QotW: What JNC concept deserves to be found or restored?

Mazda recently went through great lengths to restore the MX-81 concept, paying respects to the first car to bear the “MX” designation. As you can see, it needed significant reconditioning to bring it back to its former glory as it had been, according to the company, languishing at a warehouse somewhere (we’re imagining a room like at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark). Prior to that, it had not been seen in public in many years and no one would’ve blamed you if you assumed it had been destroyed (the fate of many a concept). It makes us wonder, though, what else might be lurking out there in a forgotten storeroom?

What JNC concept deserves to be found or restored?

The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What theft prevention measures do you take for your car?

While there probably isn’t 100 percent fail-safe method to stopping a determined thief, there are many ways to slow down the average crook, and that should keep your car safe most of the time. There are tried and true procedures, like Dutch 1960‘s removable steering wheel or Negishi no Keibajo‘s good ol’ Club and rotor removal trick.

Nowadays, one of the best prevention actions you can take is to drive, as BlitzPig points out, a manual transmission car. J goes one step farther with a kill switch connected to the clutch safety switch.

Other strategies inclued Styles‘ barricading of the garage with other cars and junk, or Marc Lawrence‘s enlisting of a watchful neighbor, and Jim Klein‘s guaranteed method of preventing JNC theft was to drive a non-JNC.

The winner this week, however, helped out fellow reader and fellow AW11 owner Driftwood Jag by dropping some tips. Thanks, Alan for your help:

In my AW11s, I hit the hidden kill switch, put on a The Club, use another The Club product that goes around the clutch pedal, and finally pull off the wire to the coil.

Can’t be too careful JNC friends.

I once had an ’86 Camry stolen at a Padres game – pretty sure it was the infamous “universal 1980s Toyota key”, as the car was recovered next day, everything stolen out of it but otherwise fine, with absolutely no signs of forced entry. Damn you free parking day! Ugh, the feeling of violation and creeped-outedness that comes with having a car stolen is not pleasant – 20 years later I still feel it viscerally.

Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!

JNC Decal smash

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11 Responses to QotW: What JNC concept deserves to be found or restored?

  1. Lupus says:

    I was always wondering what happened to those six Mitsubishi HSR concepts?
    The 2nd itaration “landed in Gran Turismo’s Hall of Fame for good” & the 3rd was used in Jackie Chan’s “Thunderbolt”, but where is the rest?
    The pre-GTO, bit vulgar active aero fround on HSR-II reminded me hugely on KITT’s late Pursuit Mode 😉

  2. dankan says:

    There’s a bunch of great Mazda concepts over the years which deserve mention, but also partly because I selfishly just want them to build one for real. Their Vision Coupe extends the riff they’d been playing with on the Shinari concept, and even arguably the RX-8. And the Kabura was sports car gold that unfortunately never happened. But concept cars are supposed to be properly insane ideas, not just near production teasers which never get built. *Ahem Honda Sports EV* And you can’t go too much further insane than the Taiki concept. It looked like it was right out of late 80s/early 90s Anime, with a Lynn Minmay soundtrack. Give it a proper colour like Soul Red and yeah, that’d be something fun to hit the backroads with. Or, if I can be exceptionally selfish, a Honda 2and4 would be epic.

  3. Daniel says:

    nobody remembers the mazda furai? Would it be a big kick in the butt to everything modern to bring that concept back to life but with a rotary hydrogen engine and electric support? (to comply with emissions) it would be a great “in your face” to all the supercars of the moment and timeless in its design.

    • Daniel says:

      Another option would be the “what if” and would lay hands on one of the original surviving mazda cosmo (a replica, it would not be so criminal to break such important pieces) and realize the electric vision of the past and the future of the brand. Maybe you could give us an opportunity, just like Jaguar does, to have a small program of restoration and conversion to electrical of some iconic models. I wouldn’t mind sacrificing a few savanna RX7 electrics (hey, there are people doing it on their own) if it allows you to win replacement parts within the catalog of the restoration program

    • dankan says:

      The car itself burned to the ground. If you could find another Courage C65 then you could replicate the car, assuming that one of the R20B-Renesis motors still exists somewhere…

      • Daniel says:

        Well, it would not be a bad idea, it is modern enough to have the information available to reproduce everything, take advantage of Toyota’s developments with hydrogen and print the DNA of the rotary engine and mazda

  4. Nico jongeneel says:

    The EX-1 for me never found out what happened with it would love to see it in real life

  5. Negishi no Keibajo says:

    2001 Suzuki GSX-R 400. Put it in production for Suzuki motorcycle dealers to market them as a competitor to the Polaris Slingshot or the Ariel Atom. Fill that hole of ATV/UTV’s in their lineup Awesome roadster.

  6. r100guy says:

    The Mazda RX500 is still around but what happened to the RX3/Savanna based RX510?

  7. Ellis says:

    The Dome Zero. Though I’m sure the prototypes that exist are already in mint condition sitting in a private garage somewhere in Japan surrounded by other priceless relics.

    The Mazda RX-500 is another 70’s concept that looks amazing today, though the concept car is already being well looked after at the Hiroshima Transport Museum.

    So my actual choice is the Toyota EX-III. To my eyes it looks like a futuristic version of the 2000GT. And my reasons for wanting it found and restored are simple, so more people know about it! While the Dome Zero and RX-500 are somewhat known in car circles with the Zero used in a few video games and the RX-500 being displayed at Goodwood, the EX-III is relatively unknown, which is a shame because in my view it looks fantastic!

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