Tag Archives: century
Akio Toyoda’s Century GRMN has a touching easter egg
Akio Toyoda is a fashionable guy, and as such he knows how to arrive in style. At the recent Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival at Fuji Speedway, the Toyota CEO arrived in his custom Toyota Century GRMN, a version of Toyota’s … Continue reading
NEWS: Japanese Royal Family to get new parade car, Nissan out of the running
The Japanese royal family is about to choose a new car. That’s a big deal, since they haven’t had a fresh whip since about 2006, when Toyota delivered four specially modified Century limousines to the Imperial household. The new car … Continue reading
VIDEO: Jay Leno drives a Toyota Century with blood in the trunk
It’s the moment when Jay Leno is shown a blood stain in the trunk that he really warms up to the Toyota Century. Whether its really hemoglobin or not isn’t known, but Leno is clearly stoked to be driving what … Continue reading
NEWS: Akio Toyoda actually built a Century GRMN
It seemed like a throwaway joke. Shortly after the Tokyo Motor Show last year, where Toyota unveiled only the third new Century design in 50 years, the company’s car-nut CEO Akio Toyoda was interviewed on a Japanese talk show called … Continue reading
MARKETWATCH: 2018 Monterey auction round-up
The collector car auctions that occur each year as part of Monterey Car Week are a widely accepted barometer of the state of the marketplace, perhaps even more so than the January auctions of Scottsdale. The clientele in Monterey represents … Continue reading
EVENTS: Nisei Week Car Show, 2018
The annual Nisei Festival in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles is a celebration of Japanese American culture. Nisei means “second generation” in Japanese, but with its 84 years since the inaugural festival, the event has already been passed … Continue reading
NEWS: Get ready to VIP because the third-generation Toyota Century goes on sale today
For decades, it has been the preferred chariot of high-ranking government officials, captains of industry, and bosses in some of the shadier corners of Japanese society. The essence of the Toyota Century is tradition, and as evidence the latest redesign is only … Continue reading
EVENTS: All-Toyotafest 2018, Part 01 — Sedans
If there’s one thing Toyota is known for, it’s sedans. Yes, the Camry is basically the default car that pops into most brains when the word “sedan” is uttered, but Toyota also has a mean portfolio of old school, rear-wheel-drive mobbers. From Cressida … Continue reading
Tokyo Motor Show: 2018 Toyota Century
The Toyota Century is not just an executive sedan, it is a pillar of Japanese tradition. And like most Japanese traditions, it has carried on virtually unchanged for a long, long time. At the Tokyo Motor Show, however, nearly 50 years after … Continue reading
NEWS: Toyota will introduce a new Century for only the third time in 50 years
Toyota has released images of the third generation Toyota Century ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show. This is notable, because in the Toyota flagship sedan’s entire 50 year history, there has been only one complete redesign, until now. While minor … Continue reading
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
Happy Year of the Rooster from JNC
Okay, so the logo of the Toyota Century is technically a fushichou, or phoenix derived from Chinese mythology. But, if you trace it back far enough, the fenghuang is also called the August Rooster and according to Wikipedia, sometimes replaces the rooster on … Continue reading
NIHON LIFE: How to park your car in Japan, Part 03
Welcome to the final installment in our multi-part treatise on short-term automobile storage in Japanese society. In Part 01 of the investigation we studied what was within and without the bounds of the law, as well as the ubiquitous steel-bar-rising-up-out-of-the-ground parking lots. In … Continue reading
NIHON LIFE: Summer Evening on the Wangan
The O-Bon is an annual festival that honors the souls of one’s ancestors. Many Tokyoites head to their hometowns to visit the graves of their forebearers, leaving the city strangely free of its dreaded logjam traffic. In other words, it’s the perfect … Continue reading
NIHON LIFE: Commuting above-ground
Living in Tokyo’s 23-ku has many benefits, and detractions too I suppose. However, one of my great pleasures is the early morning commute across town. Many years ago I decided to ditch the usual meek-gray-mouse-crammed-onto-the-Ginza Line experience for a motorcycle.
EVENTS: 1st Touge California, 2015
This past Saturday a group of select cars and their drivers gathered in Thousand Oaks, California for the inaugural running of JNC‘s Touge California. Named for the hallowed Japanese roads where racing heroes honed their skills and where drifting was born, the event was … Continue reading
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
EVENTS: 2014 All-Toyotafest, Part 01— Luxe & GT
Hanging like a cloud over the festivities of the 19th annual All-Toyotafest this year was the news that had been leaked to the press a week prior: Toyota USA was moving its headquarters, which had been a southern California fixture … Continue reading