Tag Archives: a40

EVENTS: 2017 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 02 — Because Race Car

In Japan, you have full-blown vintage racing events devoted to Nihon steel, factory sponsored motorsports festivals, and manufacturer exhibits. These things don’t really happen in the US with Japanese automakers, so JCCS is one of the rare opportunities for competition machines to … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 3rd Touge California, 2017

Because we, along with title sponsor Mazda, were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the rotary engine this year, a large contingent of piston-less cars were lined up at the starting grid of the 2017 Touge California. Joining them were decades-old twin-cam Toyota … Continue reading

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MOTORSPORT: A history of Toyota’s heartbreaks at Le Mans, Part 02

In Part 01, Toyota ended 1992’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with a second place finish, their best to date, in the TS010. Surprisingly, a 3.6-liter Toyota 92C-V fielded by Trust (GReddy) based on the older generation of Group C racers took … Continue reading

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MOTORSPORT: A history of Toyota’s heartbreaks at Le Mans, Part 01

This week we learned that Toyota’s Le Mans curse remains firmly in tact, having robbed the team of what seemed like a sure-fire victory. The loss, due to a comically unfortunate mistake perpetrated by another team, prompted President Akio Toyoda … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2017 All-Toyotafest 2017, Part 01 — New Digs

Like RAV4 sales numbers, the number of cars at Toyotafest is ever-expanding. Now in its 22nd year, the country’s most comprehensive Toyota, Lexus and Scion car show has outgrown its home at the Queen Mary. This year, organizers from the Toyota Owners and Restorers Club … Continue reading

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VIDEO: The world’s first race cars to broadcast live from the cockpit were Toyota Celicas

Toyota Australia has just released an interview with Aussie racing great Peter Williamson. As you may recall, Williamson passed away in 2016, but his legacy as the world’s first in-car camera broadcaster lives on. The interview was conducted at the 2016 Toyota … Continue reading

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GRAND TOURING: Chubu and Kinki, Part 01

After a longer than usual break between our tours, we decided to take a full week off and continue our Western Coast explorations through the Chubu and Kinki regions. As we embarked, the outer bands of a seasonal typhoon loomed over Japan. … Continue reading

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VIDEO: Behind the scenes at Toyota’s Calty design studio

We all know that cars are designed, but what is “design,” exactly? A new video released by Toyota aims to answer that question via a history and tour of their Calty design studio. Toyota was the first Japanese automaker to open … Continue reading

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EVENTS: Okutama Sunday Meeting

A short time ago, we were invited to attend the monthly Okutama-ko Sunday kyusha meeting. Loosely organized by the well-known Isuzu shop Eagle Sports, it always attracts a wide range of cars. This weekend was special though, as GT-B driving … Continue reading

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EVENTS: AE86 Nights 9th Anniversary

What started as a small gathering of enthusiasts of the last RWD Corolla eight years ago has grown into a gathering that attracts hundreds of cars from all over southern California. It all started with the beloved Hachiroku, and the types of … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2016 All-Toyotafest, Part 02 — Straight Sixes

As engines go, the Toyota straight-six is one of the best conceived by humankind. Smooth as Suntory whiskey, as long-lived as a mountain, and capable of stupid amounts of horsepower in later iterations, they are a triumph of automotive engineering. It’s no wonder the … Continue reading

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RIP Peter Williamson, Aussie Toyota racing legend, 1938-2016

Australia, Toyota, and the world of motorsport has collectively lost a great ambassador with the passing of Peter “Willo” Williamson. For those of us who grew up in southwestern Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s, Willo was a legend and a … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 05 — Stock as a Rock

This year’s Japanese Classic Car Show seemed to have more diversity in bone-stock rides than ever. We might be reaching a point where fans of J-tin are truly beginning to appreciate unmolested cars. Along with the other time warps peppering our other … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 02 — Shakotan Boogaloo

In Japan, shakotan is simply means a lowered car. Many different styles of car can technically qualify as shakotan, but if we’re going to steal a traditional Japanese term, we might as well apply it to traditional Japanese cars. You know it when … Continue reading

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Kidney, Anyone? 1980 Toyota Celica Sunchaser

Go grab your Gerry Rafferty cassette and your turtle neck because this week’s Kidney Car is the closest thing to a yacht rock poster car Toyota ever made: the 1980 Toyota Celica Sunchaser. From 1979 to 1981 Toyota commissioned the Griffith Company … Continue reading

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NEXT VERSION: Can you name these classic Toyota racing liveries?

In preparation for the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed, Toyota UK has prepped six GT86 (known here as the Scion FR-S) sport coupes in racing liveries from the company’s past. Can you name them all (answers below, no peeking!)? 

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EVENTS: 2015 All-Toyotafest, Part 02

Registration for over 400 Toyotafest spaces sold out in under 24 hours this year, a new record. Perhaps it was the fact that it was the show’s 20th anniversary, or that in Japan it was already May 3, Akio Toyoda‘s birthday, or … Continue reading

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VIDEO: Toyota Motorsport GmbH’s warehouse

Located beneath a wind tunnel at Toyota Motorposrt GmbH in Koln, Germany is a warehouse of cars worth far more than their weight in gold. From a WRC Celica GT-4 in Castrol livery to the sole GT-One road car, it’s a Gran Turismo player’s … Continue reading

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ART CORNER: Papercraft nostalgics by Metmania Fan

Got some time to kill? Perhaps the art of papercraft as applied to some JNCs will do the trick. These are the creation of a Japanese artist who goes by the name Metmania Fan, and cover a whole range of … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2014 Japanese Classic Car Show
Part 07 — Taking Stock

As we near the end of our 2014 Japanese Classic Car Show coverage, we delve into the crux of what it means to have a classic car show.  Here are some of the rarest and best preserved Japanese nostalgic cars you’ll see … Continue reading

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