We’ve added a new section called Nostalgia which for now contains scans of some 1979 Toyota brochures. We’ll be adding content on a regular basis, so keep an eye out!
Announcing our New Partnership with GT Live
You asked for it, we delivered! From the very earliest days of Japanese Nostalgic Car, our readers have been asking for a nostalgics meet, particularly our readers on the east coast, who not only contend with salty winters but a complete lack of events in the vintage J-car scene.
That’s why we’re proud to announce that we’ve teamed up with GT Live: The Interactive Motorsports Festival to bring you not one, but TWO events to get the motor oil running through the veins of the nostalgic car enthusiast. The Mazda JDM Historics presented by Japanese Nostalgic Car will be held twice in 2007, one on each side of the country. Despite the name, the show is open to all Japanese marques, not just Mazdas. However, Mazda North America is a sponsor and will be bringing out some of their historic vehicles.
The first of the two events will be at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City on April 28-29, voted “Motorsports Facility of the Year” on November 8, 2006 by the Professional Motorsport World Expo held in Cologne, Germany. We know notice is short, so to sweeten the deal, JNC and GT Live are offering FREE track time if you bring your nostalgic to the show.
- Free track time (6 x 25 minute sessions for race cars, 3 x 20 minute
sessions for street cars) - Free admission
- Free garages
- Free parade lap (street cars)
A normal track day costs $300 for 4-5 sessions and many don’t allow street cars. Spaces may be limited, so please let us know if you are interested ASAP.
The second event will be held at Virginia International Raceway on October 6 & 7 this fall. This will be the first event of its kind on the east coast. As with the Miller event, entries will be open to all Japanese cars, split into 2 categories: 25 years and older, and 1983-89. Further details will be available as the date draws near.
In addition, all the events GT Live is known for will be on hand, including Drifting, Time Attack, Circuit Racing, Karting, Stunt Riding and more! Please check out GTLiveTour.com for details.
As you can see, nostalgic events are popping up nationwide as the surge of interest in old school Japanese cars gains momentum. We are thrilled to be part of it and we thank you for supporting Japanese Nostalgic Car!
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In Your Facebook!
We have created a Japanese Nostalgic Car group on Facebook.com. To be honest, we are a little old and out of touch with these new-fangled social networking sites, but we’re trying to use every way we can to unite more people who are into nostalgics. Feel free to join and let’s see if we can find some more fellow old school J-car enthusiasts!
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Full Hoon Fever
Under Australia’s anti-hoon laws have claimed their first victim. For those of us in North America perhaps unfamiliar with the inherently funny word, a hoon refers to a person prone to vehicular antics such as street racing, burnouts and aggressive driving.
Enacted last July, the laws give the authorities the right to permanently confiscate one’s car after three strikes. That’s right, permanently. And on Wednesday, Terrence Lord, a 43-year old man from Victoria was the first to have his ride locked up for all eternity. Mr. Lord’s weapon of choice? A blue 1980 Toyota Corona fastback.
Reports say that some of the charges against Mr. Lord include drunk driving, in which case we say throw the book at him, but please don’t hurt the car!
Unfortunately, articles by local media don’t reveal what will become of his nostalgic cop bait. We hope they will parade it around to set an example like American police forces did with the D.A.R.E. cars taken from drug dealers, or auction it off. We pray it’s not sent to the crusher.
The car shown isn’t of the actual hoon rocket, but a reasonable facsimile caught in the wild. Extremely eagle-eyed readers may recoginze this as the Alaskan Way, the start/finish street in Gran Turismo’s Seattle course, although this particular Corona appeared quite stationary.
If any of our Australian readers have a picture of this man’s car, please, please, please send it our way.
[LINK]
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JNC in NYC
We are just back from the Big Apple and the New York International Auto Show. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much news about nostalgics, like Detroit had with the 1974 Safari Rally Lancer, but here’s a few blurbs about some cars that owe a lot to their predecessors:
Honda revealed the last (at least for the AP1 chassis) and latest in its abbreviated line of S-cars, the S2000 CR which stands for Club Racer. Limited to only 2000 units, the lightened and tightened version of high-revving roadster comes with a quicker steering ratio, tweaked suspension, no a/c or radio in the base version, chassis stiffening, and functional but garish aero parts. The Honda accessories aluminum hardtop comes standard; 
gone is the motorized softtop. The US-only edition will has no engine mods, but will come in 4 colors, the Apex Blue on the show car being exclusive to the CR.
