[USA] Porsche Datsun Challenge

Posted on October 9, 2007 by Van

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As Robert Duvall’s character in Days of Thunder said, “He didn’t slam you, he didn’t bump you, he didn’t nudge you… he rubbed you. And rubbin, son, is racin‘.” But to be honest, I don’t think I could ever let my classic JDM – or a classic car of any sort – get so much as a rubbin’, let alone any other form of less-than-loving contact.

Nonetheless, the racing of classic cars continues to be a favourite pastime of enthusiasts around the world, and one hell of a spectacle. So if you’ve got the time and you’re in the area, you need to get yourself down to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to catch The Porsche – Datsun Challenge this coming weekend. Stylistically and mechanically, these cars are so wonderfully matched, and this should be an awesome day!

Posted in events, nissan, Reminder | Leave a comment

Shootout at the BRE Corral

Posted on October 9, 2007 by Ben Hsu

datsunporsche.jpg The racing world is full of legendary rivalries – Chevy vs. Ford, Porsche vs. Ferrari, even Ford vs. Ferrari, and now, Porsche vs. Datsun. In the early days of Datsun’s entry into the US market, the BRE 510s and 240Zs went doorhandle to doorhandle with the boys from Stuttgart. Now, the Vintage Auto Racing Association seeks to reignite the clash with its annual Porsche-Datsun Shootout at the Jeff Saltman Memorial Race in Las Vegas, October 13-14. For photos from last year’s event, look here.

[Sources: grandJDM, VARA, classicracingphotos]

Posted in datsun, nissan, racing | 1 Comment

Seibu Keisatsu video clips

Posted on October 8, 2007 by Van

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Kev nicely covered this badass Japanese cop show back here, but this week Hirst from oldjapanesecar.com unearthed the first two episodes, as well as a few clips from episode 38. I thought American cop shows from the 70s and 80s were about as hilariously stupid as the genre gets, but these are just phenomenal in their awesomeness. That’s right, awesomeness. Check ’em out!

Posted in Japan Stuff | Leave a comment

Brian Baker in the New York Times

Posted on October 8, 2007 by Ben Hsu


You may remember Brian Baker from an article we did on his Honda T500F. One of the most passionate enthusiasts we’ve had the pleasure of meeting, Brian Baker was the first person to come to mind when Richard Chang of the New York Times approached us, looking for a subject to profile for his series, “Auto Ego.” It’s great to see Brian get the recognition he deserves (he also previously appeared in Road & Track when the S2000 first launched), although we like to think that appearing in Japanese Nostalgic Car was the greatest honor of all.

Be sure to check out the audio slideshow for great pictures and to hear Brian take his S600 to a 9500rpm redline we thought would never come.

[Source: The New York Times]

Posted in honda | Leave a comment

The JCCS Rundown

Posted on October 8, 2007 by Van

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Well, while two of the three grandJDM staffers were up somewhere in rural Australia thrashing various Japanese cars both new and old at a motorkhana, the Japanese Classic Car Show was taking place on the other side of the world in California, USA. We can’t say we didn’t have an awesome time, but we can pretty safely say we wish we’d been at the JCCS instead! Maybe we need to start advertising here, so we can afford flights to the US for all these awesome events, haha.

So, since we can’t bring you firsthand photos ourselves, here’s a bunch of links to galleries and reports on what looks like an awesome event. Hopefully we’ll be there ourselves next year!

Continue reading →

Posted in events | 8 Comments

EVENTS: Japanese Classic Car Show

Posted on October 7, 2007 by Ben Hsu

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The 2007 Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach! It’s no just an important event for vintage J-cars, but it also marks a whole year since we’ve been slogging our sorry selves all over the place to populate this site with our galleries. Time flies! To anyone who is interested in nostalgics, this is the place to be.

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grandJDM wallpaper, at last!

Posted on October 6, 2007 by Van

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Well folks, here’s our very first wallpaper. The model that was gracious enough to pose for us, is Lachy’s C110 GT-R replica. We’d love to know what you think of it, so shoot us an email with your comments, or comment on it in this post. It’s available in 1280×1024 and 1024×768. We’re hoping to offer larger resolutions for future wallpapers.

Head over to the Downloads section to grab it!

Posted in wallpapers | 3 Comments

Did You Know?

Posted on October 6, 2007 by Van

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Here’s a new feature on grandJDM for you; the “Did You Know?” post! Exciting stuff, huh? Alright, probably not, but let’s move on!

Here’s a little Toyota trivia that I stumbled across earlier today. Toyota used variations of the name Crown for models other than the Crown that we all know. For example: the Corona, which is latin for crown, or the Corolla, which is latin for small crown. There’s also the Camry (often regarded jokingly as a playful twist on “my car”), which is an anglicized pronunciation of the Japanese term “kan-muri” meaning crown. One of Toyota’s first cars sold in the US was also called the Toyopet Tiara.

Something of a fascination with royal headwear, over at Toyota HQ!

