Retro Done Right

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Here I am, working towards getting up the cash to put together my own classic JDM machine, and there are folks out there with more than one! It’s one thing to have your main classic and a second car as a parts bucket, but having two amazing classics in perfect condition? Damn.

Turbo Magazine have a great feature on Tod Kaneko’s stunning S30Z and 510, and it’s a great read. Or you could be like me, and just stare at the photos for half an hour before you even start reading the article.

[via VizCcar forums]

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EVENTS: Norm Reeves Honda Show

Hondas, if you please [LINK]

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EVENTS: Empire Z Show

Zs, if you please. [LINK]

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JCCS: The Movie

Coming soon, to a screen near you… For those of you who may have missed the awesome Japanese Classic Car Show in October, here’s your chance to attend vicariously. The JCCS 2007 DVD is a professionally-filmed moving archive of the annual event, containing 50 minutes of footage of the over 350 cars who gathered for the yearly jamboree at the Queen Mary. In addition, there’s shots of the cars doing what they were born to do – drive, while looking cool. Bonus features include segments called So-Cal Rendezvous and Corollas on the Strip, and the first 100 orders get a sticker so head on over to the JCCS site and pre-order one. The DVD goes on sale December 15.

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Old School JDM Sat-Nav

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Today, satnav is no big deal. A lot of cars come with it, and even if yours doesn’t, a portable handheld unit is not expensive. Heck, very soon we’re sure that everyone’s mobile phones will have satnav capability for free anyway. But back in 1981 the technology simply wasn’t there and so Honda’s solution was this, the Electro Gyrocator.

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Honda T500 Catalog

hondat500.jpgSomeone at Winding Road loves the Honda T-series.  We can’t really blame them.  What’s not to love about a 9000rpm kei-class truck that’s also historically significant for being Honda’s first four-wheeled vehicle?  Check out the catalog scan – in English! – and this classic commercial.

Of course, that just begs the question, what if instead of a Mad Max-like desert, what if the post apocalyptic wasteland is actually covered in snow?  Well, then you get the Snowler.

And for our own coverage of the only known example in the US, check out this article from our Profiles archive.

Posted in cm, honda, kei, trucks | 1 Comment

JapaneseNostalgicCar Announce Magazine

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Whoa. What a night. I come home from a dinner where a lifelong buddy and his girl announced their engagement, and now I see JNC have made an announcement of their own. I’m not sure which one has made a bigger impact on me, haha.

But damn, this is huge news.

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Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine

We have a special announcement to make today. In spring of 2008, we are launching Japanese Nostalgic Car as a magazine. First, we want to truly thank all of you for supporting JNC. It really means a lot to us to have you visit our little corner of the web, and to see so much passion for the same cars we love. Seriously, we appreciate it, a lot!

jncmag.jpgA print version has been part of our plan from the beginning, but the website isn’t going anywhere. We will still update the site with unique content and the latest event photos. Nothing’s changing on that front.

Like most publications, the web and print versions will complement each other, and the magazine will have unique content as well (the photo is just a sample mock-up). Though it may seem backwards in this day and age to go from digital to analog, so to speak, there are things a magazine can offer that a website can’t.

This includes large, full-color photos and more varied layouts in a format you can take anywhere, whether it be train, plane, bathroom, patio, beach, or a nice warm couch. Paper and ink aren’t going anywhere, and let’s face it, a hobby with a physical magazine carries more weight. There are multiple titles devoted to vintage British, German, Italian, and American cars, but none for Japanese. Most Americans drive Japanese cars, and yet are woefully unaware of their great history. Japanese cars need and deserve a place on the newsstand. It is our hope that the magazine will fill that void, bring more people to the hobby and prevent these cars from being heartlessly discarded when used up.

Because this is still very much a niche market, we’re starting out small. We’re aiming for one issue each quarter, and if things go well then perhaps we’ll make it monthly. We’re making substantial sacrifices, both personally and financially in this endeavor, but we think it’ll benefit the scene as a whole in the long run. As we grow, we’ll be looking for contributors as well, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re interested in joining, or if you’d just like to give us a suggestion.

