Wangan Midnight on PS3

Posted on September 18, 2007 by Lachy

Wangan Midnight Fairlady Z

We received a hot tip from Andy (owner of the Toyota Century we featured) earlier this week about a new game for the PS3 that’s been out in Japan for a little while, that I’m sure you’ll love. It is Wangan Midnight, and the basic pretence to this game appears to be racing up and down big highways of Japan narrowly dodging big trucks at insane speeds. So, true to the original then. And being produced by Genki, it’s bound to be awesome and cool and slightly disappointing. But mostly awesome and cool. The website is in Japanese but there are still videos and pictures to check out!

Click through to the website

Posted in media, nissan | 3 Comments

Sweet S Meet

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Ben Hsu


Brian Baker of Formula H Motorworks recently hosted his annual Labor Day weekend gathering of classic Hondas at his shop and was kind enough to send us some pictures. The green Accord hatchback (far right) was purchased in Minnesota with only 1,900 miles on it! It now has about 4,000.



These two have matching hardtops and “65 HONDA” vanity plates.



Brian also reports that the owner of the yellow S800 drove to the Middletown, NY meet from Erie, PA, a seven hour drive each way.


Check out the shop. All Honda, all the time, even the power products in the bottom left corner. Thanks for the pics, Brian! [Formula H]

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Even More S130 Loving

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Van

s130_red.jpg Looks like we’re on an S130 roll today. grandJDM’s Kev has weighed in with his opinions on this particular brand of Fairlady love, so click through to read that, and to see the photos he ransacked his own hard drive for.

Continue reading →

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Speaking of Fine S130s

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Van

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My previous post got me scanning the intarweb for other fine examples, and I came across this one on CarDomain. Very slick! The interior’s not much to my style, but the outside is brilliant.

Check it out.

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Finding the Diamond in the Rough

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Van

s130_original.jpg

During my weekly trawling of the various car classifieds websites here in Australia, I came across this S130 Fairlady (aka 280ZX) for sale. Two-seater S130s aren’t very common here, so it caught my eye straight away. It’s a relatively good asking price the owner is chasing, and with a bit of effort, you could find yourself with a pretty handsome Z.

At a time when one of the most popular classic Nissans to be buying in this country is the S30, a slick S130 could definitely help to set you apart. Click through to see my horrible Photoshop effort!

Continue reading →

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When Does an Old Car Become a Classic Car?

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Van

corona-wagon_002.jpg

A forum member over at JDM Style Tuning has raised the question: When does an old car become a classic car, and when it does, are future generations going to be able to find one in decent condition? With all the AE86s and other 80s and 90s cars getting around in varying states of repair and style, are we ruining the fun for the next generation of enthusiasts, or are we simply continuing an age-old legacy in the expected fashion?

Alright, so that sounds a little more full-on than it oughta, but hey, go check out the thread and maybe sign up and throw in your 200 yen.

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Get Your Boso’ On

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Van

auszoku.jpg

Fans of the bosozoku/garuchan/yankee movement rejoice: AusZoku, an online community focused specifically on the scene, is here. If you’ve read everything you can find on the boso style and now you need somewhere to chat about it, this might be your lucky break son.

Our own Kev pointed me to this awesome thread on how to hang your prized grip ring, and that’s just a small sample of the ludicrous awesomeness at AusZoku.

Get there.

Posted in Websites | 2 Comments

We Interrupt your JDM Viewing…

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Van

tfatf-charger.jpg …For this emergency broadcast.  Alright, so there’s nothing emergency about it, and I’m a few weeks late to the party on this news anyway, but…  The Fast and the Furious 4 is in the works.

I wouldn’t normally post about anything to do with new cars here on grandJDM, but as an unashamed fan of the technically pathetic but visually delicious Fast and the Furious franchise, I just have to share this.

There don’t appear to be any shots of the Japanese cars yet, but you can nonetheless feast your eyes on the very tough (and yes, painfully over the top) USDM cars set to feature in this fourth installment.

Check it out.

