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
Toyota Registers "86" Trademark
Well this is interesting. Toyota registered the name “86” as a trademark on June 18. Hmmm… Continue reading
Did Barack Obama’s Family Own a Toyota Corona?
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
Posted in toyota, Video Games
Tagged barikan, corona, little obama, obama anak menteng, rt40, toyota
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Happy Fourth of July from JNC
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]
Friday Video: Quite Possibly the Only Car Chase Ever Filmed Involving a Nissan Sunny Cab
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
Posted in datsun, nissan
Tagged cedric, cedric 330, datsun, gloria, japanese cop show, luce, mazda, nissan, rx-4, seibu keisatsu, sunny, sunny cab
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Event Horizon for the Weekend of July 2, 2010
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:
- Friday, July 2 / Torrance, CA: SoCal Japanese Classic Car Meet
- Sunday, July 4 / Conyers, GA: OSJC Meet
JCCS 2010 Registration is Now Open
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.
Posted in events
Tagged japanese classic car show, japanese classic car show 2010, jccs, jccs 2010
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JNC 04 Is On The Way!
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.
SPOCOM Show Adds Old School Category
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.
Friday Video: Another Bosozoku Crackdown
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
Event Horizon for the Weekend of Jun 25, 2010
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:
- Saturday, June 26 / Fountain Valley, CA: Saturday at Seven
- Saturday, June 26 / Los Angeles, CA: SoCal Datsun Roadster Club Nethercutt Fun Run
- Saturday, June 26 / Seattle, WA: The Old School Reunion
Unloved Cars of Tochigi
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
Posted in datsun, honda, kei, nissan, subaru, toyota
Tagged 240z, 430, 510, a30, b110, bluebird, butaketsu, c10, c130, datsun, datsun 1200, fairlady z, gloria, Hakosuka, honda, kei, kgc10, kpgc10, laurel, life, nissan, s30, skyline, sprinter trueno, step van, subaru, subaru 360, subaru r2, sunny, super 6, super six, te27, tochigi, toyota
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Top Toyota Test Driver Killed in Lexus LFA Crash near Nürburgring
Toyota master test driver, Hiromu Naruse, was killed in a crash on Highway 410 near Germany’s Nürburgring circuit today. He was test driving a Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition and was 67 years old. Naruse has been a driver for Toyota since 1963, involved with the development of cars such as the 2000GT, Sports 800, 1600GT, the Toyota 7, AE86, AW11 MR2, Supra, and many others. Toyota employs 300 test drivers, but Naruse was known as the “Meister,” the highest-ranked among them all.
Details are not clear yet; all we know at the moment is that the LFA and ad BMW collided, killing Naruse and seriously injuring the driver and passenger of the BMW as well. Most haunting is his quote from a recent interview in Lexus Magazine: “When we raced the LFA in Nardo, Italy, I thought I might not return to Japan alive.” RIP, Naruse-san. German news report below the fold Continue reading
Kidney, Anyone? Bellatrix Yellow 1967 Toyota 2000GT
Hang on to your organs. This one might cost a kidney, lung and an eyeball or two. You all know the rarity of the Toyota 2000GT, but here is one of 62 originally sold in the US. What’s more, Bellatrix Yellow is not only one of the prettiest 2000GT colors, but one of the rarest as well. According to the seller, who purchased it from a Japanese collector that had brought the US-sold LHD car to Japan years ago, it’s immaculate in every way. Asking price? $375,000. For those who keep track of such things, the serial number is MF10-10147. Find it on BringATrailer.com.
In 1999, we saw a Bellatrix Yellow car on eBay (possibly the same one?). We contacted the seller, who told us the reserve was a cool $150,000. Alas, it appears we’ve missed our chance to get one at a bargain price. Stupid concern for internal organs.
Hat tip to Erik L. and grndfx.
