Subaru Concerned About Toyota RWD Coupe

Posted on April 22, 2008 by Ben Hsu

Ever since we began following the possible revival of a lightweight Toyota RWD sports coupe, to which names as wide-ranging as the AE86, Celica and Supra have been attached, there’s been a loyal group of Toyota enthusiasts clamoring for the car. Things started going south when it was speculated, then confirmed, that Subaru would be supplying the flat-four boxer engine, possibly some of the drivetrain, and would have their own Subaru-badged version. Some said “bring it on” while others swore that if the car was built with the Subaru engine they would never buy it on the grounds that it wasn’t a pure Toyota.

Ironically, Fuji Heavy Industries sales chief Mat Nagato has expressed that he shares the same concern that the Toyota enthusiasts do, except the brand he’s concerned about diluting is Subaru’s. “We may lose our longstanding territory, or we may lose the great niche brand image. The potential risk is there. We have to be very smart on marketing strategy,” Nagato said. Toyota has kept quiet on the subject.

[Source: Automotive News via Autoblog]

Posted in subaru, toyota | 6 Comments

Big Datsun Weekend Coming Up

Posted on April 21, 2008 by Ben Hsu


A quick reminder: there are not one but two Datsun events coming up this weekend for you lucky folks in SoCal. First, there’s Motorsport Auto’s Z Car West Coast Nationals in Irvine, CA which is an all-weekend gala from Friday, April 25 to Sunday, April 27. Then there’s also the Solvang Datsun Roaster Show in Solvang, CA on Saturday, April 26. See our coverage from last year’s shows here and here.

UPDATE: A third show is happening in Canada! Vancouver, BC to be exact. Check out the comments for details and links to the show.

Posted in datsun, events | 1 Comment

Superdeformed Contest Winners

Posted on April 19, 2008 by Ben Hsu

And the winners of our Superdeformed Contest are…
(drum roll, please):
Larry W., Palm City, Florida
Yi-Joe K., Kaneohe, Hawaii
Gilles G., Montreal, Quebec
Peter G., Yukon, Oklahoma
Cory W., Modesto, California
Bob J., Troy, Michigan

Thanks for playing, everyone. If you won, your superdeformed car should be coming in the mail shortly. If you didn’t win, better luck next time!

Posted in jnc | 4 Comments

SevenStock XI Dates Announced

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Ben Hsu

We know this is a long way off, but put it in your planner, folks. We just got word from a source at Mazda that SevenStock, the annual celebration of all things rotary now in its 11th year, will be held on September 27, 2008 at Mazda USA headquarters in Irvine, California. Mazdafarians Rejoice! See our coverage of the 2007 show here.

[Source: Mazda]

Posted in events, mazda | Leave a comment

CA Proposal Threatening Pre-1976 Cars Denied

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Ben Hsu

YES, we’ve got some great news! Last month we told you about a proposed California bill that would have made it mandatory in certain parts of the state to continue emissions testing on pre-1976 cars for the life of the vehicle. Many of you, some not even from California, answered the call and wrote letters on behalf of vintage car enthusiasts everywhere. And it worked! Joji from Toy Garage just emailed us to say that the bill went up before the legislature and passed, but the section in the bill concerning pre-1976 autos was removed and those cars will still enjoy their emissions exemptions!

We at JNC feel it’s important to preserve the environment, but it’s also important to preserve old cars. Legislation like this would have made it economically infeasible for many owners to keep a nostalgic around and doomed many such vehicles to the junkyard. Most importantly, however, their numbers are so few that their emissions contribute almost nothing to the overall volume of air pollution. Let’s go after the real offenders before singling out classic cars. Our deepest thanks to all who helped!

See the full SEMA press release after the jump. Continue reading →

Posted in laws | 1 Comment

BRE 510 Does 0-600% in One eBay Sale

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Ben Hsu

A while back, this Datsun 510 sold on eBay for $13,000, a steep price for what appeared to be a BRE-themed Datsun 510 replica. Only, it wasn’t a replica. According to the seller, it’s a one-of-a-kind prototype for a Datsun factory program that would have allowed buyers to put together their very own street-legal BRE Trans-Am 2.5 510. Goodies include a Nissan factory performance 5-speed, BRE suspension package, mild cam upgrade, high volume oil pump, raised compression, American Racing Libre wheels, 1 of 3 alleged hand-built LSDs, and a slew of BRE badging.

