy to forget that for some, it’s a mind-blowing world. Here’s a look at AOL Translogic’s tour of Japanese modding culture. Continue reading
A Gaijin Looks at Japanese Modding Culture
Event Horizon for the Week of November 29, 2010
This week:
- Friday, December 3 / Torrance, CA: SoCal Japanese Classic Car Meet
- Saturday, December 4 / Irwindale Speedway, CA: Motormavens Mass Appeal @ Gymkhana Grid
Ready to Wangan: 1979 Mazda RX-7
Something for the Mazdafarians: an off-white Hiroshima screamer sitting on red Enkei 92s. The black A-pillars give the SA22C the illusion of a cantilever roof and adds to the overall feeling of lightness. Want.
[cVon12]
Friday Video: Datsun 280Z vs. Chevy Chevelle
You are not experiencing a deja vu. This is the second consecutive week in which we’ve had a car chase involving a brown, late-model Datsun Z. This one hails from a completely different continent — ours, in fact. Robert “Mannix” Forester gets behind a Chevy Chevelle to chase down a car thief in a stolen 280Z 2+2 in the 1983 film Vigilante. Video below the fold. Continue reading
Posted in datsun, nissan, Video Games
Tagged 240z, 260z, 280z, car chase, datsun, fairlady z, nissan, s30, vigilante
4 Comments
Event Horizon for the Week of November 1, 2010
This week:
- Tuesday, November 2 / Torrance, CA: Toyota Automobile Museum Grand Opening
- Friday, November 5 / Torrance, CA: SoCal Japanese Classic Car Meet
Boyd Coddington Custom 17 & 18 Inch Celica Supra Wheels
The Toyota Celica Supra P-Type is one of the best looking OEM wheels ever made. The classic four-spoke alloy was delivered stock with the MA61 from 1982 to 1986, and although the L-Types had a 15×6 option, the wider P-Type 14×7 is the most desirable. Almost 30 years after their introduction, they’re a staple of any self-respecting Toyotaku’s garage stash, and make appearances on everything from AE86s to Cressidas.
Now, some enterprising enthusiasts on CelicaSupra.com have remade them in 17- and 18-inch sizes. Continue reading
What a Datsun 240Z Looks Like Going 173 MPH
Remember the Datsun 240Z that recently broke the F/GT Class record at the Bonneville Salt Flats? Here’s a video on Rebello Racing of what that looks like from the cockpit. Or is that footage from a Space Shuttle launch? No, it’s the Z.
[Image: ClassicZCars]
Posted in motorsports, nissan
Tagged 240z, 260z, 280z, bonneville, burton brown, datsun, fairlady z, nissan, s30, speed record
6 Comments
Mazda Assembly Lines Through the Ages
Straight outta Hiroshima, let’s take a journey through Mazda’s assembly lines over the years. The above is a 1980 plant churning out the SA22C RX-7 Savanna by the boatload. Continue reading
Posted in mazda
Tagged assembly line, cosmo, familia, hb, k360, mazda, r100, r360, rotary coupe, rx-7, sa22, sa22c, savanna
12 Comments
Awesomeness Lurks at the Swiss Toyota Museum
It’s been a while since we checked into the Swiss Toyota Museum, but this photo from their newsletter that recently landed in our inbox makes us want to pack our bags and high-tail it to the Alps. Here is a list of their cars and more photos await below the fold. Continue reading
Posted in toyota
Tagged celica, century, corona, crown, mark II, ms65, sports 800, swiss toyota museum, toyota
4 Comments
Friday Video: Datsun 260Z Drifts Through Zandvoort, Sorta
If anything, the Dutch rival the Japanese for television weirdness, so we’ll ignore the plot of this Bassie & Adriaan episode and cut straight to the chase. In it, a Datsun 260Z pursues a clown in a Matra Rancho. There are some primitive attempts at drifting and pointless 360s, but it’s fun to watch this brown bandit scooting across the Netherlands’ Zandvoort circuit. Video below the fold. Continue reading
Posted in datsun, nissan, Video Games
Tagged 240z, 260z, bassie adriaan, car chase, datsun, fairlady z, nissan, s30, zandvoort
5 Comments
Gallbladder, Anyone? Citrus Green Datsun 280ZX
Would you rather have: a super low mileage gem, or an ultra rare color? Citrus Green is likely the rarest color ever to grace a Datsun 280ZX, excluding the one-off specials. It’s the color I’d have because I dig oddball hues that have no business coating a modern car, but seem oh-so-right for its era. It was available only in 1979, and according to some sources there were fewer than 100 Citrus Green 280ZXs sold in the US, surpassing in rarity the 10th Anniversary Black & Red cars (of which there were 500). And unlike the 12,000-mile Turbo we saw recently, this is a 5-speed. See more photos below or at the auction on eBay. Continue reading
