Here at JNC headquarters, our weekends are filled with excitement. And by excitement we mean the things our butlers would be doing if we were filthy rich. Well, at least there’s something to be gained from doing your own laundry. According to Lifehacker‘s recent series of low-budget car care tips, dryer lint is an excellent material to absorb oil spills with. So save up that fuzzy mass. Now if there’s one hitch in that plan, it’s that our rusty heaps hemorrhage a lot more fluids than we slobs do laundry.
Dryer Lint to the Rescue: Oil Cleanup Tips
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Mora Dekotora, Tora, Tora!
Will Jalopnik‘s fascination with dekotora ever cease? We sure hope not. You’ve got the coffee table book, now supplement that with Zenkoku Dekotora Matsuri, a new game for the Nintendo Wii. Piloting a giant chrome truck through the narrow streets of Tokyo has never been this much fun! Navigate low overpasses, add ever gaudier pieces of trim to your classy ride, and avoid running over brake-happy kei cars. It’s even got a Gran Turismo-esque photo mode. The only question now is, Hino Super Dolphin Profia or Nissan Diesel Big Thumb?
UPDATE: Oh Noes! Our resident video game expert MadFlava tells us that the Wii is region-encoded. Cruel Fates, why do you tempt us so?
[Video: GameTrailers]
Posted in japan, trucks, Video Games
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GT-R Manual Warns: No Bad Taste
More Skyline importing news: our friends at Cobb Tuning have received one of the first privately owned R35 GT-Rs in the US. How? By importing their own, of course, and you know what that means: comical scans from the Japanese owner’s manual! This one is our fave. Apparently, it’s warning the owner not to uglify their new purchase with “aero” modifications like a giant spoiler or widebody kit. Take note, Kev (j/k, j/k)! To see more of the GT-R – and more scans – check out the Cobb Blog.
UPDATE: Autoblog picked up on this story and now the image is on a T-shirt. Such is the life of an internet meme.
Posted in nissan
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Leap for Joy: Holy Jumping Mazdas!
In honor of Leap Year, here’s a car chase from a 1979 Japanese movie whose title translates as “The Man Who Stole the Sun.” It’s got a plot, but we haven’t seen it, so let’s just cut to the chase (haha).
The guy in the RX-7 (quite the hot new ride at the time) is a junior high school science teacher who breaks into a nuclear powerplant, steals a chunk of plutonium, and makes a homemade nuclear bomb to threaten the government. He’s pursued by a gruff cop in a brown Cosmo and a fleet of the typical inept patrol car drivers that love to crash into things and flip unnecessarily. So where’s the Leap Year tie-in to all of this? Oh, at about 0:58.
Posted in datsun, mazda, nissan, Video Games
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Skyline Valentine
So we have a new member of our extended family to welcome. No, it’s not a wedding or newborn child. Even better. A couple of weeks ago, our mate Kev from grandJDM received a very special Valentine in the form of his newly purchased hakosuka Skyline! In case you didn’t know, Kev and Van have been working with us for the last few months on JNC magazine. Not since the ANZUS Treaty has there been a cross-continent collaboration of this magnitude! Sadly, because Kev’s new baby is literally on the other side of the planet, it’ll be a long time before we can see it in person. At least we can follow his exploits on his blog and he has plenty of time to get it ready for our visit. Congrats, Kev!
Posted in datsun, nissan
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Project Hakosuka: The Plot. It Thickens (no, still doesn’t go)
When we left Project Hako last, the carbs were in, the fuel system was all set up and we were ready to turn the key and see what happens. Of course when you do this, it’s a good idea to wait until a few friends can come over: one to hold the fire extinguisher, one to juggle the throttle to keep the car running, one to stand on the other side of the engine bay to keep an eye out for fuel leaks, and one last guy standing by with the ambulance on speed-dial.
So that’s what we did.
Posted in project hakosuka
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Toyotafest Registration Open
Fresh from the wire, TORC‘s 13th annual All Toyotafest is now open for registration. If you’ve got an old school ‘Yota (or even a new school one) that needs to be seen to be believed, head on over to their website to pour a 40 (dollars) for the show. Spaces are limited and there will be no registration at the door, so get in early on the action. The event goes down May 3 at Veterans Stadium at Long Beach City College. Scions and Lexi welcome!
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Photos Finnish: Celica Rally Restoration
Several readers have posted this nugget of awesomeness in our forums now, and with good reason. The Celica you see in the pic above is the end result of the most thorough, intense restoration we’ve ever seen for J-tin. It started life as a Group B rally car that competed in the Hong Kong-Beijing Rally of 1985 – when nearly all of that nation’s billion or so people were still riding bikes – enduring 2500 miles of dings and dents on unpaved terrain. Then it was left to rust for about 20 years.