We now return you to your regular grandJDM broadcast.

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We Have Ignition: RB Hako

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Ben Hsu

ignitionSpeaking of nostalgic Nissans that have made the cyborg-like switch to modern hardware, here’s a wicked hakosuka by Osaka tuning shop Ignition, which combines no less than four generations of Skyline goodness into one lethal package – R31 suspension, R33 brakes, a massive single-turbo RB26 with funnels for fuel injectors, and the old school style of KGC10 body dipped in R34 Bayside Blue paint. Check out the insanity at Ignition’s gallery here.

[Ignition via Auto Otaku via grandJDM]

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There’s No Bullwinkle Here

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Van

s30z_rocky-auto.jpg

The lads over at JNC have posted an entry about Japanese tuning house Rocky Auto, including an intensely hot RB26-powered S30Z. While I’d probably go for an L28 these days, there was a very long period there where all I wanted was exactly this sort of Z. Classic styling, modern power. It might not be my ultimate goal anymore, but I can’t say it isn’t damn magical. Check out the original Japanese blog post here, with more photos.

Posted in Businesses, nissan | 1 Comment

Ratrodded Corona Wagon? Oddly Hot

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Van

corona-wagon_001.jpg

Ratrodding is a genre of the hotrod scene, where the cars in question are usually made to look unfinished and rusty, with peeling paint and undercoat showing through. Most of the time, the cars favoured are old Hudsons, Roadsters, and so forth. You know what I’m talkin’ about; the usual hotrod.

So when Scott from The Drift Scene linked me to this ratted up Toyota Corona Wagon… my jaw hit the floor. Is this not the most unreal lookin’ thing you’ve seen lately? Come on.

I haven’t been able to find any info about the car, but some of the guys on the Toyota3TC forum mentioned that it’s packing around 300hp (looks like there’s a 2JZ or 1JZ in there), and that the owner is known for these sorts of projects. Hopefully he or she will come forward!

Posted in toyota | 1 Comment

School of Rocky: RB26 S30Z

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Ben Hsu

rocky auto Aichi may be the home Prefecture of Toyota, but lurking in the city of Okazaki, some serious Nissans lie in wait. Rocky Auto specializes in Skylines and Fairladys, and you can even buy them for export (like some of our forum members have), but they will also take your nostalgic Nissan and fit it with the latest in expressway-ripping hardware, Bionic Woman style. The house special? Stuffing an RB26DETT from a modern Skyline GT-R into the unsuspecting stitch-welded chassis of cars like the S30 Fairlady Z. The silver one in the photo on the right spins its Wats with close to 500hp and looks sinister doing it. Check out this blog for more pics of an amazing 240Z (Japanese only).

[Nostalgic Car Newspaper]

Posted in datsun, nissan | 1 Comment

Hiace Haiku

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Ben Hsu

hiace

Born sixty seven,
Forty years of large one-box
Too square for the States.

[Toyopet]

Posted in toyota, vans | 1 Comment

Bosozoku BRE Bluebird

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Ben Hsu

boso bre We came across this absolutely insane bosozoku-looking Datsun 510 while browsing the web. Complete with vintage BRE paint scheme, flared fenders and a grille-eclipsing intercooler channeled through the headlight openings, this Bluebird possesses serious fear-striking potential.  Unfortunately, there was no mention of what motor might power this beast.

[no281750gtv]

Posted in datsun, nissan, racing | Leave a comment

Upcoming Classic Events in Japan

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Kevin San

130_aon07poster-l.JPG130_cp07poster-l.JPGFor those of you lucky enough to be in Japan in the next few weeks, a few tasty classic car events are coming up. The first is the All Odds Nationals, which is to be held in the Odaiba: take the Rinkai Like to Tokyo Teleport, and walk to the Fuji TV building (the big imposing one with the huge ball in the middle of it).

The big day is Sunday the 30th September. Last years event looked like a blast.

Continue reading →

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Who cares? Mazda does!

