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, April 10 / Riverside, CA : SoCalROC’s 10 Year Anniversary Celebration
Event Horizon for the Weekend of Apr 9, 2010
This week’s contest winning photo proves that the JNC sticker can look just as cool on a modern car as it does on a classic.
Submitted by forum member mommabear. To enter our weekly JNC Stamp Contest, enter HERE.
Past winners.
Posted in contests, jnc, JNC Stamp Contest, nostalgic gear
Tagged contest, jnc, jnc stamp, JNC Stamp Contest, stamp
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Kidney, Anyone? 1971 Honda 1300 Coupe 9
You know that work of art we posted a couple of weeks ago? Here’s what it looks like on the outside. The Honda 1300 Coupe 9 was Old Soichiro’s front-wheeled, air-cooled, quad-carbed answer to the Toyota Corona and Nissan Bluebird, and now it can be yours. There looks to be the typical points of rust on the rear quarter panels and the bottom of the fenders near the rocker panels, but $5500 isn’t a bad price to have the only Honda guaranteed to be without a twin at the next Hot Import Nights. More pics after the jump. Continue reading
Introducing Kuroneko; A Lone Sunny
JNC Blog is proud to present a new blogger, Skorj, aka kuroneko, a photojournalist that we know very little about, except that he just cold waltzed in here and wowed everybody with a bunch of killer snaps. Oh yeah, he lives in Japan and has a penchant for sniffing out J-tin relics. What more could you ask for? So without further ado, let’s get to his first post. -Ben
A Lone Sunny.
Nestled in the hills of Tochigi, perhaps three hundred kilometers from Tokyo is the old copper mining town of Mato. With the mines closed, and literally the last station at the end of the line, it does not get many visitors any more. Continue reading
Counterfeit JNC Stickers Now Available!
Look what April Fools Santa Claus brought us yesterday. Could there be a more appropriate gift for the occasion? An operative in Indonesia managed to track down some counterfeit JNC stickers for us. The JNC staff is already calling dibs on them and upping the ante in Giga Pudding trades for different colored ones.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so, uh, thanks? If you want to represent JNC on your car you now have two great choices: 1.) Book a flight to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and make your way by taxi to the heart of the city where you can hire a local guide to help you scour the mean streets of Jakarta for underground Indonesian sticker pirates, or 2.) Spend $1.99 at the JNC shop. Your call.
Friday Video: Lotus Europa vs. Nissan Fairlady Z Police Car
The platypus-looking Lotus Europa is exactly the kind of oddball foreign car that the Japanese go nuts over. We’ve never see one in the flesh in the US, but we’ve seen several in Nippon. Is that weird?
Anyway, here’s two clips from Circuit Wolf, a live-action adaptation of the manga of the same name. The hero hoons a Europa on public streets while a mean, old, no-fun Jun Q. Law pursues him in a Nissan Fairlady Z patrol car. Though it seems the copper bests him in the first clip, they meet again later in the hills of Hakone and the tables are turned. Watch the videos below the fold. Continue reading
Posted in datsun, nissan, Video Games
Tagged 240z, car chase, circuit wolf, datsun, europa, fairlady z, hakone, japan, japanese, lotus, nissan, police car, s30
9 Comments
Event Horizon for the Weekend of Apr 2, 2010
If you know of or would like to publicize an event, send us a tip at feedback(at)japanesenostalgiccar(dot)com
This week:
- Friday, April 2 / Torrance, CA: South Bay Monthly Meet
- Saturday, April 3 – Sunday, April 4 / Yokohama, Japan: Nostalgic 2 Days
- Saturday, April 3 / Fullerton, CA: Datsun Meet
- Sunday, April 4 / Fort Worth, TX: North Texas Classic Japanese Car Meet
Project Hakosuka Crashes!
We’re at a total loss for words right now, and needless to say Kev is just about devastated. Let this be a lesson: if you’re going to let your friends drive your baby, make sure they know how to handle an old, rear-wheel-drive car that does not have the benefit of electronic traction control. Continue reading
Event Horizon for the Weekend of Apr 16, 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, April 17 / Los Angeles, CA: 40th Anniversary of the Z Car
- Saturday, April 17 – Sunday, April 18 / Dowerin, Australia: Theo’s Run
- Saturday, April 17 / Las Vegas, NV: Island Chain Racing 5th Annual BBQ Potluck
Kidney, Anyone? 1976 IMSA GTU Champion Datsun 240Z
Not just a kidney, but you’ll probably need to part with a retina and a lung or two. For $285,000 you get a slice of motorsports history — the Datsun 240Z that straight up won the IMSA GT/U 2.5-liter championship in 1976. Along the way, it’s been touched by the the legends of American racing. Brad Frisselle, an accomplished driver who went on to race for Mazda, piloted the car. Aerodynamics expert Yoshi Suzuki, who would go on to design the legendary Nissan GTP cars of the early 90s, shaped this yellow and orange bullet. John Knepp and Mac Tilton of BRE fame built the engine and suspension. Dave Kent constructed it (and would later go on to build IMSA Mazda RX-7s). Even BRE driver John Morton took a spin during its championship season. And oh yeah, it makes 400hp. Can we strap a dialysis machine to it?
