Do you think Japanese Santa Claus is a rosy-cheeked, jolly old man with a fluffy white beard? No, he’s a chain-smoking mechanic in red one-piece coveralls with blackened fingernails and a perm. If you ask him the price of anything in his workshop he’ll say that it’s not for sale, but if you can prove yourself a worthy caretaker of the car/part/item he’ll gift it to you for free.
What do you want from Japanese Santa Claus this year?
The most entertaining comment by next Tuesday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “Do you treat your JNC different than your daily?“.
What we learned this week is that many readers have some damn nice daily drivers! We are jealous of Taylor C.‘s 6MT Mazda 6 and it even sees winter salt, Ian G.’s Honda Element is actually driven while his garaged JNCs sit, and MikeRL411 abuses his Infiniti J30t and Datsun 411 equally.
Fashion Victim‘s Honda motorcycle gets sacrificed to the elements while his JNC is covered. Sammy B has to store his JNC for half the year simply due to climate. John S. drives his daily Highlander and his garaged 240SX hard, but in different ways.
The winner this week was Bryan Kitsune, who has a pretty cool daily in a Scion xA, but devised an ingenious method to not care as much about it as his beloved Celica: the Scion is an automatic. And to answer your question, Bryan, our 25-year-rule goes by production, not model year, so your T230 Celica will be a JNC in July 2024.
No true JNC at the moment, but I read on the old JNC 25 year decal thread that JNC.com recognizes a whole generation as nostalgic when the beginning of the generation reaches the threshold, so I guess my 2002 Celica becomes nostalgic relatively soon. The 7th generation Celica began production & was sold in 1999 as 2000 model year. I don’t know if that means the 7th generation reaches JNC status in 2024 or 2025. (ie is 25 years production/sales based, or model year based?)
Anyway, after wading through those weeds, I will say that I do treat my soon to be nostalgic Celica better than my poor daily driven Scion xA. I mean, I did get the xA some lightweight bronze wheels, but they’re Konig…the Celica got lightweight bronze wheels also, they are Volk. The DD is parked on the street, while the Celica gets the garage. The xA sees salt/winter roads, the Celica does not. The exterior of the xA is dirty most of the time. The interior is…dirty most of the time.
The daily is also an automatic, otherwise I’m sure I’d bond with it more and have a harder time treating it like a daily, but also so my wife can drive it when needed…and well, it also helps keep me from wanting to install fun parts on it.
I do try to take reasonable care of it, but it is a daily for a reason: to take the daily wear & tear that I don’t want to inflict on the Celica.
That all being said, I drove the Celica to work this morning. The roads haven’t seen salt yet this season, and well…sometimes you just gotta enjoy the drive.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
So far, Japanese Santa in his red coveralls has been pretty darn good to me! Although parts for an S-Cargo are made of “Unobtainium”, it appears he has found a mother lode in my list of needs for the S-Cargo! As this is a rebuilding year and, one that will see all of his faults corrected, I just want JNC Santa to give me the where with all to put it all together. I need three new tires (have #4 already) and, need only the windshield washer and a decent entertainment unit to fit the consolette I’ve had for awhile. repairs include fixing the cargo area with bedliner and getting the dents out plus, a working A/C unit. The van deserves the attention … !
A 1/24 Tamiya “Dressed up Leopard”. A super rare model kit from back in the 80’s.
I’ve been looking for that one for years. Never seen it once on eBay.
Who wouldn’t love a fresh bucket of KFC for Christmas dinner? I prefer original recipe but if others wanted I could go with extra crispy. Of course you should leave some out for Santa Kurosu so he can enjoy some too!
According to DHL, Japanese Santa is going to be delivering some presents for me this coming Friday in the form of STI optional rear lowering springs for my oft mentioned Legacy GT wagon and a Ken Style steering wheel for my new-ish to me Miata RF via Yahoo! Auctions. This was a consolation for missing out on a set of 18″ Enkei STI wheels specific to Legacies that snuck away as I lost track of time and went for an absolute steal to some lucky buyer. Maybe Japanese Santa will take pity on me and find some more for me to bid on.
Land Ark,
I am new to the Subaru world and joined with the purchase of a 05 Legacy GT, Limited, 5- MT, in Obsidian black pearl, with 44,000 miles and a garage kept car. I also recently found a set of SSR GT-7 wheels in 17×7.5 -50 offset and they are currently in the restoration process and will be going on the car in the spring. Are you also on LegacyGT.com?
Jim:
44k miles? That’s amazing if not a little sad for the previous owners. My car would likely not be running if not for LegacyGT.com. It’s a silver 2007, I bought it certified as a lease return back in 2010. It has a little over 86k miles on it now.