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Kevin San

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Generally speaking, it’s very rare to find a car manufacturer that devotes some serious time to sharing the intimate details of its history with us. And early Mazda racing history in Japan is not an area that’s well known, so we’ve tried to do our best to bring it to you in our earlier articles (here and here).

Hence it’s really so nice to see that Mazda has a nice motorsport retrospective going on in its website at the moment. Mazda are slowly adding racing photos from its motorsport archives with a brief article on the story behind each. There are regular updates, but it’s obviously a long term project (and a labour of love) for someone inside Mazda.

From us here at Grand JDM, we’d like to say good for you, sir! We only wish all the other manufacturers would do the same.

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Woz Gets Back in the Z

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Van

woz-350z.jpg

As many auto blogs reported not too long ago (and no small amount of tech blogs), Steve Wozniak—co-founder of Apple Computers—starred in a television commercial in the early 80s for the Nissan/Datsun 280ZX. Well it turns out he’s always had a soft spot for the Z, as shown not only by the fact that he presently owns a three fiddy Z, but also by the fact that—as part of his plan to sell it for charity—he’s helped to recreate that original advertisement, using the 350Z. It’s lame as hell, but funny enough to get a bit of a chuckle out of. Check it out.

Posted in nissan, Video | Leave a comment

Son of Toyota

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Ben Hsu

toyodaToday, Shoichiro Toyoda spoke at the Woodrow Wilson Center International Center for Scholars in Washington DC. This is right in our backyard, so we made the haul down to Das Capital to see what the son of Toyota Motor Corporation founder Kiichiro Toyoda had to say.

Much of the speech centered on the Toyota Production System, the company’s US plants, and US-Japan relations. We’ll spare you the details. An interesting anecdote emerged, however. In 1957, Toyota debuted the Toyopet Crown in the US, where it completely failed to impress the car-buying public. Curious, Dr. Toyoda took two Crowns for a drive on American roads. The power-to-weight ratio was so horrid, he couldn’t even merge safely onto the highway if the on-ramp sloped uphill. The future Honorary Chairman of one of the biggest auto manufacturers on Earth was forced to drive around until he found a downhill ramp. True to the TPS, he returned to Japan with his research, and eventually gave us the modern ‘Yotas that can get up inclines with no problemo.

[Image courtesy of iccic.or.jp]

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The Datsun of Woz

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Ben Hsu

When our windows machine died an untimely death earlier this year, we made the jump to Apple. The the guy in this video is partially responsible. There’s no doubt by now that you’ve seen the 80s-rific commercial in which Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak hawks the 280ZX resurface on auto and tech blog alike a few months back, and then again when he recently announced he was auctioning off his 2005 350Z for charity.

We have to hand it to the guy, rather than shy away from a 30 second yearbook photo The Woz embraces it fully and self-parodies, uh, himself. Weird Al Yankovic’s “White & Nerdy” even plays as he’s pulling away. When the news first broke he was asking a round $100,000, but the price has now been reduced to about half that. Sale of the century? Well, a brand new NISMO 350Z starts at $38,070, so it’s really like the car plus 20 grand for lunch at Wozniak’s house and the warm fuzzy feeling you’ll get knowing that he’s donating it to a charity, if UC Berkeley can be called that. The new video can be seen here.

[Source: TUAB via Autoblog]

Posted in cm, datsun, nissan | Leave a comment

Daihatsu JDM Memorial Editions

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Ben Hsu

memorial copenOn Monday, Japan’s small car specialist unveiled three limited edtions of its lineup.  As regular readers know, 2007 marks a whole century of Daihatsu, and to celebrate their 100th Anniversary the company is rolling out a fleet of Memorial Edition cars.  The coolest of the bunch also has the longest name: Daihatsu Copen Ultimate Edition II Memorial.  The hardtop convertible kei-roadster comes with goodies like Recaro seats, Momo steering wheel, BBS rims and Bilstein dampers.  The Esse and Terios Kid Memorial Editions accompany the Copen, and two weeks prior, three other button-cute kei cars were released, the Move, Move Custom, and Mira.

[Source: Daihatsu]

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