Toyota Carina Escapes Motorcycle Gang

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Ben Hsu

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!

Posted in cm, toyota | 2 Comments

Nostalgic Car Events for the Weekend of 10/25

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Ben Hsu


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]

Posted in events | 2 Comments

Another Japanese Classic Car Show, in Brisbane

Posted on October 17, 2008 by Ben Hsu


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.

Posted in events, isuzu, mazda | 3 Comments

How ‘Bout Some Dodge Colt, Forty-Five?

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Ben Hsu

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]

Posted in cm, mitsubishi | 10 Comments

EVENTS: Japanese Classic Car Show 2008

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Ben Hsu


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!

Posted in events, jccs | 12 Comments

JNC at the JCCS

Posted on October 14, 2008 by Ben Hsu


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!

Posted in events, jccs, toyota, wagon | 6 Comments

Datsun Roadster Does La Carrera Panamericana

Posted on October 14, 2008 by Ben Hsu


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!

Posted in datsun, motorsports | 5 Comments

Washin' the Wagon for JCCS

Posted on October 11, 2008 by Ben Hsu


See you there tomorrow!

Posted in events, jnc, wagon | 4 Comments

Toyota Supports JCCS

Posted on October 10, 2008 by Ben Hsu


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!

Posted in events, toyota | 8 Comments

JNC Wagon Breaks Down… at a Junkyard

Posted on October 9, 2008 by Ben Hsu


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 →

Posted in how to, jnc, toyota, wagons | 7 Comments

Reminder: JCCS on Sunday Sunday SUNDAY!

Posted on October 8, 2008 by Ben Hsu

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!

Posted in events | 8 Comments

EVENTS: SevenStock XI

Posted on October 6, 2008 by Ben Hsu

Article and photo gallery from last week’s Seven Stock XI are up. Wankelers, enjoy!

Posted in events, mazda | 3 Comments

JNC Issue 2 Sneak Peek

Posted on October 3, 2008 by Ben Hsu

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!

Posted in jnc | 22 Comments

JDM Restore! Auto Service Machinaga

Posted on October 3, 2008 by Kevin San

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.

Continue reading →

Posted in Businesses, toyota | 6 Comments

Goo-Net! Hours of Fun for the Whole (JDM) Family

Posted on October 2, 2008 by Kevin San

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.

Continue reading →

Posted in for sale | 13 Comments

Fast Eddie and the Skyline

Posted on October 1, 2008 by Kevin San

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 →

Posted in nissan | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Paul Newman, 1925-2008

Posted on September 27, 2008 by Ben Hsu

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.

Posted in cm, datsun, motorsports, nissan | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

SevenStock XI Photos Coming Shortly

Posted on September 27, 2008 by Ben Hsu


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.

Posted in events, mazda | 2 Comments

The Intersection of Datsun Drive and Toyota Road

Posted on September 25, 2008 by Ben Hsu


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El Paso, Texas is located precisely in the middle of nowhere. The only interesting things within a 500-mile radius are 1.) the site of the first atom bomb explosion in White Sands National Park and 2.) Roswell, New Mexico, where locals believe a UFO landed in 1947. Perhaps these strange nearby happenings stem from the fact that El Paso is the nexus of the universe.

How else can you explain the presence of both Datsun Drive and Toyota Road, which just happen to intersect with each other? And not too far away, Yamaha Drive and Yamaha Road exist for motorcycle fans. It would probably be a great place for a nostalgic car meet if you didn’t have to drive through 500 miles of empty desert to get there, and if the neighborhood didn’t have houses that looked like secret meth labs. How about you JNCers out there, any interesting street names in your neck of the woods?

Posted in datsun, nissan, Nuts and Bolts, toyota | Tagged , | 12 Comments

R31 Skyline Electronic Spoilers, Activate!

Posted on September 24, 2008 by Ben Hsu

We now go to the next event, synchronized electronic spoiler activation. Here comes the Japanese team, a quartet of Nissan Skyline GTS sports coupes. Good formation, terrific execution. Interesting musical selection, though. Judges give this one an 8.75.

Ah, the excesses of 80s Japanese cars.

Posted in cm, nissan | 9 Comments