Viva Libre! VTO Performance Retro 4
There’s a new retro wheel on the horizon. The VTO Performance Retro 4 replicates the look of the original American Racing Libre made famous by the BRE Datsuns. Right now the only two sizes available are 13×5.5 and 14×5.5, but they say more are coming. You can order them at FutoFab. UPDATE: FutoFab says, “When the 13×7, 15×7 and/or 16×7 sizes are available we will be looking seriously into having stock on hand.” So it looks like deep dish Libres are coming!
This comes on the heels of the Volk TE37 Vintage, and we have it on good authority that there are more old school barrels being resurrected, though we are sworn to secrecy at the moment. Old school lives!
Posted in datsun, nissan, wheels
Tagged 240z, 510, american racing, bre, datsun, fairlady, fairlady z, libre, nissan, peter brock, retro 4, roadster, vto
8 Comments
Green with Envy: Midori Melon the Rarest Datsun 280ZX?
Forget the Black Gold, Black & Red, or even the Activision Pace Car, this must be the rarest of all the 280ZXs. We’ve been talking about the S130 chassis a lot lately, but if you can indulge us here’s one more mention. In 1983, Midori Melon Liqueur sponsored a contest in which the grand prize was a Midori Green Datsun 280ZX. The tie-in makes sense because although the melon liqueur hails from Mexico, it’s actually a product of Suntory, the Japanese brewery (“midori” is the Japanese word for “green”). However, this isn’t the only rare, green S130. Continue reading
Friday Video: Hamanako to Haneda Airport with the Nippon Datsun Club of 1961
Rather than showing you clips of Nissans cold catapulting over construction sites and Sgt. Daimon blasting fools in the face this week, here’s some footage of real life Nissans and Datsuns just doing what they were built to do.
Recorded on the ancient technology of 8mm film, this video shows the NDC (Nippon Datsun Club) of 1961 driving from Hamanako to Haneda Airport. This 180-mile (290km) trip is more difficult than it sounds. In 1961, Japan had no expressways to speak of, so the journey was taken along Japan National Route 1, which runs along the southern coast of Honshu before snaking through the Hakone Mountains, the birthplace of drifting. Continue reading
Posted in datsun, Friday Video, nissan
Tagged bluebird, datsun, hamanako, haneda airport, nissan, P310, P311, PL310, PL311, PL312
6 Comments
The New and Improved(?) Elderly Driver's Mark
As we reported last October, the Japanese government is changing the time-honored Koreisha Mark. Problem was, senior citizens deemed the current design — a teardrop shaped leaf in fall colors (center) — rather insulting and complained to the National Police Agency, who oversees driving symbols.
Apparently, the elderly did not like to be reminded of their impending mortality. However, even when the autumn leaf is replaced, the Wakaba Mark for beginning drivers will still remain a green and yellow spring leaf.
The four Koreisha Mark finalists are, starting from the top left:
- A four-leaf clover with a stylized “S” for senior
- Circles of various colors, symbolizing the many years lived by our elders
- A bird, heart, and hand combined into one symbol
- Palms symbolizing a harvest of rice
What does this mean for the JNC logo? Nothing, except that it’ll be even cooler to say that the leaf was the old school (well, 1997 old) elderly driver’s mark. Which design do you like the best?
[Asahi Shimbun] Hat tip to Satoshi,
Posted in japan
Tagged beginner driver mark, elderly driver mark, koreisha mark, kourei, shoshinsha, wakaba mark
17 Comments
Shakotan Sedans: Toyota MX32 Cressida and MS65 Crown
JNCer toji004 posted this photo of his butame Cressida and theShaz’s kujira Crown with nothing but the caption “sexy pic.” Not only is it sexy, but sinister too. If these shakotan sleds don’t make all the neighborhood kids run and hide, we don’t know what will.
Event Horizon for the Weekend of Jun 18, 2010
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:
- Sunday, June 20 / Queensland, Australia: All Japanese Day
- Sunday, June 20 / Switzerland: Japanese Young and Old Timer Meet