Are you the silver GT wagon with Enkei NTO3s that was at Sonoma Race way for the historic races a few weeks ago? I know in 05 silver was the rarest color with only 48 Limited with manual transmission built. Did 07 have similar build numbers? There were 108 wagon, Limited, 5 MT in obsidian black pearl and that is what I have.
86,000 is still low millage for an 07.
I am 310Z on LegacyGT.com
The car was owned by a family friend that is elderly and did not drive much.
The Japanese doily seat covers for the third generation Carina I found for sale. For an unknown reason I can’t bid on them, so I’ll have to let them pass. So my hope’s fully on the Japanese Santa to deliver them under the Christmas tree.
Whilst I was browsing, I also found a fueldoor and bootlid cable assembly for the Carina for sale. I was able to bid on that. So if the doily seat covers are out of reach for Japanese Santa, the cable assembly will my consolidation.
I assume the listings are on ebay.jp? If it’s like the US one, then a seller can choose if they want to ship to the US or not, sometimes an error is made, I’d suggest sending a message to the seller telling them you are interested and willing to pay the shipping, they would just need to add the US (or wherever you are) to their list of “will ship to” locations. This all works best with normal street addresses, PO Boxes, military bases, etc can all cause further issues. Good luck!
Arigato gozaimasu! Nice picture there of some soon to be nostalgics! It’s really hard to believe they are almost to that threshold. I remember the first time I saw a commercial for them before they were actually on sale. I’m g̶e̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ old.
As for the current question…
It’s not really “parts from Japan” but I’d love a copy of the “A Quiet Greatness” book set you reported on back in June. I listened to a podcast about it the other day as well. I understand WHY it costs so much, but still feels tough to justify without a higher level of disposable income! Thus, I haven’t brought it up to my wife…yet. (；☉_☉)
I closed my eyes and bought that book set. My family thinks I’m crazy to have forked out $360 for that, but it’s a wonderful collection of eye candy. I take my time to read and go through the pictures, and it’s so relaxing seeing the two-page spreads. The Mazdaspeed Autozam AZ-1 looks so nice, the NSX, the Eunos Cosmos, the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4; I’ve yet to finish the books, so I’m still in the “M” section right now.
I would not buy the European version of this book set if there was one, only because I don’t relate as well to European cars. But this collection, definitely something I wanted, to the point I almost needed.
A buyer for my NB2 when I try to part with it at tax-time
My ’86 restomod project to finally be done
An FJ Cruiser Trail Teams Edition right around July to ring in my bday.
I would be interested in receiving a first generation red Honda S2000 along with a bikini model also in red and stilettos for photo opportunity’s only. Then I would show my worthiness as the care taker of my 240Z to Santa as I drooled over his coveted early era rough cast black Watanabe wheels that would look better as a second set of wheels for my Z than they do adorning the walls of his shop. That way I would be able to have a set of street tires and some R-compound tires always at the ready.
Santa I would love a rebuilt r200 3.9 for my Z I’ll make sure there is plenty of milk and cookies.
More cool diecast, what else? Currently working on gathering up more 1968 original Hot Wheels redlines and such……Though a Batmobile from Corgi Juniors or the 007 Lotus submarine would be awesome…..
Some of the QotWs have been focused on “dream garages,” some with a meager price cap, others with a “no-holds barred” mindset. I have responded to those questions, and those responses have always included a Toyota Hiace. This past summer I have officially started the process of procuring one. By “process” I mean: officially tell the boss I’m looking to buy one, sell an existing car in my “collection,” identify the model / trim I want, as well as find a reputable dealer that can procure one for me.
I have stared at HiAces for the past ten years, and became familiar with them during my vacations to Hong Kong to visit family / friends. There, I was allured by the shape of the 5th-generation models, as well as (what’s this) a stick shift / turbodiesel option! I even taught my then four-year old daughter how to identify those vans during our daily excursions.
Alas, the 5th-gen models still aren’t importable until 2029. In the meantime I have gained an appreciation for the 4th models. I remember looking at Portland Craigslist one day and coming across a blue 1994 Super Custom with 5-speed manual, sitting on black steelies. My high school / college minivan days just came out of the closet, I became enamored by it! Over the years, and especially recently, I have fine-tuned what I want: post-1996 facelifted 2WD Super Custom with a 5-speed manual, in one-tone paint. I sure wouldn’t mind the triple moonroof option, but those were only available with stick and 2WD in 1994.
A 2023 Sienna would out-everything what a HiAce could do: better MPG, more space, faster quieter, safer, more user-friendly, more comfy. But, well, the HiAce would be pure JDM. Nihon Santa Kurasu, I would love a HiAce!
This year, all I ask of Annual Gift man, is hope.
Man, I want some TE37s, but I will never be able to justify those prices.