The annual celebration of Japan’s competition-bred cars known as the Motorsports Japan Festival was held recently. Here’s an awesome photo of some old school circuit warriors courtesy of Speedhunters. From front to back, That’s a Honda Civic, a Nissan Sunny, Toyota Starlet (?) and Prince Gloria. The best part about this event is that all the major manufacturers take part, and even deafen the crowd by running the race cars in a closed parking lot demo!
Vintage Racers at Motorsports Japan Festival
Defi Takeover of Trust Rumors
Last month the bankruptcy declaration of Trust, one of Japan’s most respected tuning houses and parent company of GReddy, surprised many in the Japanese auto aftermarket industry. But it looks like they will stay afloat to fight another day. Rumor from Japan has it that Nippon Seiki, makers of Defi brand gauges, will supply the necessary cash infusion needed for Trust to continue normal business operations. Defi has been a supplier of gauges to Trust for a while now, and their finances seem to be on the plus side. That’s good news, but we’re not if sure this is just a temporary fix for a much bigger issue – the overall decline of car enthusiasm in Japan. We hope that companies as storied as Trust can continue to support Japanese car enthusiasts like they have since 1977, but only time will tell.
[Image: Trust]
Toyota Carina Escapes Motorcycle Gang
Here’s some footage of a very rare and very sleek Toyota Carina TA17 Hardtop. Leather-clad motorcyclists are so captivated by the Carina that they stop lurking in the shadows and give chase. Illuminated only by their headlights, the car is the star of what might just be the most poorly lit commercial of all time. What are these mysterious bikers trying to do, exactly? Oh, simply admiring the ride and not attempting to being threatening in any way whatsoever, as it turns out. And despite having a blinding spotlight shined into his face, the driver just flashes a relaxed smile and takes off.
UPDATE: Our Japanese friends have told us that the driver is actor Sonny Chiba!
Nostalgic Car Events for the Weekend of 10/25
Here are some more events coming up for this weekend, and for once it’s for you east coasters! First up, for those south of the Mason-Dixon you’ve got the Nostalgic Japanese Street Fighters meet sponsored by Zero Garage in, um, Cumming, Georgia. This is one of the fastest growing groups in the country, and they are aiming to have over 100 cars there this Satruday, October 25.
Then, if you can book it all night up I-95 like you’re haulin’ moonshine across state lines, maybe you can just make it to the Team Toyminator old school Toyota Parts Swap on Sunday, October 26 in South Plainfield, New Jersey. Just be careful of Smokey!
[Image: I95highway.com]
Another Japanese Classic Car Show, in Brisbane
We yanks just had our Japanese Classic Car Show, but so did the Aussies, a week prior! Thanks to down under JNCers B1500boy and Saru for the photos. Check out the unique assortment of weird J-tin that we never recieved in the States… Datsun 240Ks, Isuzu Bellets, and weird Mazdas like the ones in this pic. Much obliged, mates.
How ‘Bout Some Dodge Colt, Forty-Five?
Don’t you hate wasting good alcohol when tippin’ a 40? The solution: start out with a Colt 45 for five extra ounces. For JNCers who live overseas, Colt 45 is an American brand of malt liquor that, due to its cheapness, is far more popular as an ironic pop culture reference than an actual beverage. The brewers, though they would never admit it, obviously got a lot of mileage in name recognition because Colt 45 sounds suspiciously similar to the name of a popular .45 caliber handgun made by Colt Firearms.
Perhaps to prove that many things can be named Colt, Pabst Brewing enlisted the help of a Dodge (née Mitsubishi) Colt, hot rodded in gaudy 70s Corvette Summer style, for a commercial. Also, it’s piloted by star of 70s sitcom Sanford and Son Redd Foxx, who drives it off a ski jump to deliver a six-pack to Billy Van, an even more obscure 70s TV personality. Can one have too much 70s nostalgia? Apparently, yes.
[Jalopnik]
EVENTS: Japanese Classic Car Show 2008
Highly anticipated pics from the 2008 Japanese Classic Car Show are up. It was the best JCCS yet, and the 345 photos in our gallery prove it!
JNC at the JCCS
The Japanese Classic Car Show has come and gone. It was a phenomenal event, as always. We are going through our mountain of pics and will post them later tonight, but there’s one very important pic we forgot about: our JNC booth!
Dan and I were taking turns manning the table – selling magazines, stickers and T-shirts, trying to get people to subscribe, etc. – while also trying to scout the show for potential profile articles, talking to potential advertisers, and of course, taking hundreds of photos for you guys!
So thanks to Toyotageek, who snapped this pic, or we wouldn’t even have one of our wagon at the show! You can see more of his photos at his Flickr page. Also, a special thanks to everyone that stopped by. It was great meeting all of you JNCers in person. Arigato!
Datsun Roadster Does La Carrera Panamericana
Issue 2 of JNC should be arriving in mailboxes this week, and in it you will find an article about Lucha Libre Racing. Or you might have seen the team’s 1967 Datsun 1600 Roadster in the race car corral at the JCCS this weekend. It’s the first Japanese car to race La Carrera Panamericana, the legendary road race that takes competitors 2000 miles across Mexico in the course of one frantic week. Streching from the Guatemalan border to Texas, it’s one of the toughest races in the world.
