It’s almost Thanksgiving in a crazy, tumultuous, and strange year. But if there’s one thing that can keep us sane, it’s our JNCs. Cars have no idea what ails the world. The friends we make, the experiences we have, and the places we go thanks to them can be a soothing salve when everything else in life is not so good. We continue to the thankful to you, our readers, for making the JNC life fun, for keeping the spirit of old Japanese cars alive, and for the friendships forged around the world, all resulting from an irrational love for hunks of old Japanese steel.
What JNC things are you thankful for this year?
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your favorite JNC fast food story?”
Apparently, the intersection of fast food and JNCs can run quite the gamut in terms of emotions. MWC shared a tale of infatuation, Land Cruisers, and Big Macs. j_tso received a stroke of random kindness at a Wendy’s in an RX-7. Lee L experienced that oh-so-familiar sinking heart feeling of old car mechanical failure in a Z31 just to get some 99-cent bacon cheeseburgers. However, the winner this week was Aaron Cake and his story of how he likely converted an entire Popeye’s franchise into rotor-heads:
Early this spring while most of the world was still quarantined I drove my 500HP bridgeported FC through the Popeyes drive through. Everyone in the kitchen came to the drive through window to see and hear the car. I told them to look out the window when I left because it’s an industrial area so I left trails of rubber through 1st and 2nd.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
This year I haven’t been able to drive a single mile (1.6 kilometer) with either JNC. Working from home renders out going to the office occasionally by JNC. Also as I’m working at home I can’t make a small detour en route to work either to do a bit of tinkering on both.
On the bright side: my youngest daughter just started attending school so now I have a few hours per week where I can go to the lockup. I’ve already done that twice but only done some tinkering and now winter is coming.
I’m thankful for this year making me appreciate the time I can spend with my JNCs even more! 😉
I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, cause it’s not my cultural circle. But if i would celebrate this festivity i would definitley be thankfull for my family still being alive and not touched by this damn virus, and on the 2nd for still having job to earn money to spend on my japanese cars – old one and more modern daily’s. That’s it.
I’m thankful for the standards of reliability that the Japanese auto industry introduced to the world with the cars we now celebrate as JNCs. I have owned mostly Japanese brand cars for most of my life and the reliable service they have provided me over the years has certainly been a blessing. Even the hand full of American cars I have owned were no doubt more reliable thanks to the influence of and competition from Japan. Too bad the Germans never caught on.
I’m thankful for the fact that I still have my JNC. With 48 years of ownership, I’m glad I never parted with it. 1972 Celica RA21. Plenty of temptations over the years, but I resisted. Bought the car new while I was in high school. Too sentimental to even think of selling!
Everyone please stay safe and healthy.
Just like you Vic,I still have my 77 liftback since new. It’s sentimental thing.
And my 67 RL 411. I still have the bill of sale for it.
Mike, isn’t that the one that you mentioned wanting to sell to me a while ago? (trying to use mind control)…
I / we are thankful for my partner’s NA Miata. We took on a respray project for it & was a calm it the middle of this pandemic storm. There are a lot of “irrational” things or acts that directly helps our well being. I also want to thank this site for keeping my / her sanity. We’ve had some truly frightening moments at work earlier in this mess. Thank you & all.
Wow, we didn’t expect to be thanked but, um, thanks for that! Stay safe!
I am grateful that I can spend time in my shop which is a 250′ commute from my house, and still getting to build and work on terrific sports cars some Japanese and some Italian…
The biggest thrill was creating my 2004 Miata 250 GTO convertible creation… it is a car that I have wanted to do for some time, and thanks to the lock downs I have been able to realize my desire to complete this creation, Stay safe everyone and Happy Thanksgiving…
Thankful for the lady that bought my 70 240z. She loves it, takes runs with on weekends, and takes good care of her asI did. I’m also thankful I have my 70 510 running and looking good.
I feel a bit bad writing this, as I know that a huge proportion of the rest of the world isn’t in this situation, and in a way I feel guilty for being so privileged, but I’m grateful that most of the usual summer events that we usually have down here in NZ are still going to go ahead, thanks to our covid free situation.
We still get our monthly Caffeine and Classics, we still get to have our monthly club meet (even if the last one was just my Celica XX and another members first gen Pajero), and many other events coming up.
And I’m grateful that I still have a job to pay for my JNC, after so many have lost their jobs or are on LWOP.
So yeah, a sad situation around the world, but it will make me all the more grateful, and determined to get out in my JNC over our souther-hemispehere summer.
It was quite a year with ups and downs from a JNC point of view for me. I decided to not ignore global warming anymore – we replaced our Yaris Hybrid with a Miata NC, the dream car of my wife.