At that point, most people would have written it off, but not the artisans at Makela Auto Tuning of Finland. By the looks of it, every body panel, seam, floorboard and frame rail was recreated from fresh steel. Metal is like putty to these people. We tried to comprehend the amount of effort and man-hours the restoration must have taken, but only reminded ourselves of grade school when we first learned about the concept of infinity. There’s really no point in even trying to describe it, so just check out their gallery. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, that’s over 300,000 words right there.
The best part is that as of January 2008, these mad Finns
have begun work on a second Hong Kong-Beijing Rally Celica. If possible, this car looks to be in even worse condition that the first one, apparently composed of one part metal and 3 parts rust. This time, they’ve cut the car down to the bare frame and are doing nothing short of rebuilding it from scratch. It’s like the Bionic Woman, but with cars.
Posted in racing, rally, toyota
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Project Hakosuka: ….almost going.
When we left things yesterday, the brakes were in good shape but the mastercyl needed rebuilding. The carbs had been sent off for refurbishing, but the setup that the car came with left something to be desired (apart from the fact that the carbs were leaking fuel!).
Posted in project hakosuka
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Dekotora, Tora, Tora!
Say you want a blingy whip but an Escalade just doesn’t cut it in the cargo hauling department. Or perhaps it’s just a few acres short on chrome and a few millilumens short on lighting. What’s a ride pimper to do? Welcome to the Japanese phenomenon of dekotora, short for decoration truck. A new book, called simply Decotora, by photographer Masaru Tatsuki delves into the bright, chromey world of these gaudy customized lorries.
The trend began in northeastern fishing towns, where running near the sea and hauling fish pulled from said sea meant that salt water ate away the trucks faster than a shirtless David Hasselhoff masticating a hamburger. Drivers replaced the easily corroded panels with shiny stainless steel and a movement was born.
The stainless steel panels grew more and more ornate, but the dekatora didn’t hit it big until the 1975 film Torakku Yarou about a hard-driving dekotora pilot on the Tomei Expressway. The look spread like wildfire, getting exponentially garish with each iteration. Eventually, these trucks became show cars in their own right, with their own competitions and culture, which did not involve carrying fish at all. Truly grandiose dekotora even had a full blown love shack in the cargo hold, complete with furniture and chandeliers.
By the 90s, the popularity of the anime Gundam, about giant robots who battle in space, began to influence styling direction. Nowadays, however, a wave of nostalgia has caused the dekotora to return to the roots with retro-inspired machines. We can’t argue with that.
Posted in japan, trucks
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Project Hakosuka: Umm….yeah. Still not going.
With the rust now dealt with, and the clutch now fixed, attention was turned to the car’s running gear. Translation: are the wheels going to fall off?
Well…I hope not.
Posted in project hakosuka
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Project Hakosuka: Nope. Still doesn’t go.
Where we left things last week were that I’d sent off the carbs to a specialist for rebuilding, and the wayward clutch was fixed. The carb guru estimated that it might take a week to re-do the Webers, so this left plenty of time for little jobs while the Hako was up on jackstands.
Posted in project hakosuka
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RB-Powered Hako Hits The Hills
A nod goes out to Auto Otaku once again for yet another great find. Here’s a couple of videos of RB-powered C10s, and while I admit I’d rather have an L28 myself, there’s definitely nothing upsetting about these swaps; especially with the ITBs they’re packing. That sound, oh that sound.
Click through to check ’em out.
Posted in nissan, Video
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Stelvio: love for sale (is love blind?)
A few months ago we did a feature on one of the oddest JDM cars ever. The uber-expensive, very limited edition, handcrafted-in Italy Autech Stelvio. Well…there so happens to be on for sale at the moment on Yahoo Auctions: LINK
One of the ugliest cars ever, and as someone said, quite possibly just a big joke being played by the Italians on Nissan, but (to me anyway) it’s strangely desireable and collectible. If you agree…here’s your chance! I can’t buy it, I just bought the Hakosuka 🙂
Posted in nissan
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Classic CM: Celica XX, Electric Boogaloo
This one goes out to all the MkII Supra owners out there. Never say JNC doesn’t love ya. As you know, the second-gen Toyota Celica Supra was known as the Celica XX in Japan, and this commercial for the home market from 1983 contains more 80s cliches than a cocaine overdose on Wall Street. Special effects drawn by a Commodore 64, bluish neon that glows like a Tron nightclub, Grace Jones, and music that can only be described as Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys beating each other to death with their keyboards… it’s all there. And what is up the suggestive placement of the Super Sports Machine’s headlights in the final shot? Double X double entendre, anyone?
