Greetings fellow JNCers! As I drafted this QotW, I was sitting in my Tokyo office feverishly refreshing my browser to follow Super Bowl LI. As the game progressed, turned on a dime, and presented the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history; I wondered:
What JNC would best represent the New England Patriots?
The question is abstract, just as abstract as the team mascots that represent the physical players. So I would ask that you run with the spirit of the question. Does the JNC represent the team as a whole? MVP player? Coach? Gatorade caddy?
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW: Which JNC took on grassroots rally racing the best?
Honda S500
Last week’s QotW contributions were, well, limited. Maybe many were engulfed in the global news headlines but we still has some great suggestions! In fact, I will award both Banpei and SHC as winners with their suggestions of the AE86 as a vehicle that seems to have endless possibilities and still accessible as a starter rally vehicle for enthusiasts…
The AE86 has been analogous with drifting, both inside and outside Japan for the past two decades. However long before drifting became mainstream it was used by many in grassroots rallying, and it still is being used in many parts of Europe! (Belgium, Finland and Ireland it is still one of the most used rally cars)
In the 80s, the two door notchback was the most popular choice for rallying and TRD offered any modifications for the AE86 in their catalogue. This allowed many grassroots rally enthusiasts to become more competitive. In 1984 Team ACP (Masahiro Uchida and Masaru Kubota) competed with a Toyota Levin AE86 in the infamous Paris-Dakar rally (after completing 1981 and 1982 in a Toyota Carina AA60), but they have to give up and don’t finish the rally. In 1985 Masaru Kubota and Kiichiro Yokota join the rally again in a kouki Levin, but also this year they had to give up.
When the 4WD cars began to dominate rally championships, the Group-n class was created in 1989 for RWD cars with a smaller displacement than 2 liters. The AE86 dominated this class and won the first three years consecutively. It may have been made obsolete by the Impreza and Lancer Evo, but the AE86 remains a very popular car with rally enthusiasts. It is the Japanese counterpart of the RWD European Ford Escorts, but then with a factory installed Twin Cam.
…and the Honda S500 that had a short rally life, but taught a valuable lesson for Soichiro Honda about developing stout vehicles to match world driver needs, much like their bikes.
… the 1961-63 Honda effort in the Spa-Sofia-Liege Rally… Early rallying could be very dangerous and is borne out in the this story as well. Was this effort by Honda the best rallying effort, probably not, but it was about gaining respectability in the car world with their then first production car as the test bed.
Omedetou to both, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Obviously, the 1995 Toyota Celica GT-4 ST205.
I wouldn’t disgrace a JNC by associating them with the Cheat-riots. However, there is a car that more aligns with that team and that is is any Volkswagen with a diesel. Lies, coverups, drones over a practice field, hotel alarms going off, spygate, deflategate, emission lies. All the same to me. Yes, it was a hell of a comeback but like Volkswagen, sometimes you gotta wonder.
Any JNC with flat tires…? (Old news, I know, but I couldn’t resist.)
First may I compliment the choice of artwork on this article. I am always pleasantly surprised to see my Datsun Roadster in Print. So Thank you, Does that make me a MVP?
In answer to your question, “Datsun” from 1969 through the middle 80’s were the Patriots, with so many racing wins in SCCA history that it is still mind boggling, not unlike the Patriots Dynasty. With so many contributors Datsun’s owned C & D Production racing for well over a decade, with the likes of Paul Newman, John Morton, Bob Sharp, Don Devendorf and Brad Frisselle, just to name a few.
These SCCA classes followed by Trans Am racing with BRE in the iconic #46 510, and this was not without it’s controversy as well as the last race of the 1970 season was changed, some say by Datsun lobbying to move the race from Seattle to Monterey. Advantage Datsun, deflate gate after the “winning Alfa” is disqualified for an oversized fuel cell!!
Back then the MVP would have been John Morton still racing today, maybe not the household name that Tom Brady is, but in the right circles John is still a legend, and still racing!! What a Career.
SRL311)- Getting bad press- ( American pride -buy US) Coming from behind, the underdog-( Price wise) Then leading the pack- ( Racing history).
Okay I know that technically the first year will not be a nostalgic car until next year, but my candidate is the 1993-1998 North American Toyota Supra Mark IV (which if you squint almost looks like LI). My reasoning is that it had to be a car that the critics thought ruled the day (Tom Brady in 2004), that ultimately did not sell that well (deflate gate), and then became a legend (five super bowl wins out of seven appearances and of course the greatest comeback performance like ever). Many people forget that during the Supra’s final years (97-98) they sat on dealer lots for months with no buyers mainly because the design was getting old and they were still very expensive. Then the Fast and Furious movie came out in 2001 and made the average Joe aware of what the street racers already knew, that this car had more potential than any other car of its era.
I’ve got to go with either vintage Nissan as a brand or the Miata for a specific model. The Nissan history has been covered already. The Miata has been relevant since its 1989 introduction 25+ years ago. It’s still a winning racer/autocrosser, has maintained a cult following, and almost anyone can afford one. What a great car.
Can somebody tell me why I ever moved over to S2000s?
NA Miata, because they were bought new as toys and kept off the salty winter roads, so they are now the only JNCs regularly seen in New England. (Even once-ubiquitous Subaru Loyales mostly rusted out by the mid-00s).
Anything Toyota.
Just look at them, they have a massive following regardless of what they come up with. For example, what is it with those cheap interiors? They’re just as bad as Chevrolet.