Though symbolized by the turkey, Thanksgiving is all about being grateful for what you have. When what you have is an old Japanese car, however, it may be easier to curse your skinned knuckles than count your blessings.
What are you most thankful for?
It may will definitely sound cheesy, but we are thankful for all our loyal readers — every one of you who have rescued an under-appreciated car from the scrapyard, inspired a friend to restore the old heap in his dad’s backyard, or simply helped a fellow JNCer turn a wrench. A big domo arigato gozaimasu to you all.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s the greatest nostalgic Honda?”
We once again had many great answers, from JHMAB2‘s nomination of the Super Cub to Walter‘s vote for the 1300 to The Black CRX‘s nod for the first-gen Accord. The winner, however, was xs10shl‘s summary of the 1967 Italian Grand Prix.
Honda RA300. Imagine a 3 year-old-car company building an F1 car, and winning the car’s first-ever competitive F1 race, at the Italian Grand Prix, no less. “Hello, World- we’ve arrived! Lovely Ferrari you’ve got there . . . which way to the podium? I’ve got to go pick up my trophy.”
Of course, it was all downhill from that point, but I could only imagine the vibe at the factory the following week. It must have been marvelous!
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Well, I’m thankful to the companies that still produces (or reproducing) parts & accessories for old cars =)
I’m thankful for all of the great administrators of the classic / nostalgic automotive websites, most of them host and maintain these sites out of their love for the makes and models, little comes from the ads that appear on some sites. The way I show my appreciation is to actively participate in many of these sites by posting my knowledge and findings to share with others.
I’m thankful for a lot of things, but most recently for other people’s patience when mine runs out. Apologies to the toes I’ve stepped on – accidentally or intentionally – and cheers for putting up with it.
I’m even more thankful for the friends I’ve collected over the years through this hobby/time sink/money pit.
We’ve made it through the past decade and a half. Cars have come and gone, our tastes have changed with age and maturity; we’ve followed trends and jumped ship on bandwagons but remained true to ourselves and to each other.
There’s more to it than just hanging out, drinking a beer and shooting the shit though. The friendships I’ve found and fostered through working on and driving my cars has provided a constant motivation to work more, better, and smarter. They’ve also bridged gaps in my own abilities and moved me from plateaus to new heights in knowledge and skill.
I don’t really need to vocalize my thankfulness to my friends, it’s something that’s understood – paid and repaid by lending a hand, or time. A part, a beer, a buck when needed. I also don’t have to name names for them to get this, so I won’t.
Cars. Old cars.
Old beautiful machines that break down and give me something to do and relieve the stress that life brings. Even though I suppose, they’re partially to blame.
Here in Europe we don’t celebreate Thanksgiving, so i’m not used to that. But if You ask…
In the 1st place i’m thankful for people who still belive in me, and don’t handle me as a crazy car nut. There are only two of them in my life, and they are women. They give me the motivation and power to still take good care of my machine. Without them i’ve would prabobly give up long time ago.
I’m also thakful for the way I am. Different. Thanks to my parents and my grandma. Due to the way they raised my i choosed a niche car witch is my pride & joy.
I am thankful for pentle type fuel injectors… making adequate fuel injection possible at 10k RPM. 🙂
I’m thankful for:
Cable driven (individual) throttle bodies
States without front plate laws
Side-draft carbs
Draw-through turbocharger systems
Manual steering racks
Online forums
Slant-six’s with velocity stacks
Rustoleum paint jobs
And the people who taught me about all of the above, be they friends, family, or random person #282 on the internet who happened to photograph each stage of his build.
I’m thankful for everything that’s happened in my life, the good and the bad, because without those, I wouldn’t be who I am today, that one always happy car enthusiast that oh so loves the good old J-Tin.
I’d like to give a shout out to the civil engineers and road builders out there who make/made our favorite roads. It is the habitat for our cars and what spawned their existence.
Aside from the usual things I’m thankful for (family, friends, my health, and a means to financially move through life), there are actually a couple big things I’m thankful for that more closely align with JNC and those of us showing up on this site. I’m thankful for the stars aligning over the years, and slowly but surely placing the two lovely pieces of Japanese automotive history that I own in my possession.
To get the opportunity to purchase my RX-8 3 years ago was to fulfill the near miss I had when I was 16, when a white-on-blue FC3S GTUs was sold out from under me. To row through the 6 speed gearbox, hearing the turbine-like whine of the 13B RENESIS climb to it’s 9,500RPM redline is to feel the history of Mazda, and the history of the rotary, come alive each time I drive the car. Rotary Mazdas feel uniquely Japanese to me, in the way they’re engineered like a fine watch and never cease to amaze me. It may not be the same machine that the GTUs was, but it elicits all the pleasant feelings I can imagine the FC would have given me. It’s a special car, emphasized all the more by it’s current absence in Mazda’s lineup. It also gives me endless joy to tell people about the car, and be one of the few “samurai” who truly understand and want to be stewards of the rotary revolution.
In addition to my RX-8, I’m thankful for the other car that fell into my lap this year, which is slowly becoming a more and more rare piece of Nissan’s history. When hunting for a car to help take some of the strain off of my Mazda, I came across a car that really struck a chord with me. The car had many similarities to the U12 1991 Nissan Stanza my father owned when I was younger, that I had many fond memories of. The automatic shoulder belts, the old style buzzer for leaving the key in the ignition or the lights on, and the same style of velour-ish cloth interior. While it wasn’t a Stanza, the B13 1994 Sentra Limited Edition that I came across was incredibly special in it’s own way: it only had 43,000 original miles, and one owner. Since purchasing the car, I’ve returned the paint to it’s former glory (as best as I could), cleaned the interior up, and have fixed some of the broken “repairs” the previous owner had made. Every day when I leave work, I hop into the Sentra and am reminded of a time when I was very young, riding in the U12 with my father….a time of simpler cars, and mechanical controls. Experiencing the simple joy of hustling the B13 through corners feels like driving a gokart to work every day, with other sentimental memories of the U12 making me smile as well.
So, what am I thankful for? In 2014, I’m thankful for being able to fulfill the childhood dream of owning some quirky, rare Japanese cars, and being able to work on them. I’m thankful for the opportunity to experience and appreciate first hand what I had only wistfully read about on JNC and in Japanese car magazines in the past. I’m thankful for the opportunity to be a steward of two J-VIN cars, which are are dying breed in the United States. I’m thankful for what JNC stands for, and how each of us relates to each other’s story. We all appreciate and honor Japanese culture, most of which being the massively car-crazy mentality of Japan, and I’m humbled and thankful to now be a more integral part of it.
i thankful my parent,especially my father who brought me very first car,proton saga aeroback.Its not a good looking cars but its help us travel from A to B.Its also help me to go for work,gave us alots of memory.This cars mean for us,although it was a mitsubishi fiore clone,made in malaysia, but this reasonable price,fuel economy and easy maintain helping people especially malaysian can afford buying a family cars.We do have another Nostalgia Japanese cars like datsun,those also helping us carrying goods to go to work.
Although those are an old cars we never afford to buy a new cars,we also need to special thanks to our local honest cars worker ,without them we cannot having a good cars to drive.Also thanks to my sister in law selling this cars to us without paying too much.Thanks for everyone who drive with me my sister,relative,friends especially my lovely parents,father and mum,without them i cannot success today.Thanks you soo much i appreciate GoGoGo JDM Nostalgia! 😉
I’m thankful that my mom is letting me restore my 240z, as well as several classic Honda motorcycles in her garage, and never bats an eye about the mess that they make. (not to mention all the oil over the floor)
Love ya mom!