If you know of or would like to publicize an event, send us a tip at the feedback address at the bottom of this page.
This week:
Fingerpori by Pertti Jarla is a popular comic strip that appears in Finland’s largest newspaper. Today’s comic happens to have one of our favorites, a B110 Coupe! Translation below the fold. Continue reading
We got ours in the mail on Monday, hot off the presses. Yours should be either sitting in your mailboxes or in transit! If you haven’t already, subscribe here.
There are many reasons why Michael Bay’s entire Transformers franchise should be buried under a volcano and ignored for a million years, but perhaps there is one glimmer of hope for JNCers looking for an excuse to watch this, uh, movie. A photographer has caught Shia LaBeouf with a lowered Datsun 510 on the set of Transformers 3 in Milwaukee. Also, someone puts their foot in the engine bay, whatever that means.
UPDATE: Rumors on the Internets now say this is either Bumblebee (yellow/black stripe paint scheme, “Bee-yotch” air freshener) or a doppleganger. Videos and pictures below the fold. Continue reading
Thankfully, Kev did not see quite this much action at his recent outing to the JCCA Classic Car Festival at Tsukuba Circuit. But in 1984, Honda, a long-time sponsor of one-make races, chose its Honda City Turbo II for its latest incarnation of same-spec motorsports. Continue reading
The month of July finds Japan sliding into the midst of a lazy Summer, but it also marks one of the big track events for the JCCA (Japan Classic Car Association). Open to both Japanese and foreign classic cars, there are racing classes that range from mildly modified road cars to wild racers.
Join JCCS, TORC and JNC as we represent the original sport compacts at SpoCom 2010 in Long Beach, California. Today is the last day to register, and you can. follow this link for a coupon code good for $10 off registration. See you there!
We’ve seen what happens in West Tokyo when there’s a bomb on a bus, but pop quiz, hotshot: what do you do when there’s a ticker inside Seibu Keisatsu HQ itself?
You throw that sucker into your C210 Skyline Turbo and full throttle your way out of town using a GPS unit the size of a toaster oven, that’s what! When the Skyline emerges triumphant, the perps resort to sniper fire, and later, a warhead-equipped Cedric. This is also the rare Seibu episode in which you can actually spot a Toyota or two in the background. Watch the clip below the fold. Continue reading
Last December a car surfaced in Russia, one that the owner claimed to be a long-lost Toyoda AA. This was Toyota’s first production automobile, first built in 1936, and is so rare that the Toyota Automobile Museum in Japan doesn’t even own one. They had to construct a replica for display, and while records show that only 1404 Toyoda AAs were built, Russia claims not one, but two AAs. Now, one of them has been purchased by the Louwman Museum in The Netherlands. Continue reading
Well this is interesting. Toyota registered the name “86” as a trademark on June 18. Hmmm… Continue reading
Since we’re coming off the Fourth of July weekend, let’s talk about another presidential nostalgic. There’s a new Indonesian movie coming out about our current Prez called Little Obama, and it clearly shows young Barack riding to his new home in the back seat of a RT40 Toyota Corona. Continue reading
Yes, we know, My Name is Earl has been canceled, but where else are you going to find a nostalgic car painted in the Stars and Bars? Sure, it seems a bit incongruous, but this surely remains the most famous Subaru BRAT ever made — even more so than Ronald Reagan’s. And can you really put a price on fame?
Apparently, yes! Earlier this year Mecum Auctions sold the Subie Ute for $3500, which is pretty standard for a decent-condition BRAT that does not include Jaime Pressly on the hood. Have a safe and fun-filled Fourth of July, everyone!
[Image: IMCDB]
Just when we thought we’d seen it all, here’s an episode of Seibu Keistatsu in which a standard police issue Cedric 330 unmarked does battle with a Datsun Sunny Cab… and loses! Maybe the rare cab-over trucklet was cool enough that the producers didn’t couldn’t bear to see it destroyed.
There are also glimpses of a 2+2 Fairlady Z, Mazda Luce Hardtop (RX-4) and an early-’80s Cadillac Eldorado. Have a safe and happy 4th of July, everyone! Video below the fold. Continue reading
If you know of or would like to publicize an event, send us a tip at the feedback address at the bottom of this page.
This week:
Registration for the 2010 Japanese Classic Car Show is now open! By popular demand, the 6th annual JCCS will be back at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California and will take place on Sunday, September 12, 2010.
If you are new to the nostalgic scene or have been living in a cave for the past few years, the JCCS is simply the biggest and best kyusha extravaganza on the continent. It includes all Japanese marques, stock, resto-mode and race, from the popular to the rare/obscure/JDM. It’s a gathering of cars you will not see anywhere else unless you fly to Japan.
It’s open to any Japanese cars that were first built in 1985 (meaning 1986 MR2, Starion, Z31 300ZX are ok). Spaces are extremely limited, and are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis, and there will be more registrations than spaces, so sign up early! Register here.
Click on these links for extensive coverage of the 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 shows.
We know you’ve been waiting patiently, and it’s finally here! JNC 04 has been sent to the printers and proofed and is being rolling off the presses as you read this. Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at the layout process.
We print each page on high-quality paper and put it up on the wall so we can move them around for the best order and insert ads where appropriate. The yellow Post-Its mark items that need further attention (and believe us, there were a lot of those!), including typos, graphics and fonts that need to be tweaked, page numbering, color correction, “widows and orphans,” kerning, specks of dirt that need to be Photoshopped, and so on.
Expect to receive it around July 9. Date may vary depending on your location.
As the nostalgic car movement gains speed, we are making in-roads into mainstream tuner shows. Case in point: the SpoCom Super Show that takes place every summer at Long Beach has added an Old School category for the first time ever.
It used to be that the only Old School categories were for the Big Three – Ford, Chevy, and Mopar. Now they’ve added a general category for Old School Japanese (1985 and older, but any body style that starts in 1985 is ok, like 1986 Cressida or AE86).
The wonderful people behind JCCS and TORC, who have done so much for our hobby, are making a big push to fill up the show with as many nostalgics as possible, and we want to help! They have a special discounted entry fee ($45 per vehicle includes 2 tickets, regularly $55. Regular admittance is $22.50 for each ticket) that is for old school rides ONLY. So if you’re interested in representing the classics, let us know. The cutoff is July 9. Click here for the coupon code.
Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when the keisatsu put up an all-night road block and bring out the windowless paddy wagons on New Year’s Eve to clamp down on bespoilered bosozoku rides? Some tear off their aero parts and smash them right there on the spot, some leap from moving bikes, others blow right through the blockade, and at least one vandalizes a police van. It’s just another night in Hachioji. Video below the fold. See a previous police encounter here. Continue reading
If you know of or would like to publicize an event, send us a tip at the feedback address at the bottom of this page.
This week:
Location scouting North of Tokyo, we were surprised to pass a yard not filled with the usual rural kei cars — or farming implements — but one filled with an enormous range of nostalgics. Continue reading
