Spring Is Here and We're Sprung for Nostalgics

Posted on March 20, 2008 by Ben Hsu

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The long winter of our discontent is over, for today is the first day of spring. If you live in the northern half of the country, rejoice! The temperature is on the rise and it’s actually still bright out at 4:30. Time to get that nostalgic car of yours out of the garage after the long months of hibernation. Southerners, quit rubbing it in! Here’s 10 tips for taking your classic car out of winter storage.

This calls for celebration, so check out these pics of nostalgics and sakura, the Japanese cherry blossom trees that herald the coming season of rebirth. The only question is, which one would you take for your springtime drive – Mazda, Toyota, or Nissan?

[Images: Rotary Eagle, JamesAE86, Seibu Keisatsu]

Posted in mazda, nissan, toyota | 5 Comments

NEWS: Hako Concept revealed at NY Auto Show

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Ben Hsu

hako.jpgHa! You know you’re a true nostalgic nut when the first thing that pops into your head at that headline is, “OMG, A retro car based on the C10 Skyline!” No such luck, compadre. It’s just a new Scion concept based on the xB. In Japanese, hako simply means box, and the hakosuka (hako + suka from the Japanese pronunciation of Skyline) was nicknamed such because of its simple straight lines and pointy corners (at least compared to other cars of the day).

And while we do enjoy the upright quadracity of Japanese 2Box cars like the xB and the Nissan Cube (which appeared at NY in electric form), we wish there was a reincarnation of the 1968-72 Skyline instead. We’re too busy to make it to the NY Auto Show this year, so here’s some visions of what we’re missing out on. Feast your eyes on the Hako, Denki Cube and Hyundai RWD Coupe like journalists feasted on tiramisu at Porsche’s 50th anniversary.

Posted in datsun, News, nissan, toyota | 3 Comments

Silvia 240RS: last of the oldschool rally cars

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Kevin San

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About 6mths ago, we did a feature on the Nissan FJ20 engine, and touched on the Group B rally car that Nissan campaigned in the early 80s: the S11 Silvia 240RS. It was a 2.4L DOHC, 16V four cylinder that ran Weber carbs and made 280ps at over 8000rpm, driving the rear wheels only. A classical rear-drive rally coupe in the old school sense, it had the misfortune of being rallied during the same era as the Audi Quattro, and so the 240RS has largely ended up as a little-known footnote in rallying history. It got a few podium finishes in the early 80s and came 3rd in the WRC in 1982 but that’s about it.

Continue reading →

Posted in nissan | 9 Comments

Oh, Nap! '82 Toyota Lite Ace Gets the Bunk Out

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Ben Hsu

The interior of this 1982 Toyota Lite Ace makes us wish we were kids again. Why? Because it has bunk beds! The lower level is formed by folding the rear seats flat, while the upper bed is suspended from the high roof and rests on the front seat backs. This reminds us of the treehouse we would have built if building a treehouse hadn’t been, you know, hard.

Stay tuned afterwards for a bonus commercial featuring Roger Moore in a Corona, possibly with the missile launcher behind headlight option.

Posted in cm, toyota, vans | 2 Comments

Old Skyline TV Commercials

Posted on March 18, 2008 by Kevin San

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Welcome back to GrandSkyline! No, not a post about Project Hakosuka today, but rather some old commercials that I found recently. We did do a piece on Skyline ad campaigns a few moons ago, but some of the Youtubes have since been removed. So here are some replacement ones!

Continue reading →

Posted in nissan | 1 Comment

WANT. '82 Honda Motocompo, MIB, on Ebay

Posted on March 18, 2008 by Ben Hsu

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By any stretch of the imagination, the Honda City was a small car. It’s smaller than the modern-day Fit, which is still sold as the City in some Asian markets. That’s why it’s even more surprising that when the City debuted back in 1981, you could get one with a motorcycle in the back. However, know that the “motorcycle” was actually a 49cc two-stroker with a top speed of about 30mph, and that it would make any rider over age 12 look like a circus bear. Still, it was the perfect trackside runabout, and folded – nay, transformed – into a tidy little rectangle just small enough to prevent any obstruction in the City’s gaping rear window.