Posted in cm, toyota
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Tetsuuuooooo! Akira Live Action Remake
Seriously, Hollywood? Were the millions you made peddling dumbed-down versions of Speed Racer and Transformers not enough? You even managed to dumb down Knight Rider, which had the intelligence of a baked potato to begin with. Do you really need another mountain of gold scraped from the treasured memories of our youth to fill the vaults of your McStudio? Please, Hollywood, no more. We’re begging you. For the love of wrinkly mutant babies, just let us hang on to this one unsullied shred of our childhood.
Readers, in case you haven’t heard, the latest casualty in the remake rampage is Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo’s groundbreaking series about a delinquent biker gang in post-WW3 Neo-Tokyo. If Akira was a car, it’d already be a classic, according to most states’ 25-year threshold. But hell, those who’ve seen it know it was a classic on the day it was born.
Publication started in 1982 in Young Magazine, the Japanese manga weekly also responsible reigniting our passion for hachirokus and Fairlady Zs with Initial-D and Wangan Midnight. It was widely acclaimed as one of the best manga of all time. Likewise, the 1988 anime adaptation cost $10 million for its revolutionary artwork, a record sum at the time, and is credited with introducing Japanimation to the western world.
We’ve watched it at least three times and we still don’t fully understand what the heck is going on. All we know is that it takes place in a dystopian 2030, after Tokyo has been destroyed by a nuclear bomb. And it contains layers of subplots involving terrorists, government conspiracies, nightmarish children that look 87 years old, a hallucinotastic trip with creepy anthropomorphic toys, and killer motorcycle chases. In other words, Totally. F’in. Cool.
In fact, the bikes ridden by main characters Kaneda and Tetsuo have become so iconic that fans have created a slew of real-life replicas. If only Akira‘s transformation into live action were to stop there. But no, Warner Brothers is strip-mining this specimen of storytelling perfection and putting Leonardo “King of the World” DiCaprio and some other guy we’ve never heard of in the leading roles. Also, they’re moving the whole setting to Manhattan. At this point, why not just call it something else? Because they want to extinguish our souls, that’s why.
Thanks (we think) to Van for the tip!
Posted in manga
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Tokyo Daze: Tokyu Hands!
If you go to Japan, one of the JDM institutions you need to pay a visit to is Tokyu Hands. Ostensibly it’s a department store, which seems hell bent on stocking pretty much everything: from hardware, to stationery, to toys and clothes, to luggage and much more besides. It’s a chain of very large stores all over Japan.
Where it gets interesting is the “much more besides” stuff they you will find there.
Posted in Tokyo Daze
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Return of the 'Roku, Part V
Today we received the most convincing news yet that Toyota is seriously considering a return to its rear wheel drive roots. We thank dear reader Buddy J, who informed us that an unnamed lead project developer at Toyota has contacted Moto Miwa, founder of Club4AG, to ask his readers what they’re looking for in a revived compact sports car. If you haven’t been keeping up with this saga, catch up via this post.
While it’s clear that everyone would like to see a responsive, lightweight, RWD sports coupe, some people want it all. Let’s face it, Toyota will not be able to toss in VVT-i, a 6-speed transmission, LSD and keep the price at a “reasonable” level. In 2008 dollars, a 1985 Corolla GT-S should cost almost $25,000 today.
Frankly, we’d be more than thrilled with a simple, lithe FR sportster that takes styling cues from the AE86 (or first-gen Celica, if it will be badged as such). Weigh in at Club4AG.
Posted in retro, toyota
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Nissan Motorsports Exhibition 2008
If you’re lucky enough to be in Japan on March 1-2, head over to the Nissan Motorsports Exhibition 2008 at the Red Brick Warehouse and Yokohama Marine Disaster Prevention Complex. It’s an annual event Nissan Japan puts on to celebrate all things racing and they typically pull out a good selection of cars both old and new from their collection for display.
This year’s theme is, naturally, all about the Skyline GT-R, as the birthday party continues in full swing. A full range of historic GT-Rs, in both production and racing form, is expected. They’ll even hoon it up a bit in actual race cars, and a Super GT-spec Nissan GT-R will be making demo runs. Other attractions include a “pitwork demo,” Nissan Collection merchandise, and a dedicated kids zone. Gotta start them off early, you know.
UPDATE: Official website for the event now up.
Project Hakosuka: No, she doesn’t go
One of the truths about old cars are that classic cars that are in regular use are the best ones to buy. Old cars (even low mileage cars) that have been inactive or stored for a long time often have issues when you try to recommission them for the road again, and my car was no different.
It’s a good thing it was towed to my house, because I don’t think it would have made it from the cargo terminal to my place under its own steam anyway.
Posted in project hakosuka
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