Posted in datsun, for sale, nissan
Tagged 280zx, citrus green, datsun, fairlady z, nissan, s130
11 Comments
Enkei Wheels Resurrects Enkei 92 Mesh Rim
Need some nostalgic meshies that haven’t seen one too many pothole and aren’t stricken with a classic case of curb rash? The old school revivals keep on coming with the (re-)introduction of the Enkei 92! Continue reading
Japanese Nostalgics at the 2010 Art Center Classic
The Art Center College of Design is one of the top transportation design schools in the world, and each year the Art Center Classic gathers some of the world’s best automotive forms in a show that would make Jeremy Clarkson weep with envy. Continue reading
Posted in datsun, events, nissan, toyota
Tagged 1600 sports, 2000gt, 300sl, 356, 8c, 911, alfa romeo, art center classic, art center college of design, bugatti, datsun, f40, fairlady roadster, ferrari, mercedes, mini, nissan, porsche, sls amg, spl311, sports 800, toyota
5 Comments
The Toyota Truck: Weapon of Choice
Car enthusiasts have long noticed that news footage from war-torn regions inevitably result in grainy shots of heavily armed men overflowing from the beds of Toyota pickups. Whether it’s rebels, guerillas, insurgents, counterinsurgents or, on occasion, the US Special Forces, the Toyota truck has become as ubiquitous on the battle field as the AK-47. Now Newsweek is taking an in-depth look at the history of Toyotas on the war front. Continue reading
Friday Video: How to Kill a President
Before the feds kick down our door, let’s clarify: a Nissan President. Although the hero Nissan Leopard F31 (aka Infiniti M30) never comes face to face with said President in this episode of Abunai Deka, it does chase down a freight train laced with explosives and a koala bear ordinance. Video below the fold. Continue reading
Posted in datsun, nissan, Video Games
Tagged abunai deka, datsun, f31, japanese cop show, leopard, nissan, president
2 Comments
Event Horizon for the Weekend of October 15, 2010
The Art Center Car Classic is a design focused car exhibition that features high end European and American classics. This year, nostalgics will be making a strong case for Japanese automotive design. Among others, see the Toyota 2000GT and Lexus LFA this Sunday in Pasadena!
This weekend:
- Sunday, October 17 / Pasadena, CA: Art Center Car Classic
Honda Fit RS Now Road Sailing in Sunset Orange
The Honda Fit has taken up the small-car slot that the Civic 1200 once held in the automaker’s US lineup. So it’s no surprise that when Honda resurrected the RS badge that first appeared on the 1974 Civic RS, they put it on the pocket-sized hatch. And with the recent introduction of the Fit Hybrid and mid-model update of the Fit line, there’s a new RS as well. Skorj has gone ahead and photoshopped them in a Two-Face type amalgam. Look how nicely they “fit,” har har. Continue reading
C31 Laurel
John and Ben posted the C32 earlier this week. But this C31 Laurel is badasser. Pillarless, check!
Kobayashi Tire & Wheel: Old School Japanese Garage
Kobayashi Tire & Wheel is totally old school. How old? According to its website, the tire & wheel shop was established way back in 1923! You can tell this isn’t your run-of-the-mill JDM version of Big O Tires, because they didn’t open up their second chain until 1997.
The best part is, they’ve taken (and developed, and subsequently scanned and posted) a Mazinger-sized library of photographs from the heyday of chrome bumpered motoring. Continue reading
Posted in datsun, honda, isuzu, mazda, mitsubishi, nissan, toyota
Tagged 117, 240z, 510, b110, b210, bluebird, c130, caravan, carina, celeste, celica, cherry, civic, corolla, datsun, fairlady z, g-nose, galant, gemini, gto, Hakosuka, honda, isuzu, kenmeri, lancer, laurel, levin, liteace, mazda, mitsubishi, nissan, rx-3, s30, skyline, sprinter, sunny, te27, town ace, toyota, trueno
14 Comments
C32 Laurel
Tsurikawa, check. Shako stance, check. Two-tone, check. Work Equip 03s, check. RB20DET? Possibly. Don’t get us wrong. We’re grateful for the Cressida, but sad that Nissan never brought this rival to the Toyota luxemobile stateside. There can never be too much 80s boxiness.
Posted in nissan
Tagged c32, cressida, datsun, laurel, mark II, nissan, toyota, work equip 03
5 Comments