Posted in Did You Know?, toyota | 1 Comment

RX5 Cosmo: Mazda’s rotary shiny disco ball

Posted on October 6, 2007 by Kevin San

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We’ve covered a lot of the early rotary Mazda history, especially the racing history of the Cosmo 110S, Familia Coupe, RX2 Capella and RX3 Savanna GT. It would lead you to believe that Mazda rotaries were all about performance and racing, but in 1975 Mazda took a sharp left turn with the RX-5 (or Cosmo as it was called in Japan).

The RX5 debuted with very Americanised, bloated chrome laden styling, very much like a Japanese Olds Cutlass or Chevy Monte Carlo. In the USA, the muscle car era petered out in the early 70s as all of the old muscle nameplates like the Charger and Mustang were weighed down with power sapping pollution controls and greater weight from customer demands for more “personal luxury”…to the point where former big-cube hero cars were reduced to chrome laden gin palaces for the disco generation that could barely wheeze across the quarter mile in 19 seconds. And so Mazda followed suit with the RX5.

The irony is, the RX5 sold very poorly in the USA (in fact it sold badly in all western markets) but the one market where it was a certified smash hit was Japan.

Continue reading →

Posted in mazda | 6 Comments

All you need is love (and $$$)

Posted on October 5, 2007 by Lachy

Celica

Among the classic beauty of the older Celicas, the oddball later model A40 and A60 series Celicas never get much attention. This is especially true for the A60 Coupe, which despite its typical 80s look is not a bad car. When Juha Kankkunen found this derelict but historic 1984 Group B Rally TA64 Celica still equipped with its 4TGTE engine, it was love. It went under a magnificent extensive restoration by Makela Auto Tuning in Finland, with many photos documenting the process. It just goes to show, anything is possible with enough love, time, money and damn fine skills.

Sure, this gallery was widely spammed across the Internet a little while ago, but in case you missed it the first time round, here it is in all its glory. If you did see it, check it out again! Simply amazing restoration work.

Full Gallery

Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a comment

Honda 1300 Coupe 9 on eBay

Posted on October 5, 2007 by Ben Hsu

Does anyone want to give us 6,600 bucks? In return, you’ll have our eternal gratitude and free rides in one of the rarest nostalgics ever to set rubber on this continent – a 1971 Honda 1300 Coupe 9 Deluxe.

Another one of Soichiro Honda’s dream machines, borne out of his desire to build a “world class car,” it’s a portfolio of innovative engineering. The quad-carbed inline four wedged between its shock towers is air-cooled via ducts running through the engine as if meant for water. The outside of the motor still had fins, and so did the dry sump oil reservoir. All of these parts worked in conjunction to put 116hp through the front wheels, an incredible output considering it’s 1.3L engine size. In comparison, a 2005 Honda Civic with a 1.7L engine still only makes 115hp.

According to the Honda 1300 Coupe Registry, either 7,881 or 8,102 of the Coupe 9’s were built. Even Honda themselves cannot come to agreement on the exact number. They were never exported to the US, and this one on ebay comes from Australia.

[eBay via Jalopnik]

Posted in for sale, honda | Leave a comment

Melbournites, This is a Call!

Posted on October 4, 2007 by Van

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Melbournites of the Australian variety, that is. Sorry Florida! If you’re in Melbourne and you think you might like the idea of attending an All-Japanese car show, you need to hop your ass over to the JNC forums (and in particular, this forum thread right here) and shoot a private message to Brett (username: 1600GT) to let him know just how keen you are.

He’s not expecting a monetary commitment from anyone at this point—if at all—but just letting him know that you’re keen will help to get the event on track.

This has the potential to be a huge day on the scale of the Japanese Classic Car Show in California USA or the Classic Japanese Show Shine and Swap in Queensland Australia, so get it together folks. Make it happen!

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Joy Stick

Posted on October 3, 2007 by Ben Hsu

At last, we have stickers! Ever since we first went online, visitors have been asking us for them. Honestly, we were somewhat surprised at the interest but flattered and grateful all the same. Well, we just got some printed, and here’s what they look like. Nothing fancy, just our logo in a 4 by 4 inch square with rounded corners. Now we have to figure out a good ordering system on the website. But for those of you going to the Japanese Classic Car Show, look for us by the Cressida Wagon and say hi and pick some up. Thanks for the support, and hope to see you at Long Beach!

Posted in jnc | 10 Comments

Import Bible Contest ANSWERS!

Posted on October 3, 2007 by Kevin San

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It’s all over folks! For those that didn’t get their entries in, you can always jump over to Import Bible, whip out the ol’ credit card, and snap up a few choice tees from the collection.

Thanks to everyone who entered—we were all pleasantly surprised at how much you guys knew, and we hope everyone had some fun trying to guess the various cars. The crowd over at the AusZoku forums even combined their knowledge to see how close they could come to a complete list!

A lot of entries came close, but in the end, there can be only one. …err, two.

So without further ado, the lucky winners of the two Import Bible T-shirts are:

Floody (who also gets the persistence award!) and Josh 2.5! Congratulations guys!

Both from Australia, interestingly. Considering our reader base is quite evenly spread across Australia and the US, that surprised us a bit! We’ll contact the winners shortly to make the necessary arrangements. But for everyone else—here are the ANSWERS!