This year, owner Michael Emery is mounting a second attack on La Carrera. He’s also raising money to buy school supplies for Mexican children, so please check out his entertaining blog and help out with a T-shirt or sticker purchase if you can. JNC advertiser Pack Racing/VTO Performance went the extra mile by custom-making a set of 15-inch superlite wheels for the car!
JNC also bought a small square of real estate on the Datsun’s flanks, and we are excited to report that soon our logo will be hurtling across Mexican highways when the race kicks off on October 24. We wish LLR the best of luck!
Toyota Supports JCCS
We often give Toyota a hard time about not doing enough for the enthusiast (especially old school ones) here at JNC, but we’re glad when the Big T proves us wrong. Toyota recently sent an email out to its e-subscribers about this Sunday’s Japanese Classic Car Show. They also posted the article on their Behind the Wheel website. Notice that they cut out the other cars (except the Corolla) from the flyer. Ha ha, just kidding. Unlike Nissan, Toyota is an official sponsor of the event, and we nostalgists are pretty thankful for that. We’re also jazzed that they’re telling non-vintage customers about it!
Click for coverage from the 2007 and 2006 JCCS shows. Thanks to Toyotageek for the tip!
JNC Wagon Breaks Down… at a Junkyard
Yesterday we were down at the local pick-a-part scavenging some parts for the JNC Wagon. Nothing major, just some trim and a turn signal lens. It’s supposed to be at the JCCS this Sunday, so it has to look good! As we left, one of the Cressida’s front wheels made a god-awful screech, like 10,000 forks simultaneously dragged across a chalkboard, followed by a loud pop.
The parking lot of a junkyard is the best place in the world to have a breakdown, but stupidly, we continued driving in an effort to diagnose it. Grinding noises ensued. Then pinging. Suddenly, after a loud snap, we lost braking and steering. Gah! Continue reading
Reminder: JCCS on Sunday Sunday SUNDAY!
For any of you even remotely close to SoCal this weekend, be sure to attend the Japanese Classic Car Show! Remember, the show is in a new location this year, at Hidden Valley Park in Irvine, California. With hundreds of nostalgic Datsuns, Toyotas, Hondas, Mazdas, Mitsus and more, you won’t want to miss it. Doors open at 9am on Sunday, October 12. Click for coverage from the 2007 and 2006 shows.
P.S. Stop by the JNC booth and say hi!
EVENTS: SevenStock XI
Article and photo gallery from last week’s Seven Stock XI are up. Wankelers, enjoy!
JNC Issue 2 Sneak Peek
Let’s close off the week with a sneak peek of JNC Issue 2. It should be in your mailboxes shortly. Have a good weekend, everybody!
JDM Restore! Auto Service Machinaga
Now here’s something interesting…a classic car bodyshop in JDMland that keeps a pictorial blog of all the interesting cars they do. The shop in question is Auto Service Machinaga, in Kobe.
Check out their blog for more detailed step by step pictorials of their bigger jobs (click on the Toyota category for a start) but after the jump, you’ll find some cool vids of a TE27 Levin and a TA22 Celica GTV that they did pretty thorough repaints on in classic army green.
Goo-Net! Hours of Fun for the Whole (JDM) Family
So. You are aware of Yahoo Auctions and you know of a few classic car dealership websites in Japan. But what if you want to cast your net even wider? What if there was a website, that was in English, that allowed you access to for-sale ads for hundreds of thousands of cars in Japan?
Well there is such a thing. It’s called Goo-Net.
Fast Eddie and the Skyline
As a follow-up to Ben’s post a few days ago on Paul Newman’s passing, here’s more on his association with the Skyline. Check out Youtube (do a search for “skyline CM”) and Newman would be most visibly linked with the R30 series, having done quite a lot of commercials for that generation of Skyline.
In fact, Newman was asked to be the spokesperson for the new Skyline range when the R30 replaced the C211 series. The C211 was beginning to falter in the Japanese market, and so Nissan felt that a return to the Skyline marque’s sporting roots was in order. This necessitated a change in image too, and Newman’s distinguished and athletic visage fit the bill perfectly and his impeccable motorsport credentials didn’t hurt either. Continue reading
Paul Newman, 1925-2008
Whoa. We were at SevenStock (and its celebration of Mazda’s victories at the 24 Hours of Daytona) today when we heard the news. Actor/salad dressing mogul/race car driver Paul Newman passed away last night after a long bout with cancer. In the 70s and early 80s, he raced Datsuns in the SCCA Trans-Am and IMSA series, and has competed in everything from the Baja 1000 to the 24 Hours of Daytona. He became so close to the Nissan brand that he even starred in a series of commercials for them and had a limited edition R30 Skyline named after him. We are deeply saddened by this loss. As a tribute, here are some of Newman’s Skyline commercials from Japan.
SevenStock XI Photos Coming Shortly
We just got back from SevenStock XI. We’ll have our full gallery up later this week, but in the meantime here’s a teaser shot.