Tag Archives: toyota
ART CORNER: Takashi Matsuyama’s Motor Panic
Takashi Matsuyama is a Japanese artist that creates wonderfully rich automotive landscapes in his art. Densely packed with cars, pop culture references, and easter eggs galore, his works are like a vehicular Where’s Waldo? Many of his illustrations were supposed … Continue reading
VIDEO: Chip Foose draws an FJ40 Land Cruiser
Custom car designer Chip Foose is famous for his amazing takes on American cars from Detroit’s the golden age. He’s not typically drawing Japanese cars, but in a series produced for Hagerty, Foose takes his pen to one of the … Continue reading
Toyota might build a Century-esque ultra-luxury SUV
According to a new report out of Japan, Toyota is planning to launch an ultra-luxury vehicle on par with the Century, except it will be an SUV. Spurred by a global shift from sedans to crossovers and sport utility vehicles, … Continue reading
Happy Daruma Celica Day from JNC
Today is February 2, or 2/2, as in TA22. As it happens, it’s a pretty good year to Celica-brate the Daruma. We just marked the 50th anniversary of the Celica a couple of months ago, and learned last week that … Continue reading
QotW: What should Toyota do with the Celica name?
Last week we learned that Toyota has filed for a trademark for the Celica name. As readers have pointed out, the most likely reason is that they just want to hang onto the name to prevent others from using it. … Continue reading
The Toyopet SA was Toyota’s first post-war passenger car
Introduced in 1947, the Toyopet SA was Toyota’s first all-new post-war passenger car design. It was advanced for a Japanese car of its time, but due to limitations on automobile production and Japan’s market conditions at the time, only 215 … Continue reading
Toyota has filed for a trademark of the Celica name
Toyota has filed for a ownership of the name “Celica” with the US Patent and Trademark Office. While this might indicate nothing more than a desire to hold on to the rights to that name, there’s been some speculation that … Continue reading
What will become of the Toyota Land Cruiser?
We have a bit of left over news from 2020 that we just couldn’t bring ourselves to write about in an already dark year. Toyota will discontinue the US market Land Cruiser would after 2021. It’s something that has been … Continue reading
This tale of Toyota Starlet restoration is just the kind of story we need right now
When he was just eight years old, Josh Brooks’ father told him he’d be driving a Toyota Starlet someday. His family had always owned Toyotas, and Josh’s dad drove an AE86 Corolla and had campaigned Starlets in National Autograss, a … Continue reading
A brief history of JCW, Japan’s first carwash company
We recently came across a news item about a new system in Japan that washes coronavirus off of your clothes and shoes. You walk through a metal frame while nozzles spray chemicals all over you, in droplets too small to … Continue reading
Posted in Nihon Life
Tagged corona mark II, crown, ms51, publica, s60, shinkansen, toyota
6 Comments
VIDEO: The Toyota T100 was the right truck for the wrong time
When it was new, the Toyota T100 pickup defied categorization, as Japanese car often do. Upon release, it was derided as being less powerful than the full-size pickups from the Big Three, but too large for the compact pickup class. … Continue reading
Happy New Year from JNC, and our top stories of 2020
It has been a year like no other, but 2020 is finally coming to an end. Hopefully 2021 will bring us more cheer, and allow us to get back together with friends, family, and our car community comrades. Until then, … Continue reading
MINICARS: This 1:150-scale Toyota Crown is one of the smallest R/C cars we’ve ever seen
There are minicars and then there are minicars. A Japanese radio controlled car builder has constructed one of the smallest R/C cars we’ve ever seen. It’s based off of a 1:150-scale Tomytec Toyota Crown, but all its guts have been … Continue reading
Toyota shows one-off Heritage Edition Supra Sport Roof
Officially revealed this morning, Toyota has brought back a feature of the legendary A80 Supra: the Sport Roof. The removable roof panel was a Supra trademark, having been a feature of both A70 and A80 generations (so in Japan, where … Continue reading
TUNE UP: J Cole’s “Fire Squad” video features the sweet sound of AE86s revving and drifting
Rapper J Cole’s triple-platinum album 2014 Forest Hills Drive came out six years ago, but a previously unseen music video for the track “Fire Squad” was just released. It prominently features a pair of drifting Toyota AE86 coupes sending up … Continue reading
The legendary Toyota plant that built the AE86, Mark II, and Century is now closed
On December 7 Toyota held a closing ceremony for its Higashi Fuji plant. Today, all production lines will be shut down and the factory closed for good. The 53-year-old facility has produced some of Toyota’s most iconic models, including the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ae86, century, chaser, corolla levin, cressida, cresta, Crown Comfort, Isis, JPN Taxi, lexus sc, mark II, origin, Porte, soarer, sports 800, toyota, x30, x60
6 Comments
50 YEAR CLUB: The Toyota Celica, a pivotal player in Japan’s car culture
Fifty years ago this day, on December 1 1970, the first Toyota Celica went on sale in Japan. It proved to be a groundbreaking car, the first of Japan’s production “specialty cars”, fashionable personal coupes based on a sedan chassis. … Continue reading
Posted in 50 Year Club
Tagged a10, a20, carina, celica, fuji speedway, tokyo motor show, toyota
18 Comments
VIDEO: Feast your eyes on 20 years of high-def Tokyo streets
As we approach the long Thanksgiving weekend, here’s a feast of a different sort. Let your eyes consume this incredible, high-definition video of Tokyo during the Showa Era. Spanning a period of almost two decades, the videos show how dramatically … Continue reading
Posted in Video
Tagged bellett, cedric, debonair, isuzu, markII, mitsubishi, nissan, toyota
9 Comments
Toyota will drown 65 years of history and tradition in a shallow bathtub by discontinuing the Crown sedan
It’s been a hard year and we’re so close to the finish line. Before it leaves us, though, 2020 is going to deliver one last sucker punch to the gut. The Chunichi Shimbun newspaper reports that Toyota will kill off … Continue reading