This could have been Datsun’s equivalent of the Boss Mustang or Camaro Z/28, but unfortunately the program never got off the ground. The aftermarket parts developed for it ended up being sold through BRE or Interpart. The seller also says that there were several of these prototypes built, but this is likely the only surviving complete, 100% numbers matching example.

The original owner was purportedly once a middleman between Nissan USA and BRE. The car also comes with an explosion of memorabilia and some very nice NOS spare parts. But get this. With the car exactly as it was when it sold for $13,000, the price tag is now $65,000 with a BuyItNow of $79,000. That’s almost a 600% increase in price with just the discovery of its proper bloodlines, the passage of a few months and a yellow 240Z upholstered with a wetsuit (if that’s your thing). Google stock, eat your heart out. Thanks again to David of Motoring J Style for the tip!

[Source: Motoring J Style]

Posted in datsun, for sale, nissan, racing | 5 Comments

1981 Isuzu I-Mark Diesel on Ebay

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Ben Hsu

We don’t often have a lot of Isuzu news here, but the least-loved Japanese marque had some nice designs before completely falling out of the passenger car market altogether. The I-Mark was one of the first cars in the US to be branded an Isuzu, which came to the US market in 1981. Prior to that, Isuzu-built cars had been sold by GM’s Opel division through its Buick dealerships thanks to a panicked attempt to get small cars into the the lineup after the 1973 Oil Crisis. That crisis also prompted a huge influx of diesel engines into the US, since diesel fuel returned better mileage and cost less than petrol. The I-Mark coupe is a looker, and now that Isuzu has announced plans to abandon the passenger vehicle market altogether, this will soon become one of the many forgotten but quaint relics on the roadside of failed automakers. Here’s an Opel-badged version for comparison.

This two-owner car on eBay appears to be completely stock except for a tow bar in the front. According to the description, many of its miles were accumulated behind the first owner’s motor home. This is believable, as the interior wear doesn’t indicate 195,000 miles of occupation. It came from Arizona too, which means no salt but lots of sun. No top-down photos of the dash and rear parcel shelf are available, but there don’t seem to be any sun-baked cracks on either, nor on the vinyl sections of the rear seats. The auction has ended early implying that the seller cut a deal outside of eBay, so we don’t know the price it sold for, but he was looking for $3500 to BuyItNow. Thanks to David for the tip!

[Source: Motoring J Style]

Posted in for sale, isuzu | 13 Comments

Motoring J Style to Honor BRE Reunion

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Ben Hsu

This recent article on Winding Road is a good read on the background of Martin Swig, a well-known California car collector. What it doesn’t mention though, is that Swig, along with his son David, in 2007 founded Motoring J Style, northern California’s very own car show celebrating Japanese car culture with a focus on vintage Japanese steel.

This year it’s back, and it promises to have even more treats in store, centering around a reunion of Peter Brock’s BRE race team, whose Datsun 510s took the 1971-72 SCCA Trans-Am 2.5 championships against the likes of Alfa Romeo and BMW. Mr. Brock himself and driver John Morton will be on hand to sign autographs and recount the historic wins and discuss his involvement with Hino’s short-lived US racing program. Nissan USA will display the 510 Morton drove to the checkered flag. In addition, there will be displays from Toyota USA along with their brands Lexus and Scion, a drift competition, a dirt track for rally stages and over 400 cars on hand.

Check out our coverage of last year’s event here. The 2008 Motoring J Style will be held at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo, CA on May 24, 2008. Mark your calendars!

[Motoring J Style]

Posted in datsun, events, nissan, racing | Leave a comment

NHK Top Sales, Nostalgic Rival to BBC Top Gear

Posted on April 16, 2008 by Ben Hsu


Forget Knight Rider, forget Speed Racer, forget Seibu Keisatsu. This could quite possibly be the best show ever to hit the airwaves, and it’s a soap opera. NHK is launching a new drama series called Top Sales, about a car saleswoman making her way up the ladder in the male-dominated world of auto retail, and it takes place in Japan in the 70s. Like, OMG.

The plot follows a woman named Hisako Makino (played by Yui Natsukawa and loosely based on author Fumiko Hayashi) who loses her job at a textile company. She runs into her childhood friend Takao (Kippei Shiina), a salesman at a company called Omiyake Motors, who convinces her to take a job with him. His chauvinist manager disapproves at first, but Takao convinces him to hire her. Drama, possible romance, and a tale of women’s empowerment ensues. Eventually, Hisako climbs the corporate latter to the top, becoming president of the company. The year is 1974, one year after the Oil Crisis, and the show’s producers have painstakingly recreated all the fashions, music and household items in vogue at the time for the sets.

