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This week:
The Group B Mazda RX-7‘s brief claim to fame was a podium finish at the 1985 Acropolis Rally amidst a field of AWD monsters like the Audi Quattro. But Mazda threw its weight behind its Group A 323 and Group B was dissolved the following year anyway. You don’t really see much footage of these cars, and this guy’s really giving it some. Continue reading
Unlike some rural areas of Japan, the blue-skied Miyagi-ken, in the northern areas of Honshu, seem to be retaining their prosperity. The cows live indoors, the residents drive new cars and build new houses — even some in Meiji-era castle style, never a cheap undertaking. New roads are paved, farmlands across the region are worked constantly, and few (if any) lost cars litter the landscape. Continue reading
For those in love with the lines of the kenmeri Skyline, these design sketches from Car Styling gives us a peek into what could have been. Imagine the alternate universe in which one of these designs was chosen for the production KGC110. The Skyline’s signature quad afterburners may have never existed!
Continue reading
After watching the video above on Retro-Classics, Ben asked me about the connection between this DR30 Nissan Skyline and its role in Australian racing history. Continue reading
In this brief but heart-wrenching video, we see the tragic demise of two JNCer favorites, a VC110 Skyline Van — a kenmeri wagon in English — and a zenki Mazda Luce/RX-4/929 whose bumpers some of us would eat a live tarantula for. Just another day in Seibu Keisatsu-land.
One of the curious aspects of Tokyo living is the often cliched perspective of the new vs. the old. The fall-back standard for no-need-to-think international correspondents who like to show keitai girls in yukata, shinkansen and rice-fields, cosplay and temples, neon and whatever. Continue reading
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This week:
Guest blogger Stephen Rossini is a photographer and Datsun enthusiast from New York who has been following Bonneville hopeful Barry Brown and his Datsun 620.
Barry Brown and co-driver Jeff Benson of Riter Automotive, Rochester, New York made their first leg to get to Bonneville. Their prepared 1976 Datsun 620 truck was entered this weekend in the ECTA speed trials at Maxton, North Carolina. This being a new venue for both drivers and a new untested truck, both drivers were able to be signed off and Jeff was able to break the current record in F/PMP class with a 123 MPH run breaking the record previously held at 119MPH. Riter Automotive will now prepare the truck to run at Bonneville in the fall. Continue reading
Remember last week’s nostalgic Honda wallpapers by BOW? Here are some Subarus for your desktop backgrounding pleasure.
[Subaru]
Well, well, well. It seems that Nissan is not about to let Mazda usurp the iconic BRE livery after all. Just days after the announcement of a factory-backed BRE Mazda MX-5, Nissan says they will revive the graphics on a 2010 NISMO 370Z, to be unveiled at the BRE reunion dinner at the Classic Motorsports Mitty this weekend. Continue reading
Apita is a supermarket chain in Japan, and a good a place as any to meet up for a cruise.
[Minkara]
Autoweek’s 40th Anniversary of the Nissan Z: In conjunction with the release of the 40th Anniversary Nissan 370Z, Autoweek is devoting much of its upcoming bi-weekly magazine to the Z-car.
[Autoweek]
It’s been 37 years since factory-backed Brock Racing Enterprises livery was seen on the tracks. The weekend, BRE livery will ride again at The Mitty, where the Datsun race team of yore will be the honored racing legend this year. But instead of a Datsun Roadster, 510 or 240Z, it’ll be on a Mazda. The idea was a joint effort between Peter Brock and John Morton and Mazdaspeed, and you can read the genesis of the project in the press release below. Continue reading
Why are we so fascinated with the bosozoku lifestyle? Is it the outrageous rides, the demented hoonage, or the don’t-give-a-crap attitude? Here’s someone who is not fascinated: the police. In this footage from 1993, the Japanese constabulary put up an all-night roadblock to crack down on bosozoku antics, likely picking up every Toyota Soarer west of Narita. Continue reading
We like pig butts and we cannot lie. Rocky Auto has long been the purveyors of nostalgic Nissans prepped for the Modern Age. And although the focus of their bionic creations are typically S30 Zs or hakosuka with RB26 motors in either naturally aspirated or turbo form, this time they’ve chosen a butaketsu.
But this boar’s badonkadonk is anything but piggish. It might look like your typical shakotan 1976 Nissan Laurel 2000SGX on the outside, but Rocky Auto being Rocky Auto, you’ve got RB powahh! And not just any RB, the RB20DET so it can stay in the 2000cc class! And this KHC130 can be yours for ¥3,980,000, which translates to nearly $43,000, shipping not included. More photos after the jump. Continue reading
Gasp, Foreign Street Rod! Anyone who’s been to Toyotafest or JCCS has seen the Mooneyes Toyopet Crown V8, but once upon a time it was a cover car for Custom Rodder magazine. However, the entire article is spent defending the very idea of an Japanese rod with no background on the S30 Crown itself. Yes, kids, it was a time when custom imports were simply unthinkable, and that time was, uh, 1996, actually. Read the whole article on Riverside.
[Hat tip to Zeb Lux]
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:
Kazuhiro Ikeda is one of Japan’s most well-known automotive artists. Going by his pen name BOW, he has drawn for Car, Car Graphic, Cycle World, and many others. Not only do his drawings of vintage machines look fanciful and fantastic, they drip with Rockwellian nostalgia. Honda Japan has a huge wallpaper gallery where you can download his illustrations of Hondas old and new, everything from S600 to S2000, or the mighty NSX to an unassuming lawn mower.
