Believe it or not, there’s a Used Automotive Parts Day in Japan and that day is today, September 28. It falls on this date because the words for car (kuruma), used (chūko), and parts (pātsu) sound vaguely like the numbers nine, two, and eight. The purpose of the occasion is to remind people that it’s more affordable and better for the environment to take advantage of parts that are still usable. In fact, the Japanese kanji for used is 中古, which literally means “middle old”, as in “not completely old and useless yet”. Whether it’s an entire drivetrain or a window switch, a used parts is sometimes the best (or only) way to keep your JNC running.
How have you given old parts new life?
The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your ultimate lightweight JNC?“.
Starting with the kei jidosha, we have excellent choices that aren’t the typical ABC cars. Kyuusha Corner picked the rear-drive Suzuki Fronte Coupé, while Negishi no Keibajo nominates the Mazda K360 and crank_case dreams big with the GReddy VI-AZ1, which technically counts as an ABC car but modified.
Moving onto bigger cars that won’t have you clenched (or at least less so) from sharing the road with 9000-pound Hummer EVs, we have Paul Perkins and his Mazda 323, nlpnt‘s Suzuki Swift of badge-engineered variants, and Jonathan P.‘s early-aughts anti-car, the Scion xB.
There was a solid roster of RWD cars as well. TheJWT‘s built KP61 Toyota Starlet sounds like a hoot and would make interesting competition with Taylor C.‘s modified 1994 Mazda Miata R Package. Meanwhile, streetspirit opts for ultimate obscurity with a Mitsubishi Galant FTO.
When talking lightweight non-kei cars, it’s hard to beat Hondas. From Nigel‘s pick of a City Turbo to Alan‘s fantasy build of a caged EF or EG Civic, it’s impossible to select a bad Honda from the 80s and 90s golden era. However, the winner this week is BlitzPig and his lived experience with a CRX:
This is a tough one, as in reality, by today’s standards, almost any JNC built before 1990 is lightweight. For me, I will have to say the Honda CRX in all it’s model permutations, but especially the Si.Why you may ask? Well unlike most of the really cool JNCs we actually got this one here in the US. What a wonderment is was back when it first was introduced. I had a first year carbureted model and I never since have had more attention paid to a car I’ve owned.
Imagine being here in the Midwest on roads that were awash in full size sedans and pickups, and here you were in this tiny, red, two seater that is unlike anything most people had ever seen. I even had one young lad who was so mesmerized by it that he drove into the back of a semi in front of him at a traffic light because he couldn’t take his eyes off my little red rocket. Then Honda saw fit to bring the injected, more enthusiast biased Si version here. I jumped to a first year second gen Si in 1988, Wow. What a car. Faster, better handling, Still economical to operate… There has been nothing like it from Honda on these shores since. The second gen Si became a terror at autocrosses and race tracks across the country. Mine became my track day weapon, beating up on much “faster” cars at DE events at Mid Ohio, all the while giving me reliable and fun service as a daily driver.
For me, it has to be the CRX.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Just felt compelled to point out that the tile of last week’s Question has been replaced with the one from the week before last… I think this may be a typo
Thanks, fixed!
My best junkyard parts score for my ’86 AE86 was the seatback shells I needed that were found in a 1987 CELICA GT-S. They were $12. each. And now my interior is near-perfect.
About 20 years ago, I was able to resurrect the headlight switch on my 1985 Corolla GT-S with no outside reference, which turned out to be a notorious for failure from decades of normal use. Just had to remove from the dash bezel and pop open the unsealed casing and resoldered the old cracked contacts. Made me feel like a AAA mechanic for a minute, and it’s still holding up!
A couple years ago I got 2 giant boxes full of Honda CB1000 parts for free. It actually resembles a complete motorcycle now, but I’m still working on the “bring it to life” thing though…
I’m giving old parts new life on an even older car. 90s engine / transmission, subframe, brakes, etc. onto a 70s car. I’m in the resto-mod over originality camp, and the 80s bubble economy allowed Japan to put so much into R&D, that automotive technology peaked in the 90s.
As an owner of a classic Japanese car no longer made, like many others with the same affliction, I am in the business of amassing a large collection of parts. Some of these parts are broken and I cannot bring myself to throw them away, and some are spares. Most of them reside in my garage in organized storage bins, waiting for the chance of reuse or resale. There are a few that get brought into what I’ll call lucky service or repurposing. The best example of this is the original passenger seat from Samus (my 1976 Datsun 280Z 2+2). One of the known and visible flaws when purchased was a rather large tear in the center of the driver’s seat, which may have been the result of the previous owners having too many bad Taco Tuesdays. Regardless, I was in the market for new seat covers, since my temporary fix of black industrial tape just wasn’t getting it. I happened to come across a pair of used (but in great condition) seats from a 240Z at the last Carlisle Import Nationals, and bought them, swapped out the hardware, and in the “new to me” seats went. With seats, no one ever sells just one, so I had a perfectly good passenger 280Z seat taking up needed space in the family garage.
In my office, I have a Herman Miller aero chair, and I am likely one of the few people who finds this in vogue piece of office furniture uncomfortable (I think it’s the mesh). It would be so much nicer if I could sit in a car seat while at my desk, and then I had an epiphany. I went to my local thrift shop, picked up an old, unwanted office chair, and after some evening work in my garage, I had made myself a new office chair by marrying my 280Z passenger seat to the plywood base and arms of the thrift chair. All it took was some painting, drilling, and using some longer M8 bolts. I have never been more comfortable sitting at my office desk, and I am reminded of how much I love my Datsun even when I cannot be driving it or working on it!
I hit the starter with a hammer to get the car to start.
Sean Connery was too tall for the Toyota that required a chopped top version for the Bond film. As the your cover car implies, I would have selected the SC300/400 for Bond. Those beauties had plenty of comfort, style and power for the Bond character.