As a thank you for being a JapaneseNostalgicCar.com reader, we’ll give you guys a subscription discount. We’re still working on the details, but stay tuned for more. Thank you! [Link to Forum]

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The Stig Hoons a Datsun

topgeardatsun.jpgOn the latest episode of BBC Top Gear, Jezza, the Hamster and Captain Slow celebrate the 40th anniversary of British Leyland in one of their famous cheap car challenges. Armed with 1200 pounds sterling, each of them is sent to buy the best BL manufactured car they can find, and then subject it to a barrage of challenges to test speed, durability, and humiliation.

Most embarrassingly of all, the Queen’s honor was put up against a 69hp lime green Datsun 120Y (aka B210, Sunny), complete with honeycomb hubcaps, piloted by The Stig. According to the lads, this model was the car that showed Britain automobiles could be reliable and expected to start on the first try.

The following are the presenters and their weapons of choice:

(May) Let it never be said that Fairlady is a silly, girly name for a car when the English have named a car the Austin Princess despite their first language being, in fact, English.

(Hammond) Or the Dolly Sprint. Well, to be fair, the real name is the Triumph Dolomite Sprint, which sounds like some kind of Olympic track and field event involving blaxploitation but is actually a pretty cool little car. DO-LO-MIIITE!

(Clarkson) The Rover SD1 was equipped with a 3.5L V8 and looks like a Clark Kent version of the Renault Alpine A310. Does it have what it takes to school a 1.2L Japanese four-cylinder of the same era?

We won’t spoil the ending for you, but it’s good to see a country that can joke about its own auto industry, and in the immortal words of James May, “Brown is a seventies color. This is a 1978 car. It’s very interesting.” So without further ado, here are the clips courtesy of YouTube: parts 1, 2, 3 and 4. Thanks to MadFlava for the tip!

Posted in datsun, nissan | 8 Comments

Laurel SGX at JapaneseNostalgicCar

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I’m more than a little in love with this car. After I saw it in the round of photos from this year’s Japanese Classic Car Show, I was stuper keen to feature it on grandJDM. But, alas, JNC had beaten me to it. Those guys! I got an envelope stuffed with powder and their names on it, I tells ya. I kid, I kid.

Wake up, grab a cup o’ caff, and head over to JNC to check this bit out and the great write-up that goes with it. So damn hot.

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Do YOU Come With the Car?

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“Oh you!”

If you’re hoping to jump into the classic JDM market and snap up a bargain, one possible obstacle could be the ol’ ball-and-chain. Otherwise known as the wife. Some of us are lucky enough to have understanding partners (and some of us can just buy them off – “car for me, diamonds for you, engine for me, shoes for you!”), but for those who aren’t, this seller on eBay has got just what you need.

What better way to convince the other half that buying a bit of classic J-tin is the right move, than to show her how great she’d look in it? “Look honey, this chick looks great in the car, so you probably would too!” Okay, a little more tact perhaps.

[eBay link]
[grandJDM mirror]
[Thanks to DatsunFreak for the link!]

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PROFILES: 1976 Nissan Laurel

A super clean, duper mean Nissan Laurel Hardtop. [LINK]

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Old School JDM Rides You Can Buy Today

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A thread at the www.auszoku.net forums the other day reminded us that Nissan South Africa still makes the B121 Nissan Sunny truck. Called the 1400 Bakkie, it is a 1971 Nissan design that you can still buy new today.

So it prompted us to think about older JDM rides that you might still be able to buy new.

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Mid4: Nissan makes a Ferrari (well….almost)

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In 1985, Nissan stunned everyone by releasing a mid engined prototype called the Mid4. The first thing you notice of course is that it looks a hell of a lot like a Ferrari 308. Back in the day, this was quite a bone of contention and the Mid4 designer Hiroshi Itoh received some criticism for it. However the really exciting thing was that Nissan had made several prototypes that were quite fully engineered and were convincing, driving cars. These were not just stylish concept cars built to look good on car show stands: Nissan invited car journalists from all around the world to its test track in Oppama to give its small fleet of fully engineered and trimmed prototypes hell and everyone was blown away.