Continue reading →

Posted in contests | 2 Comments

Fire Breathing Monsters: When Group5 ruled the racetracks

Posted on October 3, 2007 by Kevin San

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In the mid 1970s, big banger sportscar racing (and hence Le Mans) was in the doldrums. In the heady days of the 1960s, Ferrari, Porsche and Ford battled it out for supremacy, creating legends out of cars like the Porsche 917, Ford GT40 and Ferrari 512. However the rules were changed in the early 70s to favour more faceless prototypes and as a result the public lost interest. The FIA’s solution was Group5, and the idea was that you’d have production car based racecars which the buying public would recognise. But underneath the rules would be sufficiently free so that the stupendous speeds of the old prototypes would be retained.

Well that was the plan, anyway. Somewhere along the line, Group5 racecars began to hardly resemble their underlying production cars at all. And for that, you can blame Porsche 🙂

Continue reading →

Posted in racing | 3 Comments

Catalogued Forever

Posted on October 2, 2007 by Lachy

Toyota BrochuresAs most old-car fans will agree, nostalgic literature and accessories are half the fun of owning a classic. Whether it’s an original dealership Toyota 2000GT ash tray or a Datsun deck-chair, these little trinkets bring endless amounts of joy to all enthusiasts. Original dealership brochures are highly collectible for classics all over the world – and Japanese cars are no different. The most sought-after being proper JDM ones due to their incredible photography and careful detail (try an early Celica brochure for example – the effort is obvious), and collections for some go well into the thousands.

Nothing beats holding such a piece of history in your hands, however for those of us who can’t afford the hefty value of the truly rare brochures, digital scans are the next best thing. Supplied for your enjoyment today is a large collection of classic Toyota brochures.

Toyota Brochures

Posted in Galleries, toyota | Leave a comment

Power Politics: The Nissan FJ20 Engine

Posted on October 2, 2007 by Kevin San

It’s not often here at GrandJDM that we do a feature on just an engine but the FJ20 motor deserves special mention. Built for only a few years in the early 80s, the FJ20 motor was unique in that it was purpose designed as a sports/competition engine only. Unlike other series of Nissan motor like the SR, CA or L-series, there was no “cooking” model of the FJ20 that powered the economy or family models of the range. Only the sporty Skylines and the Silvias got it, and no other model did.

If this reminds you of the legendary S20 engine in the original GT-R, then that’s fine.

Continue reading →

Posted in nissan | 9 Comments

Impending: JCCS This Weekend

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Ben Hsu

jccs Here it is, the original event that started it all, the Japanese Classic Car Show at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, and it’s coming in less than a week! This will be the third year for the show, and it’s going to be the biggest yet with over 300 old school Japanese cars scheduled to appear. We’re also excited to report that our very own Cressida will have a spot on the lawn. We might be running around taking pictures, checking out all the fine machinery (we’re honored to have been invited by the organizers to guest judge), and wiping saliva from our mouths, but if you see us taking a break by the wagon please stop by and say hello. We’re eager to meet you guys! Admission is free $5 and the gates open at 9am. [JCCS].

Posted in events | 2 Comments

Starion: Mitsu’s lost RWD mojo

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Kevin San

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With the release of the impressive new 2008 Lancer, it got us here at GrandJDM thinking about great Mitsubishis of the past (hey, we’re not just Nissan and Mazda whores here!) In 1982, Mitsubishi’s best sports car was the Starion. Today, Mitsubishi’s brand image is so infused with the Lancer Evolution, that it’s hard sometimes to remember that at one time, they had a good RWD turbo sports car in the proper old school idiom.

The Starion was released in 1982 and was sold in most markets. Power was by a “Sirius” 2.0L 8 valve four banger with a non intercooled turbo. Technology was definitely of the old school with single point injection (ie one giant fuel injector to handle the whole engine!) but power was quite reasonable at 168hp. Suspension was independent Macpherson strut all round with an optional LSD. Weight was a slightly porky 1250kg, some of which can be explained by the massive doors, which are reinforced to take the seat belt mounts (that’s right, the seat belt reel and top buckle are not on the B-pillar but on the doors). The Starion was also larded with heavy luxury equipment like electric leather seats, etc which added to the pounds.

Continue reading →

Posted in mitsubishi | 13 Comments

[Aus] Classic Japanese Show Shine and Swap

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Van

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I mentioned the upcoming Japanese Classic Car Show recently, but of course with it being in the US, no doubt some of our Aussie readers are lamenting the cruelty of geography and the lack of airlines offering fifty dollar seats with car freight thrown in for free. As that’s not likely to happen any time soon, you’ll undoubtedly be rapt to know that the Classic Japanese Show Shine and Swap is coming up in October.

Held in sunny Queensland, it’s a great chance for you classic JDM lovers to show off your P&Js and check out what other enthusiasts have been working on. And luckily, the domestic airlines do offer fifty dollar seats for that particular flight. Last year’s inaugural event saw 134 cars on show, so if you can, get on up there.

And then send us the photos!

Posted in events, Reminder | 3 Comments