If we received this Carmania set of chocolate shaped tools from Japanese confectioner Frantz Kobe Sweets, we’d totally put out. Last year we took this photo (right) of the 2007 set at Tokyu Hands department store. The much better pic below is an official image of the 2008 collection, which cost $35. Though jilted, we’re still posting these pictures along with a happy V-Day wish from JNC to you, and we mean that in a totally platonic way so don’t get any funny ideas. Continue reading
Happy Valentine's Day from JNC
Posted in Holidays, japan, nostalgic eats
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Snoop Datt
We were just checking in with our compadres at grandJDM and nearly died laughing when we came across this post on rapper Snoop Dogg’s new album cover.
If you’ve had your eye on one of these cars you’d better grab it quick, cause once the MTV crowd figures out exactly what ride this album is pimpin’, Datsun 510 Wagons will be selling like they’re made of gold, and probably end up plated in it too. Clearly, the utter old school coolness of a five-tizzle is what the label in the bottom right corner is advising parents of.
We have to wonder, is this Datsun what Mr. Dogg was talking about in his 2000 composition, “Hennesey N Buddah,” featuring his colleague KoKane, when he said:
I never ever dropped a dime, sheeeit
Nigga might cop a dime
Never hesitate to pop a 9, bah
And always come up with the proper line
A modern-day Chaucer, if you ask us. How long before the garages of MTV Cribs are teeming with Datsuns? Place your bets now. Thanks for making our day, mates.
Posted in datsun, nissan, wagons
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Tokyo Daze: Bicycles!
We kinda alluded to it last week, but in Japan, heaps of people get around on bicycles.
That in itself is not so unusual…in Tokyo there are so many train stations and the various lines all criss-cross each other so much that you are never really that far from a station. So lots of people will ride their bikes to the station, and then take the train to work. But there certainly isn’t any room in a crowded JDM train….so what do they do with their bikes?
Posted in Tokyo Daze
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Mazda Rotary 40th Anniversary Oz-Bound
First Japan got one. Then we got one. Now our mates down under have their very own Mazda RX-8 40th anniversary edition. If you haven’t been following the saga of Mazda’s year-long rotary engine birthday bash, check here. The spec list looks about the same as the Japanese and American versions, with Bilstein shock absorbers and a foam-filled crossmember being the most notable items differentiating it from the base RX-8. The rest is just garnish, but that 40th anniversary badge does look mighty tasty. Only 200 will be made.
Posted in mazda
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Utilitas: For all your Landcruiser and DR30 Skyline RS Turbo needs…
Yesterday we did a feature on the ultra-cool (and ultra expensive) TLC Icon recreation of the classic FJ40 Landcruiser. If you really want a Landcruiser now, but the Icon was too rich for your blood (and you are in Japan) then perhaps this might be of interest.
Utilitas is located in Fukuoka, Japan and is in the unique position of being a specialist dealer in Toyota Landcruiser and Nissan Skyline DR30 RS. Yes, really.
Posted in Businesses
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Skyline 50th Pins
Will the madness never end? The Nissan Skyline’s 50th birthday party is still going strong, and throughout it we’ve had minicars, CDs, a reproduction Ken & Mary T-shirt, and everything in the Nissan Heritage Collection. Now, the company is releasing a collection of commemorative pins. There will be only 62 sets, given out randomly to those who enter the contest. The entry deadline is February 18, 17:00 Tokyo time. And oh yeah, you have to live in Japan. Nuts.
Posted in datsun, nissan, nostalgic gear, prince
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New Century Heroes
During our recent journey to Japan, there were plenty of new cars to drool over too. We snapped a ton of photos, but since this is Japanese Nostalgic Car, we gave the photos to our friends at Jalopnik. This Toyota Century is pretty much the most nostalgic of the bunch, since even though it’s a 2008 (we think) model, it looks, for all intents and purposes, identical to the 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2004… all the way back to 1967 versions. Evolved from the 1965 Toyota Crown Eight, it stayed that way for 30 years until 1997, when Toyota shoehorned an exclusive V12 into it. For more check out Dan’s photos and Ben’s quote in the Jalopnik post.
Posted in japan, jnc, toyota, vip
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TLC Icon: It costs….HOW much?
There’s no doubt that the FJ40 Landcruiser of the late 60s is a very cool thing. To just look at one, it just oozes offroad mojo, rock-hard toughness and indestructibility. But an FJ40 also has a softer side too. See one at the beach and now it’s a picture of laid-back, surfie-dude charm. It’s an unlikely JDM classic, but its credentials are sound.
But to drive, they’re pretty crude and primitive, with bouncy suspensions and asthmatic engines. But now a California outfit called TLC has refreshed the FJ40 Landcruiser for the 21st century.
Posted in toyota
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Thai Fighters
To paraphrase George Peppard’s John “Hannibal” Smith, “We love it when the world comes together.” Especially around nostalgic cars. One of the most rewarding experiences about Japanese Nostalgic Car is when we see old school love coming from all corners of the globe. This time, dear reader pecx has posted a mind-blowing thread of some serious nostalgic car hotness from Thailand. We’re talkin’ five chili peppers here! You want fender mirrors? Check. Bolt-on fender flares? Check. Fat-lipped rims with stretched tires? Check and check. Look out world, Thais know how to keep it raw, like a kickboxer’s shin!
Posted in Uncategorized
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Snoop Dogg and the Datsun 510s
Word on the street is that Snoop Dogg is putting together a band, called Snoop Dogg and the Datsun 510s.
So alright, that was a lie. I have to confess (happily) that I’m not in even the slightest way a fan of this guy’s droll styles. But when the man’s got a 510 wagon on the cover of his new album, props have to be given.
Is this evidence of a heretofore unknown secret love for Datsuns? Snoop, if you’re reading grandJDM—and we know you are—holla at us.