The vibe at the time from all the car magazines around the world was that, here was a revolutionary high tech supercar that was just about to go into production.


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Posted in nissan | 6 Comments

Arna: When Alfa Romeo made Nissans

 

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By far one of the more bizarre automotive dalliances was the very short lived alliance between Alfa Romeo and Nissan in the early 80s. Alfa Romeo needed a small and cheap new model to accompany it’s new Alfa33 compact, and Nissan needed a way to break into the European market.

Back in the 1980s, JDM manufacturers were subject to import quotas in most Europoean countries, which limited the number of cars they could sell in any given market. Today, Japanese manufacturers all have plants in Europe anyway, so the import quotas are no longer an issue. But back in the early 80s, Nissan saw a way around the quotas by tying up with Alfa Romeo. And Alfa Romeo would begin to manufacture Nissan Pulsars in its old Alfasud factory near Naples, and that plan was that Nissan would have golden opportunity to expand its European market share, free of the constraints of import quotas.

Well…..it didn’t quite work out that way.

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M. Yokota Vintage Rally

yokotarally.jpgRemember the M. Yokota Collection, the vintage car museum/chocalatier/squirrel zoo in Gumna Prefecture? Clearly, a mind as active and eccentric as that of Mr. Yokota’s cannot be easily calmed. The latest manifestation of his love for nostalgics is the M. Yokota Fall Rally, one of the many car shows and rallies that he organizes. Open to Showa Era cars only, the rally had over 200 entrants and started at the Skyland Amusement Park near Mt. Haruna, the geological formation that served as Shuichi Shigeno’s inspiration for Initial-D’s Mt. Akina. Click on over to Urban Racer to see a hachiroku dicing it up with 2000GTs and Ferraris and the rest of their coverage.

Posted in japan, museum, racing, rally | 1 Comment

Celica May Return

zcars.jpgOpen a new car magazine and you’d be hard pressed not to find some sort of speculation regarding upcoming sporty Toyotas. Here’s a rundown of the rumors so far:

Supra – a version of Lexus’s upcoming LF-A supercar

Supra – the production version of Toyota’s FT-HS hybrid concept

MR-2 – a disguised mid-engined sports car spotted on a Toyota car transporter in Japan

Corolla GT-S – a true, $13,000, 100hp, successor to the AE-86

And now, there’s a report that Toyota intends to return the Celica nameplate to Europe in 2009. Of all places, this was only briefly mentioned in an Automotive News piece about Toyota’s opposition to placing a speed limit on Germany’s autobahns. There are no further details.

Could this be one of the above mentioned cars branded as a Celica for the European market, or something completely unrelated that could also make its way to the States? Only time will tell, but with this many rumors floating around, there must be some truth in at least one (and hopefully all) of them.

[LINK]

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This is a Stick Up!

As you get ready to line up outside of your electronics retailer at 4 AM on Black Friday, we offer the comfort and convenience of ordering from your own home, the best holiday gift you can get this holiday season, second only to De Beers diamonds and Lexuses wrapped up in giant bows, JNC stickers! We’re selling these babies at cost, too. Can’t beat that with a bat. Our shop section is here.

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FEATURES: LA Auto Show

New article up. A couple of classics showed up at the ongoing LA Auto Show. [LINK]

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Sambar: Subaru gets its funk on

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Last week we did a short profile on the funky 60s Honda Vamos mid-engined convertible trucklet.    But like all other JDM manufacturers of the same era, Subaru also had a range of funky little small-capacity commercial vehicles as well.

Subaru’s version was called the Sambar.  The nameplate lives on today in the form of a Kei-class van but the 60s version was quite a cool little miniature version of the VW Kombi.

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