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Now, thanks to ebay, a brand new, never used Motocompo that some nut has kept in the original box for 26 years can be yours for the price of $3500, or about the price of a spanking new City back in ’81. Now you might think that’s a bit steep considering the Motocompo cost only $360 then, but for cryin’ out loud, the plastic is still on the seat! We’re sooo tempted to abscond with all that magazine subscription money y’all have sent in and head down to Huntington Beach right now.

[Ebay]

Posted in for sale, honda | 22 Comments

Tokyo Daze: JDM Ads with Celebrities

Posted on March 17, 2008 by Kevin San

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“When it’s relaxing time, make it…..Suntory Time” Ahh, one of my favourite movies.  But it reminded me the other day about Japan’s fascination with western celebrities. It seems that if you are a Hollywood movie star, you may be called to Japan at some time to sell seedless watermelons or washing machines or something.

And the car industry is certainly not immune.

Continue reading →

Posted in Tokyo Daze | 8 Comments

Happy St. Patrick's Day From JNC

Posted on March 17, 2008 by Ben Hsu

clover.jpgFirst it was the wakaba mark (also called shoshinsha mark), the green and yellow symbol that new drivers in Japan are required to display on their vehicles for one year. Wakaba marks gained popularity in the US when JDM scenesters began to plaster their cars with them in ironic fashion. Of course since we’re dealing with nostalgics, we opted for the kareha mark (also called fukushi mark), the counterpart for elderly drivers, for our logo and car. In case you hadn’t guessed, the color and shape of the marks represent a spring leaf and autumn leaf.

The four-leaf clover, so frequently seen on St. Paddy’s day, is part of a lesser known yotsuba (or shintai shougai) mark for handicapped drivers. It’s only been around since 2001 and it’s optional. Yeah, it’s not green, but hey, it’s hard to find the luck o’ the Irish in Japan.

Posted in japan | Leave a comment

Some Bike it Hot

Posted on March 17, 2008 by Ben Hsu

Apparently this is quite the hot video meme in Japan right now. We were positively floored by the amazing skills of these Japanese riders, instructors at the Fushimi Techincal Center motorcycle driving school. The Japanese are just as fanatical about their two-wheelers, if not more, as they are about their four-wheelers. During one of our trips to Tokyo in the dead of winter, when our hands were shivering too badly to even take a picture, bikers were flying down narrow Shuto lanes at 70mph, slicing past Hino trucks with inches to spare. Maybe spiking adrenaline makes up for the wind chill. Anyway, if you’ve ever tried to wield a squirrelly, 400lb hunk of steel between your legs, then you know the prowess required to make this video. It takes a while to get started; the good stuff comes along at about 1:30 in. Thanks to yoshi for the tip.

Posted in Motorcycles | 1 Comment

Project Hakosuka: Now Going.

Posted on March 15, 2008 by Kevin San

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After a quite a long period of firstly waiting for the car to arrive from Japan, and then a seemingly-even-longer period of fixing the various issues that the car came with, it was with a certain trepidation that I fired her up and gingerly backed her out of the garage under her own power for the first time.

Continue reading →

Posted in project hakosuka | 14 Comments

Car Brochure Nirvana

Posted on March 14, 2008 by Ben Hsu

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Okay, all you brochure freaks, thanks to our dear reader colhogen, you’re in for a real treat. Prepare to whittle away hours of your once productive life at the Catalog Gallery of Automotive Nostalgia, a Japanese blog that has nothing but scan after gorgeous full-color scan of vintage car brochures. If you’ve ever been to the specialty shops catering to old brochure collectors, you know that this is several used cars’ worth of eye candy right here. Bon appétit, or should we say, Itadakimas!

Posted in catalogs | Leave a comment

Yet Another Bulbous Speculative Resurrection

Posted on March 13, 2008 by Ben Hsu

supra.jpgHere’s another speculation about the alleged 2010 Supra found in Japan’s BestCar magazine. Ugly, ugly, ugly. The FT-HS concept looked cool because of its angular lines, but this thing just looks like a piece of hard candy that’s been sucked on for 20 minutes. At least the 370Z resembles the 350Z, which resembles (vaguely) the 240Z. The massive intercooler is nice and all, but it’d be much nicer if the car had some remote semblance of Supras past. If this is indeed in the works, let’s just hope Toyota reaches out to fans before tooling up the sheetmetal stamps.

