Listen up, Mazdafarians! It’s time once again for SevenStock, the yearly gathering for rotary heads at Mazda USA headquarters in Irvine, CA. Doors open at 9am this Saturday, September 27. This is the 11th SevenStock and fans will not be disappointed. See the official flyer or the SevenStock website for more details.
Pics of the 2007 SevenStock.
Purists may balk, but like it or not, Top Gear USA is coming. One of the hosts was revealed to be Adam Carolla, a comic who built his career on making jokes about STDs and hosting shows whose main feature was girls jumping on trampolines. We’re not sure how well this bodes for the Top Gear franchise, but at least we now know that at least two Top Gear hosts own Datsuns.
Carolla owns a BRE replica 510, a race-modified Fairlady Roadster, and his latest acquisition, a ’72 Bob Sharp 610, as reported by Motor Trend. The article also mentions the rest of Carolla’s collection, which consists mostly of high-dollar Euro exotica, and discusses his hatred for his Mazda pickup and why a 200,000-mile ’85 Toyota Supra was the worst car he’s ever owned.
W-W-W-Welcome baaack to WJNC, bringin’ you the best nostalgic tunes and old school jams! Hope you’re enjoying your Fridaaaay! Put on your dancing shoes and crank up the volume, because coming up next we have back-to-back tracks from the Crazy Ken Band! Here’s “Bellet 1600GT”:
Thanks to JNCer JT191 for tipping us off to these videos of the Crazy Ken Band, a Japanese music ensemble that completely rocks the house when signing about old cars. The video above is a live performance of “Bellet 1600GT,” named after Isuzu’s 60s coupe. Their jazzy beats and funky rhythms make us wish Isuzu actually sold the car here in the US so we could jam to this while cruising around in one. Although, we don’t have threads that look nearly fly enough. Continue reading
Another great ad from 60s Japan, this time for the Datsun Bluebird Coupe. While the song is not as catchy and seemingly of a different era as the Maruzen Oil ad, it gets the point across: “Big power, dynamic power, after your heart!”
We were browsing the web for images of nostalgics and stumbled upon this great series of T-shirts with pictures of our favorite cars on them. Then we realized that they were drawn by a JNCer who goes by the name lisasdecals! Check them out on Zazzle.
An excellent new article about a bad-ass KA Turbo Datsun 510, by our very own Datsunfreak!
The grand opening of the Datsun Heritage Museum was this weekend. Koji Yamaguchi of the Japanese Classic Car Show was kind enough to cover it for us.
If you haven’t been following the giant mudslinging contest known as the 2008 presidential campaign, consider yourself smart, as banging one’s head against a wall repeatedly does tend to kill off brain cells. However, we at JNC feel that its our duty to keep you informed, and at least one vital fact has emerged from the current election season that we’re sure will prove more important than any other issue in the history of American politics: Cindy McCain, wife of candidate John McCain, not only owns a Nissan 240SX – which is totally foxy in and of itself – but she also takes it to the track. To drift. Continue reading
A Japanese credit researching company is reported yesterday that Trust, mega Japanese tuning firm and a mainstay of the import scene, has filed for bankruptcy at a Tokyo District Court. You may know them by their US brand name, GReddy, makers of all manner of suspension, engine, brake and turbo kits. Continue reading
It was a relief to wake up this morning and find the planet still here, meaning we survived those wacky scientists flipping the switch on the Large Hadron Collider. Here’s another story of survival. In 1972 Nissan introduced the Sunny Truck to South Africa, based on the B110 series Sunny (known as the 1200 here in the US). But while the passenger car evolved into the B210 a few years later, the Truck continued largely unchanged for 37 years. Until now, that is. Continue reading
Today we’re going to take a rare detour from news on nostalgics to comment on some things we’d like to see happen with Japanese cars.
First up, a 1978 VW Golf has appeared on eBay with the selling price of $30,000. What makes this Vee-Dub so special? It’s an unrestored one-owner example with only 8600 miles on the odometer! This guy is so confident that he will even arrange for shipping anywhere from its current location in Berlin, Germany.
There is no doubt that the Mk1 is an icon, but it didn’t start out that way and that’s what makes it so great. Like many Japanese cars, it was designed purely for cheap, practical transportation but became so much more. This reminds us of the 8500-mile Toyota Corona that sold for $16,740 last year, but does the Corona have the international appeal of the Golf? Maybe a nice E20 Corolla would be a more likely candidate. Perhaps our non-US JNCers can chime in. Anyway, it’ll be an interesting one to watch. Continue reading
This is the news we’ve been waiting for and we couldn’t be happier to report it. The Datsun Heritage Museum will officially hold its grand opening on September 12-14 in Murrieta, CA! Excuse us as we jump for joy, do some cartwheels and pop open a bottle of champagne. Finally, a museum that honors a nostalgic marque, right here on US soil! Continue reading
What do you get when you mix the swingin’ sixties, Speed Racer, and some Marylin Monroe-style upskirt shots? A catchy 1969 ad for Maruzen Oil’s chain of gas stations, now known as Cosmo, not to be confused with the actual Speed Racer chain of gas stations. Bonus points for guessing what kind of car is used.
Note: You’ll have to click through for the jingle. Youtube embedding isn’t playing sound for some reason.