If you have the dough, contact the Canepa Collection. More photos below the fold, including some from its glory days. Continue reading
Posted in datsun, for sale, motorsports, nissan
Tagged 240z, brad frisselle, bre, datsun, dave kent, daytona, fairlady z, gtu, imsa, john knepp, john morton, mac tilton, mazda, nissan, rx-7, s30
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NUMMI: General Motors’ Wasted Golden Opportunity
Remember when everyone and their cousin was driving an AE82 Toyota Corolla/Chevy Nova? They were coming from Fremont, California’s NUMMI, birthing ground of more than 8 million cars, and it will build its last one tomorrow.
Twenty-six years ago, Toyota and General Motors entered into the joint venture during the height of the import wars. The Big T was destroying GM in quality and growing rapidly in market share. But in an unprecedented move, Toyota invited the General into its factories to observe exactly how every Corolla was built to such high-quality standards, and even trained GM workers in “The Toyota Way.”
Why did the Japanese company open its doors to its biggest competitor? Why did it take so long for GM to learn the lessons? If you keep up with industry news, you’ll likely know the answers — to learn how to build factories in the US; the UAW and GM management — but you’ll probably still learn something by listening to This American Life‘s fascinating hour-long podcast about the factory.
[Image: minkara]
Posted in toyota
Tagged chevrolet, chevy, corolla, general motors, gm, nova, nummi, this american life, toyota
6 Comments
The First Subarus to Rally in North America
Don’t let its humble physique and faded pumpkin orange paint fool you. Long before legions of metallic blue Imprezas, this was the first Fuji Heavy to rally in North America. The Subaru FF-1 took on the Baja 500, baby, and it wasn’t even all wheel drive! Continue reading
Posted in motorsports, rally, subaru
Tagged baja 500, ff-1, leone, mexican 1000, rally, subaru, subaru 1000
9 Comments
Quick Pic: Collection of Mitsubishi Badges
This collection of nostalgic Mitsubishi badges is on display at their corporate museum in Okazaki, Japan.
Posted in mitsubishi, museums, quick pic
Tagged badges, colt, fto, mitsubishi, museum, quick pic
3 Comments
Activision Enduro Datsun 280ZX Pace Car Contest
Hey, remember Enduro? Neither do we. But apparently it was the freakin’ Forza Motorsport of 1983, made for the Atari system. There was a contest where you could win a Datsun 280ZX Turbo pace car in the vein of the Star Wars Toyota Celica giveaway. Not that there was an actual S130 Z in the game: the “spectacular graphics” of the day made your car indistinguishable from a twelve-pixel fiddler crab scurrying across the bottom of your screen.
The pace car served at the Caesar’s Palace Grand Prix, an actual stop on the Formula 1 circuit for 1981-82. The race, which Nissan officially sponsored both times, took place in the casino parking lot. Along with the Z, the winner also got a trip for two to watch the event in Las Vegas. For those not quite as lucky, second place was a Datsun 200SX SL. Ouch, S110 fans. Check out the real car in the video after the jump and “shift into awesome.” Continue reading
Posted in cm, datsun, nissan, Video Games
Tagged 280zx, activision, caesar's palace grand prix, campaign, contest, datsun, enduro, fairlady z, las vegas grand prix, nissan, pace car, race for riches, s130
18 Comments
This week’s contest winning photo is actually a screenshot from Forza 3 for Xbox 360. If you play the game, you can now get a JNC Stamp Logo sticker for your ride!
Goto the storefront and search for “Paul Newman” or “Japanese Nostalgic Car”
Submitted by forum member Datsun-San. To enter our weekly JNC Stamp Contest, enter HERE.
Past winners.
Posted in contests, jnc, JNC Stamp Contest, nostalgic gear
Tagged contest, jnc, jnc stamp, JNC Stamp Contest, stamp
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No More Quarter Pounders: Replace Those Panels
The quarter panel is probably the most daunting section of body to replace on a car. But it doesn’t have to be that way. RatDat has a great how-to write up that makes it seem, well, slightly less daunting.
Friday Video: 1973 Mustang vs Motorcycle
Well now that we know the 1973 Ford Mustang was a real cop car in Japan, here’s a cop show chase involving one. Continue reading
Posted in Video Games
Tagged abunai deka, car chase, ford, japanese cop show, mustang, police car
4 Comments
Sliding Sunnys
The title says it all. Vids below the fold. Continue reading
Datsun 610 and My Adidas Do the Illest Things
How fresh is this? A new Adidas commercial prominently features a Datsun 610 Coupe, fender mirrors and all, beside a bird dancing in pajamas. We’ve been documenting the appearance of J-tin in advertisements for a while now because, well, it’s like a cultural signifier, especially when they appear in fashion commercials. Vid after the jump (Warning or perhaps encouragement: safe for work, but a gaggle of dancing women). Continue reading
The First Sporting Skyline
You know what, we really don’t see enough pre-hakosuka Skylines either. Here’s a Prince Skyline 2000 GT from the New Year Meeting. Would you believe these were raced against the Porsche 904? Though it swept 2nd through 6th at the 1964 Japan Grand Prix beating Japanese and British entries, it lost to the mid-engined Porsche. Which motivated a slightly more aerodynamic Prince R380 the next time around.
[Minkara]
