Japanese Nostalgic Car

On this day 45 years ago, August 8, 1977, the fifth-generation Nissan Skyline debuted. We know the car today by its nickname, the Skyline Japan. It originated from the car’s ad campaign slogan, which claimed (by way of translation), “A famous car born from the Japanese climate.” Of course, back in 1977 the Skyline name was barely known outside of Japan and without the name, there wasn’t much about the mid-size sedan that signified it as uniquely Japanese. Hindsight offers us a different perspective but perhaps readers can identify a car that best represents Japan.

What is the most “Japanese” car?

The best comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What is the best engineered Toyota?” Continue reading →

In 1985 Japan’s Patent Office named the country’s 10 greatest inventors. As it turns out, a full six out of the ten came from Japan’s central region. The most famous among them, at least to automotive enthusiasts, was Sakichi Toyoda, founder of what the company we know today as Toyota. That is why Toyoda-san’s home prefecture established August 1 as Aichi Invention Day. It was 125 years ago today, on August 1, 1897, that Mr Toyoda received the patent on the automatic loom upon which the Toyota empire was built. In that spirit, our question for the week is:

What is the best engineered Toyota?

The best comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW,  “How do you encourage a kid who’s just discovering cars?” Continue reading →

On a recent visit with some friends that I haven’t seen in years, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the younger of their two kids, now eight years old, is really into cars. His parents aren’t, so he’s been going to the library and borrowing the latest car magazines, studying the cars he sees on the street, and correcting his dad (“Our neighbor has a Land Cruiser, not a 4Runner!”). He reminds me of myself at that age. Naturally he loves supercars and big trucks, but I this is how I know he’s a connoisseur: his favorite is a Subaru WRX.

I immediately gave him a stack of Hot Wheels, but it made me somewhat sad. “Is this a real car?” he asked of the Honda CRX. “I’ve never seen one before,” he said of the FD Mazda RX-7. “So many coupes!” he noted as he opened Nissans, Porsches, and Camaros. He’s grown up in a world of Teslas and crossovers. I want to introduce him to the classics.

How do you encourage a kid who’s just discovering cars?

The best comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s the last year that had cars which interested you?“. Continue reading →

If you’re a glass-half-empty type of person, you’re probably not excited about where the automotive industry is headed. Each year that passes, there seems to be fewer and fewer enthusiast cars, and the ones that come out are compromised in some way. If you’re a glass-half-full type of person, you might think that the best is yet to come. With the advancement of technology cars perform better than ever, and new architectures like battery-electrics and PHEVs will offer things traditional combustion engines could only dream of.

What’s the last year that had cars which interested you?

The best comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your Honda Civic story?“. Continue reading →