[JPCN via Jalopnik]

Posted in toyota | 3 Comments

Triumph, the Insult Comic Honda

Posted on March 13, 2008 by Ben Hsu

ballade.JPGtriumphacclaim.jpgHonda has often turned to the world of music for its model names – Concerto, Prelude, Jazz, Aria, Quintet, Beat, and the subject of today’s plunge into the rabbit hole of rebadging, the Ballade. Introduced in 1980 as a four-door sedan version of the popular Civic hatchback, the Honda Ballade had a British twin, the Triumph Acclaim (not to be confused with the much-maligned Plymouth Acclaim in the US).

This was the product of a deal between Honda, who was looking for a way to break into the European market and meet the UK’s domestic content requirements; and British Leyland, who desperately needed a modern, reliable car to regain its footing in the marketplace after years of labor strikes and plummeting quality. This led to what would become a 15-year tie-up between the two companies.

Honda’s investment proved to be exactly what British Leyland (later renamed Rover) needed to turn its fortunes around. Throughout the 80s, many a Civic, Accord and Legend were sold as a rebadged Rovers. Customers saw the brand slowly regain its reliability ratings and upmarket status. So much so, in fact, that the owners decided to sell the whole shebang out from under Honda’s nose to BMW in 1994. Burn!

Perhaps this is why ever since then, Honda has remained fiercely independent, even throughout the merger-mania that gripped the auto industry in the 90s. The Acclaim was the final car to ever wear the once-proud Triumph name, but at least British Leyland lives on to entertain us as the butt of frequent jokes on Top Gear.

[Image: Wikipedia]

Posted in honda | 3 Comments

Corolla Chronicles

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Ben Hsu

corollawagon.jpgYesterday we posted about the beauty of road trips with an old ‘Rolla courtesy of The Truth About Cars. Turns out, they’ve been on a Corolla spree recently, with this article celebrating 40 years of the long-lived compact. Though the first ‘Rolla rolled off the assembly line in Japan in 1966, it didn’t take our shores by storm until 1968. We’ve been working on our own little blog post tribute in conjunction with the magazine, but they beat us to the punch fair and square, so take a look. Also, check out this Corolla 40th celebration that took place in Japan in 2006.

Posted in toyota | 2 Comments

Project Hakosuka: Electricity Hates Me

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Kevin San

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Where we left things last was that the mechanicals were now in good shape, but the electrical system was a little haywire.  Press the brake, and the headlights would come on (but not the brake lights).  Turn on the headlights and the indicators would come on (but not the headlights).  Turn the indicators on and….nothing would come on.

So it was time to put down the spanners and pull out the multimeter and get hardcore with a soldering iron.

Continue reading →

Posted in project hakosuka | 6 Comments

Disappointing Lack of Classics in GT5 Prologue

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Ben Hsu

gt4civic.jpggt4tvr.jpgOur favorite car game of all time has to be Grand Turismo 4. Naturally, the gorgeous graphics and enormous variety of cars and tracks are as fantastic as anything we’ve come to expect from the franchise, but the best part of all was its inclusion of some old school nostalgics – first gen Celicas, 240ZGs, 70s Mitsus, Isuzu Bellets, Bluebird 510s, Prince Skylines, and even tiny kei cars like the Honda S800 and Subaru 360. GT4 made it possible to create our dream garage virtually.

So of course, we were anticipating its sequel, GT5 with mouthwatering giddiness. The new Playstation 3 graphics engines are so hi-res that whereas it took one day to model a car in GT1 – GT2 and one month in GT3 – GT4, GT5 takes an epic six months. That’s why publisher Polyphony is releasing just a teaser in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue as its massive supercomputer rendering farm churns away.

Unfortunately, none of the classics have found their way into GT5. Here’s a list of cars, thanks to our resident game expert Madflava. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed for the final version. Those graphics sure are purrdy though. Compare the ’79 Civic in GT4 with the orange TVR Tamora in GT5 Prologue.

