Japanese Nostalgic Car

We know there are lots of brand loyalists in our readership, but this is a game some of the JNC staff have been playing offline. What if the Honda Heads, Toyotaku, Mazdafarians, and their ilk were forced to consider a garage where you could not own more than one car from each marque? And to make this harder, let’s say that these are all the cars you are allowed to own. We often think of respective sports cars as the “best” from each badge, but do you need a stable full of two-door coupes? Keep in mind that your tow rig, winter beater, and spouse’s daily will all have to come from this pool.

For the purposes of this question, let’s establish that the marques are Toyota/Lexus/Scion, Mazda, Subaru, Honda/Acura, Nissan/Infiniti/Datsun, Mitsubishi, and Isuzu. If you’re going to throw in a Hino or Suzuki in there we won’t complain, but one car per marque.

If you could only own one car from each Japanese marque, what would your garage look like?

The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your favorite Tomica story?” Continue reading →

Last week was the 50th anniversary of Tomica, and for many non-Japanese readers these little cars were the first intro to oddball JDM cars like Skylines, Crowns, Demios, and StepWgns. For me, personally, it was family trip to Asia in the early 90s that I discovered Tomica, at first not even realizing they were the same as the Pocket Cars I loved as a kid. After buying a few at the local Sogo department store, I was hooked. My favorite encounter was probably when, on a later trip to Japan, I found silver Toyota Soarer unmarked police car that mirrored my Lexus SC300. As a fan of Japanese cars, there was no other option but Tomica for me to find “my” car as a diecast back then.

What’s your favorite Tomica story?

The most entertaining comment by next Tuesday (Monday is a US holiday) will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What would be the baddest Nissan-Honda combo?” Continue reading →

Last week we learned that Japanese officials asked Nissan and Honda to merge. Both companies said, “No thanks.” The automotive world was either denied a tremendous opportunity or spared a harrowing tragedy, depending on your perspective. Let’s say that the deal went through, though. What are the strengths or weaknesses that would make the partnership succeed or drag both firms down into irrelevance? Badness in this context could be bad meaning good, or just literally bad.

What would be the baddest Nissan-Honda combo?

The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What will your favorite cars be like when they become robots?” Continue reading →