Aaaand we’re back, thanks to a new hard drive. We’re still trying to assess the data loss but it’s likely everything since the last backup was destroyed, based on the drive’s horrible scratching noise, which sounded like a school of piranhas chewing on a blackboard. Anyway, onto more nostalgic car news.
In his most recent column for The Telegraph in response to the 100 Ugliest Cars, Top Gear host James May reveals that he has just purchased a Datsun 120Y. You may know it as the B210 or Sunny, but we just call it brilliant! Here’s a guy that is among the most famous petrolheads in the world, a presenter on the number one car show in the world, and a bloke that can clearly afford any car in the world – as evidenced by the Rolls Royces and Bentleys in his stable – and he buys an old Datsun. We wonder if it’s that gorgeous black-on-lime green specimen that was on set in the GT-R episode and on track as it schooled Britain’s finest at the hands of the Stig.
When you think about it though, May is probably the only Top Gear man who would buy a Datsun. Who else would fit the bill, Lambo-owning power-sliding Clarkson? Porsche-loving metrosexual Hammond? Not bloody likely. On the other hand, May’s nickname is Captain Slow, so maybe this isn’t an entirely good thing for our cause. Regardless, May is our new favorite Top Gear presenter. Clarkson can go suck on a Peel P50.
Unbelievable!! In lieu of nostalgic car news today there will instead be a rant about my Apple laptop. It’s where a good chunk of JNC’s content comes from, and it has died for the second time in just over a year of ownership. I’m furious, and also a freaking out a bit because we are on a tight deadline. Thankfully, I’ve been doing frequent backups ever since learning the hard way last December when the first crash happened.
Why am I writing about this publicly? On the off chance that some nostalgic-loving Apple employee reads this and decides to give me a new computer after all the trouble this Macbook has caused for me (and JNC readers). To be fair, Dan has an even older model and that has never experienced so much as a hiccup. Anyway, I’m off to buy a replacement hard drive first thing in the morning (conveniently, this falls out of warranty range) and will then begin the arduous task of restoring as much data as possible. We will return to your regularly scheduled coverage in a couple of days.
Also, AAARRRGGGH!!!
The Japanese Classic Car Show, scheduled for October 12, 2008 in Irvine, California, is coming. Unfortunately for Nissan enthusiasts, the company is cutting back on event sponsorship and, unlike Toyota and Mazda, it seems like they will not have an official presence at the biggest vintage Japanese car event of the year.
But fear not, Datsun fans. You’ll have something just as good, maybe even better: special appearances by Datsun racing legend Peter Brock and his BRE booth. Peter and his wife Gayle have decided that it was time to start sharing his life’s work, particularly in light of renewed interest in nostalgics. You can find out more at his website, BRE2.net.
And speaking of JCCS, just a reminder that registration is still open until September 12. If you missed out on early registration, you still have a chance to get your car in the show and join in the festivities. Here’s our coverage from the 2006 and 2007 shows to whet your old school appetite. Be there or be square!
SevenStock, the annual gathering of Mazdafarians at the company’s USA headquarters, is coming. This year the event will feature Mazda’s 24 Hours of Daytona endurance racers, including 1979’s winning RX-7 and this year’s winning RX-8. Drivers from both teams will be there, meeting the fans. In addition, there will be tech seminars, vendors, raffles and tons of old school rotaries. Full details after the jump. Continue reading
California may not have much rust, but it’s got something far, far worse: lawmakers on the constant attack against old cars. The latest culprit is Assemblyman Dave Jones, who has drafted a bill that would require all cars 15 years or older to undergo annual emissions testing (currently state law says pre-1976 cars are exempt).
Even worse, Jones is, as SEMA discovered, trying to sneak this in as an amendment to an unrelated bill!
Do we really have to go over why these laws are… what’s the term… stupid? Apparently so. Here we go again:
This is merely the latest in a string of attempts to send more old cars to the scrapper. Earlier year this year a similar bill was introduced but defeated thanks in part to those who wrote in expressing their outrage/sound reasoning. However, California and Texas also have buyback programs designed to take old cars off the street.
Come on, legislators, think about it. How much fossil fuel does it take to turn a pile of iron ore buried in a mountain – along with plastics, rubber and assorted chemicals – into a new car? Let us get every mile we can out of these old cars, whose pollution costs generated during manufacture have already been paid for.
The hearing is set for August 28. If you are a California resident – or are simply pretending to be one – please write to your legislator and express your views on the subject. Thank you! Full details and legislator’s email addresses after the jump. Continue reading
A couple of months ago we told you about a 1958 Toyopet Crown with a very unique history, having served as one of the cars of the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, that sold for a record. $22,322. It’s one of the first Japanese cars imported to the US and its sudden appearance in the marketplace caught many by surprise. The winning bidder has now been revealed. Continue reading
Speaking of microcars, someone sent in four old Subaru 360 commercials to Jalopnik today. The car’s $1297 price tag and 66mpg are heavily touted, as is the price of a carburetor, just 13 dollars. I guess when you’re calling your own car “Cheap and Ugly” right there in the ad, cheap is the selling point you want to go with. These spots also raise the question, when did they change the pronunciation from SuBARu to SUbaru?
[Jalopnik]