[via A Hot Mess]
[also check out ratsun.net forums discussion on this]
Posted in media, nissan
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Subaru of America 40th Anniversary
We apologize for the short notice, but we just discovered Subaru of America will be celebrating their 40th anniversary at the Philadelphia Auto Show. A small show, yes, but Philly is right next door to Subaru’s Cherry Hill, NJ headquarters.
Subaru of Japan, on the other hand, is celebrating their 50th anniversary. More on this later.
Cars on display in the City of Brotherly Love will include the 360, FF1, Brat, SVX PPG Pace Car and STI 22B. Tomorrow, Sunday, is the final day for the show. Times and directions for the show can be found at the Philadelphia Auto Show website.
Posted in kei, subaru
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Happy Year of the Rat… Rod
For our dear readers who are observing the Lunar New Year by partying hearty this weekend, we at JNC would like to wish you a happy and prosperous Year of the Rat. To celebrate, here’s a photo of one of our favorite firecrackin’ SEMA cars ever, a Toyota FJ45 Land Cruiser done up in rat rod style, powered by a 750-horsepower Toyota NASCAR V8. The door says, “Toyota Motor Sales. New Cars since 1957. Hollywood, Ca.” How cool is that? Go here for more photos of this beast.
Posted in toyota
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Barracuda: One-Box Revolution
One of the things you notice in JDM classic-car magazines lately is that there is a lot more interest in the older JDM vans. The scene is still in its infancy to a certain extent, but one of the JDM dealers/parts stores catering to the oldschool one-box fans is Barracuda. And why not when these things make such cool cruisers.
Check out their blog for photo galleries of past one-box events.
Posted in Businesses
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Tokyo Daze: BIG Scooter!
One of the cool things that you will see plenty of in Tokyo is the BIG Scooter. Most of us are used to the idea of a scooter being a tiny little thing, pushed along by a putt-putt motor and with tiny wheels the diameter of frisbees.
But the Japanese do it quite differently, and in Japan you see plenty of low, long, fat scooters with big-cube thumper engines. They’re still twist n’ go automatic, but have a lot of presence and are extremely popular. And extremely popular for modifying.
Posted in Tokyo Daze
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Win Mystery JDM Toys!
My good friends at Japanese Nostalgic Car reminded me the other day that I hadn’t unpacked my bags from Japan yet! In their blog, Ben and Dan were given a little mystery toy as a gift, and I’d totally forgotten that I’d bought a whole bunch of them for GrandJDM readers!
Click on to see how you can WIN!!
Posted in contests
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EVENTS: New Year Meeting
Here it is, 370 pictures of nothing but old school JDM hotness. Enjoy! [LINK]
Posted in events, japan
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Return of the RWD Celica?
Speculation continues to abound at the reincarnation of a lightweight, rear wheel drive Toyota. For those of you who haven’t been following this particular rumor-fest, a quick recap: First, in August 2007, it was the Japanese magazines that began reporting on a comeback for the famed AE86 Corolla or hachiroku. Further details from Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun emerged, saying that Subaru, which Toyota purchased an 8.7% share of from GM in 2005, would be providing a boxer engine for the motivation. In October 2007, word leaked that Toyota had created an internal “committee to create interesting cars” and in November, more grapevine gossip said that Celicas, MR2s and Supras were all in queue for revival.
Now, Autoweek.nl is reporting that this new RWD compact will be a Celica, not a Corolla. If this is true, the new Celica will be offered in coupe and hatchback body styles (what, no liftback?) and in GT or GT-4 trim. The GT will have Subaru’s standard 2.0L boxer and RWD, while the GT-4 will have the 300hp 2.0L from the WRX STi and AWD. This could also mean a return to World Rally Championships for Toyota.
Not since 1985 and the A60 chassis has the Celica been RWD. In 1986, the Celica split off completely from the shared Supra/Celica platform and became four-cylinder FF or AWD only. The world is in dire need of a light, rear-driven coupe. Let’s hope this turns out to be fact, not just rumor, and if the car turns out to be retro-styled after the original Celica, well, that’ll be the bee’s knees.
Read the translation at World Car Fans.
Posted in retro, subaru, toyota
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JDM Video Clips
After our piece on bosozoku biker tribes a few weeks ago, one of our readers brought it to our attention that the Weezer video clip for Dope Nose features some Kyusha-kai bikers in it! So it got us to thinking about what other oddball JDM video clips we could find.
Posted in Miscellaneous
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Houston, We Have Liftoff
While JNC was cavorting in Japan, our hometown heroes were putting together the first old school J-tin meet in the Lone Star State. Congrats, guys, for being the pioneers in Texas and getting the nostalgic movement off the ground there, and we hope to see more longhorn shenanigans soon! Check out the galleries here and at 510garage. For more events in the biggest of the lower 48, check out the Z Sport San Antonio Nissan/Datsun meet scheduled for April 27.
Posted in events
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Isuzu: Crazy TV Commercials
We’ve done a few articles on Isuzu before (here and here) and it’s quite clear that the old Japanese marque’s car-making division started to run into financial rocks in the early 90s. And now we hear that after soldiering on for years selling only rebadged GM SUVs, Isuzu is deserting its last real passenger car market, the USA (here at japanesenostalgiccar.com). However one of the standout memories from the late 80s JDM era were the extraordinarily lavish series of TV commercials for the Isuzu Gemini.
Many JDM car commercials were filmed in Europe during that time, and so it’s not surprising that the Isuzu commercials were shot in Paris. But the memorable thing about the Isuzu ads were the amazing stunts, which were performed by the Remy Julienne organisation, which also performed the stunts for the (original) Italian Job, the Taxi series, and most of the James Bond films, to name a few.
