QotW: How have you given old parts new life?

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 best story about moving a dead car?“.

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!