But who cares about all that? There main point here is that the show appears to contain plenty of old Japanese iron in the background, which you can see in this gallery and on the show’s official site. This is one soap opera we’ll gladly endure. Please, please, please let there be a subtitled version unleashed into the internet. The first episode aired April 12.

[Source: Auto-Otaku via Autoblog]

Posted in japan, Video Games | 4 Comments

Land Cruisers You Can Wear

Posted on April 16, 2008 by Ben Hsu

Someone over at this T-shirt site must love Land Cruisers because they have at least 3 shirts dedicated to the old Toyota workhorse. Our favorite one is this one pictured, even though we’re not really sure what it says. The second of the big words on top is “kuruiseru” (though the actual Japanese should read クルーザー) but we’re at a loss for the others. We were simply sold by the tag line “Which way to Mt. Fuji?” The creator sure knows his Cruisers, which in 1951, were the first vehicles ever to reach the sixth stage of the famous Japanese mountain.

UPDATE: We got an email from the T-shirt’s maker, Tim McGrath, who writes that the shirt is meant to say “Fuji Cruiser” and “Japan” but found out later that the Japanese was wrong. He laughs it off, though, telling us, “Oh well. I thought it was kinda funny like those bad English shirts you would see in Japan.” There’s more coming too, including the FJ45 short bed, and FJ43. Thanks, Tim!

[Source: Sackwear]

Posted in nostalgic gear, toyota, trucks | 3 Comments

Random House III: M Yokota Collection

Posted on April 14, 2008 by Ben Hsu

You may remember the M. Yokota Collection, which has been mentioned on our blog before. Essentially, a super rich old dude built a museum around a massive collection of his diverse interests, one of which happens to be old Japanese cars. Others happen to be squirrels, wine, teddy bears and other assorted toys. Our intrepid reporter Toyotageek infiltrated the magical mansion/squirrel zoo recently and took a bunch of pics for your viewing pleasure before the Oompa-Loompas kicked him out. Yokota-san also organizes a vintage rally every year. Thanks for the tip, TG!

[Source: Toyotageek]

Posted in japan, museum | 1 Comment

JNC Superdeformed Launch Contest

Posted on April 14, 2008 by Ben Hsu

To celebrate our recent magazine launch, we’re giving away a few little trinkets that we picked up from our trip to Japan. Nothing special, just a few super deformed pullback cars that fly across your kitchen floor like a startled roach. Those who have subscribed to the magazine will see another contest in the pages of the first issue whose prizes are valued at $100 😉

The three larger ones are mystery boxes from the History of Celica & Supra collection, and their unknown contents can range anywhere from a TA22 Celica to a JZA80 Supra. The three smaller cars are Choro-Qs, a white Datsun Cherry Coupe X1-R, beige Toyota A40 Supra Liftback, and gold Honda N360.

Just send us an email to the feedback address at the bottom of this page with “CONTEST” as the subject and your name and address where you’d like the prize to be sent (which will be kept strictly confidential). On Friday, April 18 at 11:59pm US Eastern Time, we will randomly pick the winners and send out the prizes on Saturday, April 19. If you have a preference as to which car you’d like, put it in the email but the first winner will have first choice. Thanks and good luck!

Posted in jnc, minicar | Leave a comment

Jimny Cricket! Suzuki LJ20 on Ebay

Posted on April 14, 2008 by Ben Hsu

In these days of skyrocketing gas prices where you have to take out a mortgage just to fill up your Escalade, how about a 4×4 with two-speed transfer case that gets 50mpg? If you don’t mind putting up with a 358cc two-stroke engine, here’s the SUV for you, a 1972 Suzuki LJ20. At least its 1300lb curb weight won’t hold back the trucklet’s 32hp for a top speed of 55mph. It was never officially imported into the US, but its descendants, the Samurai/Jimny, were until Consumer Reports deemed it rollover prone.

Anyhow, this LJ20 is for sale on eBay right now and has only 25,300 miles on the clock. According to the owner, it’s got no rust, no bondo, and has been kept in a heated garage. Everything works, even the dome light and it’s still wearing shiny, original paint. This baby might be mint, but for some reason we have a sudden craving for mustard.