Toyota had on display their 50th Anniversary Toyota Camry Hybrid, celebrating the marque’s half century in the States, which comes with a Blizzard White paint scheme and 16″ wheels unique to the special edition.
Nissan showed a gorgeous example of the latest NISMO-tuned 350Z, replete with special suspension tuning, aero parts, chassis stiffening, wheels and elongated nose. Four colors – red, silver, black and white – from the standard palette will be available. No engine mods on this on either, but a NISMO exhaust will surely accentuate the already hearty exhaust note.
Nissan’s upscale brand Infiniti took the wraps off the next generation Skyline coupe, or G37 in American-speak. Naturally, the car looks beautiful and the extra 0.2 liters will give it an estimated 330hp and 270 lb-ft of torque.
And that about does it. Rain fell incessantly during Day 1, a condition not at all remedied by the leaky roof of the Javits Center. Audi looked as if plastic buckets of water would play a key role in their 2007 lineup. Speaking of leaks, how many New York Subway stations smell like urine? Answer: All of them.
Hybrid Theory
In Japan, Toyota has come out with a 10th Anniversary edition of the class-defining hybrid, the Prius.
Although the technology-laden eco-car is nowhere near becoming a nostalgic yet, it’s hard to believe that hybrids have been with us for a decade! Remember the good ol’ days when the word “hybrid” meant a B18 in your Civic?
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Nissan Skyline 50th Annivesary Exhibit
Good news! “Grand Touring – The Legend and the Future” will be the name of a temporary exhibit commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Nissan’s Skyline model. Bad news is, it’s in Tokyo. The display will take viewers through the revered model’s history, spanning two companies and 12 generations. It runs from April 24 to May 6. Thanks to Autoblog for the heads up!
Posted in datsun, japan, nissan, prince
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Lancer-Lot
To coincide with the arrival of the 2008 Lancer, Mitsubishi has a new microsite devoted to its AWD rally beast, lancerproject.com. Click on “Lancer Heritage” to see some footage of the East Safari Rally car tearing it up at the hands of the Flying Sikh, as well as some shots of street-going Lancers of yore. 
For coverage of the actual 1974 jungle machine shown at Detroit earlier this year, click here.
Posted in mitsubishi, rally
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The Gray Lady's Article on Classic Toyotas
The New York Times has published an article about the rise of Toyotas in the collector car market. The article touches upon Japanese nostalgics as a whole but to a lesser extent. They mention the Crown, Celica, Corona and of course the 2000GT. The article’s not particularly long, but it’s good to see we’ve hit the mainstream!
UPDATE: After a while the NYT puts articles behind a login page. For those without access, our forum member QuasiMondo has kindly posted the entire text.
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Toyota Motorsports History
A couple of weeks ago Toyota launched a motorsports history section on their Japanese site to mark 50 years in motorsport. It’s all in Japanese and there are only a handful of photos ranging from a racing S30 Toyota Crown to the Toyota 7 all the way up to the current F1 cars.
Surely they could have included more, but the classic video of the FIA speed record setting 2000GT at full roar makes up for it!
Posted in racing, rally, toyota
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Welcome!
Welcome to the official blog of Japanese Nostalgic Car, the magazine about classic, vintage, and antique Japanese cars. Here you will find little bits of information that relate to our normal subject matter, but don’t warrant a full-length spewing of words. Particles, not articles. This way, we’ll also have more frequent updates for you guys.
The first question that is always asked is why do we use the word “nostalgic” instead of the more common ones like “classic” or “old school” or something like that? Well, it’s a tribute to the Japanese terminology, and it’s explained here on our FAQ. So please, have a look around our site and let us know what you think. There’s also a forums section that you can register for that contains a variety of in-depth discussions.
Enjoy!
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