Tag Archives: kp61

VIDEO: Watch a Toyota Starlet destroy an R34 GT-R

Power-to-weight ratio is the key in this old Hot Version race in which Keiichi Tsuchiya and Akira Iida pit a pair of Toyota Starlets against an R34 Skyline GT-R and the Kei Office S15 Silvia. The Drift King puts it all on the table in a classic David … Continue reading

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GRAND TOURING: Driving across Japan in a JNC, Day 04

By the end of Day 03 we’d arrived at Shimonoseki, the southernmost point of Honshu, Japan’s main landmass. As the island on which most of the nation’s major cities — Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima — are located, Honshu contains about 60 percent of … Continue reading

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EVENTS: Marikina Old Schoolers East meet

Perhaps unbeknownst to most Americans, the Philippines has an incredibly strong tradition of classic car enthusiasm, especially with Nihon steel. Due to the nation’s proximity to Japan, it was one of the early export markets and received many models that … Continue reading

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VIDEO: Drifting Hakone in 1992

Imagine a winding touge packed with Japanese drift machines — Silvias, RX-7s, Supras, Fairlady Zs and AE86s. So. Many. AE86s. Last year we showed a video proving that underground drifting was already reaching fever pitch by the late 80s. By 1992, Hakone Pass — one of … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 03 — Made in the 80s

Have chrome-bumpered bullies been making you feel bad that your urethane-capped car isn’t truly a classic? Tell them to take a chill pill. Now that 1990 is the 25-year cutoff, everything that was built in the Eighties is officially a classic.

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EVENTS: Old School Love, New School Flavor, Part 01: Toyotas

This gallery contains 2 photos.

Rarely do we feature events from the great Northern Midwest but being invited to Team_Nostalgic’s Old School Love, New School Flavor show in Chicago meant leaving my humble Minneapolis abode at 3:30 am on the day of the event. It … Continue reading

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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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EVENTS: AE86 Nights 8th Anniversary

What started as an small gathering of Corolla drivers in a SoCal Kohl’s parking lot has grown into an annual event attracting hundreds of 86ers. AE86 Nights marked its 8th anniversary over the weekend, and suddenly a car that is almost extinct in … Continue reading

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KIDNEY, ANYONE? 53k-mile 1981 Toyota Starlet

Often clad in faded paint, plenty of rust, and maybe an oil-caked zombie of an engine, those KP61 Toyota Starlets which that aren’t being abused by a teenager with dreams of being Daigo Saito are usually on Craigslist halfway through … Continue reading

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EVENTS: Pacifico

Pacifico is the first show in southern California by Historic J, who have put on events like the Bayline Gathering, Vintage Auto Salon, and Shokuji J-Tin in the San Francisco area. If the show’s name sounds familiar, you might be thinking of … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2014 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 04 — Modified Machines

This year the Japanese Classic Car Show began screening entrants. A JNC editorial on the development generated heated debate, with many assuming that the Queen Mary lawn would be filled with identical, bone stock examples that all looked the same. Turns out, … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2014 All-Toyotafest, Part 03 — Practicals

We’ve seen the high-end luxocruisers that gave Toyota its reputation of apocalypse-grade reliability and the long-forgotten sports coupes Akio Toyoda hopes will rekindle passions for his great-grandfather’s company, but Part 03 of our Toyotafest coverage is about the everyday cars and trucks that made the ToMoCo kingdom possible. 

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EVENTS: 2013 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 05 — Less is More

There’s no replacement for displacement? Bzzzt, that is incorrect! The answer is weight, or lack thereof. This year’s JCCS had plenty of small wonders (including motorcycles) that warrant attention. They might not roar when you goose the throttle, but they’re … Continue reading

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EVENTS: Shokuji J-Tin, Part 03 – The Next Level

For our final installment of Shokuji J-Tin coverage, we turn to some of the best builds, survivors and restorations from the Bay Area. There will be no rattle-canned hoods or stanced out cries for attention here — just pure, undiluted … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2013 All-Toyotafest, Part 02 — The Seventies

As we mentioned, there was more urethane than chrome at this year’s Toyotafest. Still, it’s  the strong presence of Aichi classics that anchor this must-see event and separate it from other shows. 

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EVENTS: 2013 Nostalgic2Days, Part 03

We begin Part 03 of our Nostalgic2Days coverage with four generations of beautiful ‘Ladies. There’s the Wangan wedge Z31, disco club S130, world beating S30, and the pre-Z roadster spanning two decades of sporting Nissans.

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EVENTS: 2012 Nagoya Classic Car Meeting

The latest dispatch from guest writer David Lovett of Classic Car Nagoya covers the annual Nagoya Classic Car Meeting held by the shop. Here’s his first-hand account. —Ben  Every year in November Classic Car Nagoya rents out the Toyota Stadium parking lot for a day to … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2012 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 06: Wagons & Hatchbacks

It’s no secret that many of us on the JNC team are certifiably nutty about wagons, yours truly included (There are a couple that aren’t, and they look at us as if we’re the weird ones when it’s clearly the … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2012 Nisei Showoff, Part 01

Held in the historic Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles, Nisei Week is an annual festival for Japanese Americans dating back to 1934. The Nisei Showoff custom car show, launched during the height of the import tuning craze, is now … Continue reading

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QotW: What is the most influential Japanese car?

The western world has often overlooked the influence of Japan’s cars. So this week we put to you the question, one that is bound to stir up plenty of debate. What is the most influential Japanese car? There are so … Continue reading

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