[Source: eBay via Winding Road]

Posted in for sale, suzuki, trucks | 5 Comments

Datsun 510 Futures Looking Bullish

Posted on April 13, 2008 by Ben Hsu

First it appeared on album covers, now there’s a casting call from Hollywood. Is the Datsun 510 the next big thing? It seems that whenever a classic Japanese car is called for, the 510 is becoming quite the sizzling ticket. Better grab ’em while you can, guys and gals.

Here’s our on-again-off-again thread about J-tin on film. Here’s some more screenshots from various movies on IMCDB, including the flipping 510 pictured from A Special Magnum for Tony Saitta.

Posted in datsun, nissan, Video Games | Leave a comment

JNC Magazine Shipping Now

Posted on April 11, 2008 by Ben Hsu


We’re posting this random photo of a vintage Japanese mail truck based on the Honda Step Van because JNC magazine has finished printing and will be mailed out tomorrow! They’re coming straight from the printer so we haven’t even seen it ourselves. We’re so excited that we just can’t hide it! Thanks to all those who subscribed and were so patient with us as we burned the midnight oil putting it together. We weren’t even really sure if were going to make the deadline but it happened. We love ya! Now excuse us as we pass out.

[Image: Corism]

Posted in jnc | 10 Comments

Mazda Rotary Endurance Racers, Then and Now

Posted on April 11, 2008 by Ben Hsu


In 1968, Mazda took the world’s first ever rotary-powered race car, its brand new Cosmo Sports, racing at one of Europe’s toughest enduros, the Marathon de la Route 84 Hours at Germany’s Nürburgring. It finished fourth, behind a pair of Porsche 911s and a Lancia.

Forty years later, Mazda is still fielding pistonless endurance machines, most recently at the 2008 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona where it took the GT Class championship amidst a grid of Ferraris, a Corvette, a BMW M6 and yes, Porsches. In honor of this victory, Mazda Japan has created a website chronicling the race. Mazdafarians might want to take a look even though the site is in Japanese; the interviews are in English. Congrats to the Speedsource RX-8 team of Sylvain Tremblay, David Haskell, Nick Ham, and Raphael Matos.

[Source: Mazda]

Posted in mazda, racing | 2 Comments

Hot Rod Datsun

Posted on April 11, 2008 by Ben Hsu

We’ve seen Toyota and Mazda-powered hot rods, but here’s a totally bitchin’ speedster pushing Datsun power. A 260Z inline 6 to be exact, and it’s even made to resemble a Miller/Offy from back in the day. Blasphemy to some, perhaps, but not us.

[Jalopnik]

Posted in datsun, Spotlight | 4 Comments

Rotaries Are Blinding Us with Science

Posted on April 11, 2008 by Ben Hsu

On April 27th, the National Science Museum in Japan will be holding a special exhibition celebrating 40 years of Mazda’s rotary engine. The exhibit, called “Showa Rotary Engine Vehicles,” will look at the history and future of rotary engines. The National Science Museum is located in Ueno Park, Tokyo and will be open from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm.

[Source: Mazda]

Posted in japan, mazda | Leave a comment

Ice Cold Sapporos

Posted on April 10, 2008 by Ben Hsu

It’s hard to believe that in all the talk about Sapporos in our forums, no one has ever mentioned this site, msapporo.com, where you can find entire brochures and owners manuals scanned, posted and categorized for your viewing pleasure. Fans of all its variants – Dodge Challenger, Plymouth Sapporo, Mitsubishi Galant and Chrysler Scorpion – are welcome too.

[MSapporo via Jalopnik]

Posted in catalogs, mitsubishi | Leave a comment

Toyota-Subaru RWD Confirmed

Posted on April 10, 2008 by Ben Hsu


It’s true, it’s all true! Soylent Green is people, the apes were on Earth all along, and the Toyota-Subaru joint rear wheel drive coupe is real. Last week, Toyota upped its stake in Subaru parent company Fuji Heavy Industries from the 8.7%, purchased from GM in 2005, to 16.5%. Now, the news of the coupe comes straight from the CEO’s mouth. Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe: “The compact rear-wheel drive sports car is envisioned to offer a new ‘fun to drive’ experience based on an all-new vehicle platform.” He also says the cars will be powered by Subaru’s flat four, with the Subaru going on sale in late 2010 and the Toyota version in early 2011. The only question now is, Corolla, Celica, or something else? If the rumors of the Celica revival are true, we would sacrifice our first borns if a retro-styled Cellie was in the works, unlikely as that may be. After all, they need something to differentiate the Toyota from the Subaru.

[Source: AutoCar, MotorAuthority, Automotive News, Jalopnik]

Posted in subaru, toyota | 17 Comments