Our reliable Mazda 323 BG did not pass the technical inspection – I had to replace the steering rack and ignition lock, ask my neighbour to weld some holes and had to pray to pass the inspection. But it passed and runs strong.
And finally my Mazda RX-8 has a bad clutch release bearing and is low on power. It has only 165 ponies on the dyno – but I still love it and will replace the clutch and maybe the engine next year.
Being a car guy can be interesting even in a year like 2020!
The fact that Hot Wheels finally released a ’98 Subaru Impreza WRX STi, ’98 Prelude SiR, ’89 Mazda RX-7 and Porsche 944 Turbo….That a friend of mine had a dinky toys OXO Soup truck from the ’50s…….That Greenlight models issued a Canada Post truck……etc, etc etc…..
2020 has been one hell of a year. Before the pandemic, I was in Japan and after the pandemic hit, I was still able to get my Project Leopard moving (it is in AZ getting painted and body work done). The RB25det is fully assembled, all my interior pieces have been completed. I was able to visit LA 3 times and meet up with good friends.
I have been fortunate to still being working full time (with on call and additional per diem hours). My family has been safe, even with me working in healthcare and working with COVID19 symptomatic patients.
I considered myself lucky, but that all changed last month). My father, an avid fisherman, was knocked unconscious by a wave off the shore and his fishing partner failed to save him. My father drowned.
I’m back up here in the PNW for Thanksgiving and finishing house projects he’s been working on.
He also has a 08 Ford F150 Lariet that has a GEM module problem (need to replace).
His daily beater… 300,000 mile 1998 Chevy Metro LSI. Front end was hit, but bumper and lights are slightly off. Runs rough as it burns oil.
I’ve been trying to donate it to a Veteran’s charity, but I was told that I needed to get a survivorship document notarized by DMV (which is all closed here) because the title is in his name.
Last night, I decided to keep it after looking at Suzuki Swifts of the same year. I figure it is another piece of him that I can keep around with smile on my face.
Oh man, I’m so sorry for your loss. Please accept our deepest condolences, from team JNC.
Thanks fellas!!
Yeah.. it’s been rough… but slowly getting out of the rut.
I work in HealthCare IT and the pandemic has kept us in overdrive this year. I’ve had my head down working for most of it, but was finally able to purchase the car I’ve always dreamed of owning; an FD3S RX-7. Driving and wrenching on this car over the last few months has kept me sane, and has completely changed my whole demeanor. It has definitely been one of the only highlights for me in an otherwise brutal year.
My first car was a 5th gen Celica, of which I’ve owned a few but I’ve always been into rotaries. When I graduated college I congratulated myself by financing an RX-8. Despite the amount of time and effort I put into it, it suffered from the typical problems that plague the Renesis. The motor popped around 2013 and I had to put my rotary dreams on hold. I was pretty new to my job at the time and didn’t have much stability financially or otherwise, and was about to take a big financial hit on the RX-8. I needed to be able to get to work every day, so I purchased a VW GTI and put my JDM interest on the back burner for a few years to focus on work and other aspects of my life.
Flash forward to early 2020, I have worked my way up from a junior level role to a managerial one at the same company. I’ve just hit my 10 year anniversary and I am working harder than ever before. I moved in with my long-time girlfriend and am finally feeling the stability that I was looking for. I thought that now is as good a time as ever to look for an FD due to the rising price of Japanese hero cars.
Despite the rising uncertainty as the pandemic progressed, my girlfriend encouraged me to double down on the FD search, which I did. I was able to find a very clean, mostly stock example on the West Coast. It had the options package I wanted, a MT and was even the color I was looking for. I knew this was the perfect car for me so I pulled the trigger.
So I guess first I’m thankful that I still have a job, because I know many people have endured hardship this year in that regard. I am thankful that I have a wonderful loving partner that encouraged me to follow my rotary dream, and I am thankful for my RX-7!
That’s a great story and I’m glad things are going well for you. Thanks for your work to keep us safe as well. What color and option package did you end up getting?
It’s a 1993 (25 year club!) Touring package in Vintage Red.
It came with a sunroof, fogs, leather seats and the Bose Acoustic Wave system, which is a weird but very cool 90’s stereo setup which I’d encourage you to look up if you’ve not heard of it. The original owner also opted for the stock oil coolers and the R1 aero package – they were part of the R1 trim but could be added on to the other packages as well. I’m very glad because I think that front lip and spoiler really complement the car nicely.
And thank you, though I’m not worthy of the praise. My work is more behind the scenes with Health Plans to ensure people are getting the appropriate care and can use their insurance etc.
Keep up the good work and thanks for the opportunity to share!
That sounds like a beautiful car! I remember magazines saying the Bose system took up a lot of room back when it came out, but I agree with you. if it’s not your primary car it’s cooler to have it than the trunk space. Congrats on the purchase and enjoy!