Thanks to our friends at grandJDM, the biggest car news blog in the States, Autoblog, received a little lesson in Japanese supercar history today. There is absolutely no reason for us to repeat the excellent write-up that grandJDM has done and Autoblog has repeated, so we will merely say please go to the source for the story on this unique automobile, the 1978 Dome Zero.
Source: [Autoblog via grandJDM]
Image courtesy of Dome.co.jp.
The Petersen Automotive Museum is one of the planet’s most famous galleries of motorized machinery. Established in 1994, its self-stated goal is to let visitors “explore the evolution of the Automobile and its impact on our culture.” Fittingly, its four-story building is located on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, the epicenter of car customizing culture in the US. As you read these words, the Petersen is holding a special exhibition called “Microcars: The Minimum in Motoring” that celebrates vehicles which are very, very small. Of course, some of the best examples of the genre are simultaneously Japanese, nostalgic, and cars, so here are some photos of the buggies from J-land.
The Honda N600 (left) and the Z600 both used the same air-cooled aluminum two-cylinder 598cc engine. Small but not simple, it boasted an overhead cam and yes, that thing had a hemi (-spherical combustion chamber). The N600 was Honda’s first official import to the US and while production ended in September 1970, the sportier Z began manufacture in October that same year. Achieving upwards of 40 miles per gallon came in handy when OPEC decided to withhold the barrels in ’73.
Soichiro Honda was a visionary in Japan’s fledgling automotive industry. Few men would attempt a two-seat roadster like this 1965 S600 as his first salvo into the competitive automobile industry. However, in a rare lapse of judgment, Honda was convinced that air-cooled motors like the one in the 600s held the future. When his R&D team proved that water cooling provided greater potential for performance and better emissions controls, he was wise enough to relent control to the younger generation of engineers.
Honda’s 600cc motor may have seemed tiny, but in Japan an even smaller N360 was sold. As part of the kei class, these cars fulfilled a government mandate for automakers to provide a People’s Car for the unwashed masses. The rear-mounted dual-pot motor propelled the Subaru 360 (left) with just 25 horsepower, but drove the egg-shaped, bow-legged runabout to iconic status in Japan. The Mazda R360’s rear V-twin generated just 16hp and served as the company’s first venture into four-wheeled cars, following the manufacture of three-wheeled motorcycles with pickup beds and before that, corks.
If you’re in the city of angels, stop by and see these minuscule but mighty wonders for yourself, along with the rest of the Petersen’s vast collection. The microcars exhibit goes from June 23, 2007 to Feburary 3, 2008.
Let’s say you have almost finished restoring your vintage JDM ride, you have the blueprinted motor, you have the multiple carbs, and you need wheels to suit. Sure, there are lots of second hand old school wheels available on Yahoo Auctions in Japan, but unless they are 100% mint, they will look poor compared to your $10,000 paint job….and if you need a custom offset to really stretch the rubber and get the rim edges exactly where you want them, then that’s a lot harder to find second hand.
Sure, Watanabes are always available new, but what if you want something different? …well then you might be in for a long period of searching.
In a hilariously well conceived parody of Nostalgic Hero magazine, Craig’s website about his three classic JDM projects takes the form of a blog nestled behind that great idea for a front page.
Chronicling his efforts to get not one, not two, but three classic Japanese cars out of the backyard and onto the road, Nostalgic Trio covers three classics with fantastic potential: a C110 Skyline, a CSP311 Silvia, and an S30 Fairlady. Craig plans to update the cover page every couple of months – much like a magazine – so be sure to keep an eye on it!
A wonderfully cliched title for this post, eh? What isn’t cliched, at all, is the other side to the classic JDM coin – trucks and utes. MiniTruckinWeb have put together an article looking at the history of Japanese trucks in the US, as their popularity became more obvious through the fuel crisis of the 70s, and takes us through the stages in which these trucks went from convenient runabout haulers to becoming favourites of bodychoppers all over the country.
Alright, so this isn’t strictly pre-1980 (in fact, I can say here and now with great confidence that 1985 was after 1980), but it’s just too damn hilariously awesome to not mention.
If you’ve ever wondered how to go about converting your Cressida to the Garuchan following, this is a fairly indepth look at the steps involved! It might be stupid, but hot damn I’ll bet it’s fun.
Here’s a poignantly written column by Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called “Summer Ode to a Beloved Rust Bucket” about his 1980 Toyota Corolla. The piece begins with an amusing story about how his neighbor’s kid is mystified by the car’s window crank. We’re not sure when we passed the event horizon, but it’s true – even the cheapest rental mule comes equipped with power windows now.
Bookman’s experience with his “old friend” parallels those of many Americans who have known the joy of old Japanese car ownership. He purchased his car fresh out of college for $5000 twenty-seven years ago and has owned it ever since. The a/c and radio died long ago, but the motor just keeps on humming. Bookman doubts it will ever attain classic status and still drives it every day, cracked dash and all, much to the chagrin of his entire family.
Note: This photo is from our Toyotafest gallery. Bookman did not include a picture of his trusty sidekick in his article.
Source: [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
In JDM MX5/Roadster circles, one of the coolest things is the annual “Roadster Days” calendar by Japanese artist Bow. Beautifully illustrated, they’re wonderfully evocative pictures of the MX5 in its natural settings. Being a Roadster owner myself, I just had to have one, and just a glance at it puts you right in the driver’s seat, hammering along a seaside road, not a care in the world.
We’ve had quite a few articles on the Honda S600 sports car lately (here and here), which reminded me that there is a great story about the S600 winning its class and coming 13th outright in the 1964 Nurburgring 500km race for small capacity cars. It was Honda’s first victory of any sort on four wheels, and the start of many big things to come, and a year later Honda would win its first F1 GP.