Check out our virtual Gran Turismo 4 Show & Shine in the forums.

[Image: Kotaku]

Posted in Video Games | 3 Comments

Small Japanese Cars Hold Key to Human Mind

Posted on March 11, 2008 by Ben Hsu

tinybrain.jpg Ever since the first warehouse-sized IBMs appeared on the scene, the unattainable holy grail of computer science has always been a man-made machine that mimics the complexity of the human brain. Well, scientists at Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science at Tsukuba, which is sadly unaffiliated with Tsukuba Circuit, have discovered the secret. And as it turns out, the answer is “like a small car,” says researcher Anirban Bandyopadhyay.

This new brain-like computer is only the size of 17 molecules, yet can perform 1000 times the calculations of a modern transistor. We won’t even begin to pretend that we understand the rest of this article, and quite frankly, we don’t even see how this blob of molecules resembles a vehicle, but we’ll take the scientists’ word for it. Dang, we always knew that small cars from Japan held the keys to the human mind!

[LiveScience]

Posted in japan | Leave a comment

Zen and the Art of Corolla Maintenance

Posted on March 11, 2008 by Ben Hsu

corolla.JPGAmerica ain’t perfect, but damn if she isn’t beautiful. Is there any greater joy in life than taking in this beauty behind the wheel of an old car? Forget voting and the right to pontificate, this is freedom, man. Forgive us as we delve into the realm of sentimentality, but if you want a foolproof cure for every depressing day you’ll ever have, all you need is one nostalgic car and a journey thats at least 500 miles long. Then the next time you feel the weight of the world on your temples, just remind yourself of this experience. For this writer, his beautifully written adventures in a Toyota Corolla have stayed with him, even 30 years later. You can’t buy medicine like that. Makes us want to take the old wagon out for a spin.

[TTAC]

Posted in road trip, toyota | Leave a comment

Z Car Grows, 240 to 370 in 38 Years

Posted on March 11, 2008 by Ben Hsu

370z.jpgTime for more unfounded rumors from the Japanese auto tabloids. This much is known. The next iteration of Nissan’s landmark sports car, the Fairlady Z, will have the 3.7L motor currently powering its Skyline/Infiniti G37 siblings. What’s pure conjecture, however, is this new shape’s bulging biceps over the wheel wells and arrowhead headlights. We’ve heard from people who study this sort of thing that the next 370Z will be smaller and lighter than the current 350Z, more of a return to the 240Z’s roots, but this pic seems to say otherwise.

[FreshAlloy via Autoblog]

Posted in datsun, nissan | 4 Comments

Toyota Celica Makes Kessel Run in Under 12 Parsecs

Posted on March 11, 2008 by Ben Hsu

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When we were kids, we thought Luke’s landspeeder was easily the coolest vehicle in Star Wars. Why? Because it most resembled a car, of course. Well, except for the lack of wheels. But other than that, it was practically a hover-Miata. Where does a moisture farmer get a sweet ride like that anyway?

Now, as we reveal that we know far too much about the 70s space opera, here’s a vehicle that trumps the landspeeder, AT-AT walkers, the Jawa tank thingy and even Imperial Star Destroyers: the 1977 Star Wars Toyota Celica. The Force is strong with this one, daddy-o. Thirty years ago, this car was a the grand prize in a tie-in between 20th Century Fox and Toyota to promote the movie.

Let’s set aside for a moment the fact that it’s silver and black flanks, plastered with the heads of science fiction characters, would probably draw endless ridicule. It’s got front and rear spoilers, bolt-on fender flares, and nice Centerline-looking wheels. That’s no marketing ploy, it’s a race machine! Oh, wait. It is just a marketing ploy. Still, plenty of people got pulled in by its tractor beam.

According to this article both unearthed by and featuring our beloved Toyotageek, the car appeared briefly in the 80s or 90s to cause a great disturbance in the Force for the bargain price of $1000, only to disappear again without a trace like it had made the jump to hyperspace. Its current whereabouts are unknown, but these aren’t the droids you’re looking for anyway. One thing’s for sure, though. If Luke was cruising around in this baby, he would’ve never left Tatooine.

Posted in toyota, Video Games | Tagged , , | 10 Comments