Look closely. Closer. Notice something? If you can believe it, these are not images of real cars. Their creator, known only as pcman, is one of the most talented scale model builders we have ever seen, through a glue-induced haze or otherwise. The photos of this TE27 and AE86 look flat out real, and many of the kits and accessories on his cars, from braided lines to body kits to million-point roll cages, are custom made from scratch. Check out his astoundng galleries of wild bosozoku pimpmobiles and race-ready hachirokus here and here. He even offers step-by-step DIY photos for those curious about his mad skills.
For some excellent masterpieces by our very own JNC’ers, check out this forum thread.
Source: [pcman]
Earlier this year, an event called Hot Olds Meet was held at Shizuoka, in Japan – where else. I’ve spent the past hour salivating over hundreds of images, and I figure it’s my civic duty to share the booty with you lot.
Retro-Rides.com gallery
Retro-Rides.com forum thread
OldSchool.co.nz forum thread
Official website (Japanese)
Fan website …we think! (Japanese)
We all have a dream JDM classic. Perhaps yours is a beautifully restored Toyota 2000GT, or maybe something retrotech like an awesome RB-powered C10 Skyline or nutcase 20B-powered RX-3. Whatever it may be, chances are these dreams usually never eventuate to anything more than that. Luckily for lovers of Japanese cars, there is actually quite a decent selection of classic J-tin available for relatively modest amounts of money. Today, we look into a few of the less obvious choices for the buyer with $5000.
This page will feature a series of wallpapers, created both by grandJDM, as well as by others. We’ll try to give credit to the original creators when we can, but sometimes it’s hard to find out who the original creator is!
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Here we have some wallpapers of three of our feature cars; Arnel’s TE27, Jerry’s RX-3SP, and Mike’s C10 GT-R replica. Apologies for the lack of resolution choices, the original images simply weren’t big enough to offer larger wallpapers.
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The popularity of old school Japanese vehicles just keeps on growing, pervading every band of the automotive spectrum. Mini Truckin’ magazine just put this seriously slammed Datsun NL320 on their September cover as part of a retrospective on the pint-sized pickups that gives the periodical its namesake.
Starting with Datsun in 1959, these wee workhorses from Nissan, Toyota, Mazda and Chevy kicked off the mini truck craze. As with so many other automotive phenomena, this one started in the West Coast and because the cars were cheap and reliable. Check out the piece and it’s accompanying gallery. For a look at a really miniature mini truck, take a peek at our Profile on the 1964 Honda T500.
Source: [Mini Truckin’]
Despite the impression the title of this post may have given you, there are no bikini-clad classic JDM cars anywhere on the following linked website. But hey – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – the illustrated classic JDM at odn.ne.jp is is better than anything in a bikini! …Alright, maybe not. But these are still some damn great drawings, so jump over and check ’em out. It’s a shame they’re not wallpaper-sized, but them’s the breaks.I’ve linked you to the classic JDM illos, but you can navigate through and find plenty of other great looking newer JDM cars too.
Ok, we’re not going to complain, even though it’s taking ever fiber of our beings. We promised we wouldn’t. It’s just that in Toyota of Brunei has, to celebrate their 40th anniversary, held a contest to find the oldest and best maintained Toyota in the country. The winner, of both the $1000 prize and the most difficult to pronounce name, Pg Rosli Pg Hj Bakar, took the top spot with his 1970 Corolla 1200 (Note: Car pictured is not Mr. Bakar’s actual car. The article had no accompanying photo). In fact, the two runners up were also Corolla 1200s.
The only other thing we know about Brunei is that the sultan of the oil-rich nation reportedly owns an enormous collection, hundreds deep, of exotic cars, many of them custom built Ferrari and Aston Martin wagons. He allegedly owns so many Rolls Royces that the company sends a rotating team of mechanics to Brunei just for his garage. We wonder if he rocks any nostalgics in that fleet.
Source: [Brunei Times]
Van from grandJDM posted this incredible video in our forum the other day of a 240Z with a 7m-GTE underhood outrunning a Ferrari F430 in a stoplight battle. Later that day, US-based Autoblog posted it and in just nine minutes the first hater in the comments section jumped in with the R-word. In fact, many of the commenters seem to have awoke on the wrong side of the cave this morning. Tsk tsk, so much ill will. Didn’t their pimps ever teach them to hate the game, not the player? In any event, regardless of which ride is faster, we know the true winner when it comes to style: The Z.
Source: [grandJDM]
This is just tragic. Initially, what caught our eye was this photo of a battered 240Z on Cardomain. Turns out, it was a post about how the 27 year old driver of this Datsun was rear ended and paralyzed as a result of a speaker that was dislodged and thrown forward by the impact, striking him in the neck. The crash looked pretty horrific to begin with, the decades-old Z clearly no match for a larger, heavier pickup.
I’m sure most nostalgic car owners (ourselves included) are guilty of taking a half-finished project out for a spin. Even with everything in tip-top shape, old cars simply don’t have the safety features of a modern automobile. Please be careful out there.
If being deformed sounds bad, then super-deformed must be worse, right? Well, not if you’re in Japan. For whatever reason, the Japanese just love taking perfectly good cars and deforming their classic proportions to make cartoony illustrations or extremely cute toy replicas. GrandJDM has found this site, full of automotive art of the distorted kind, done by an artist (or group?) calling themselves The Car Illustration Ants. All the vehicles are rendered in bright, vivid colors and cover a variety of marques.
Source: [The Car Illustration Ants via grandJDM]
In celebration of Van’s birthday, I’m actually posting something. haha. Happy birthday big fella, here are a couple of wallpapers I hope you & everybody else will enjoy!
