Well, while two of the three grandJDM staffers were up somewhere in rural Australia thrashing various Japanese cars both new and old at a motorkhana, the Japanese Classic Car Show was taking place on the other side of the world in California, USA. We can’t say we didn’t have an awesome time, but we can pretty safely say we wish we’d been at the JCCS instead! Maybe we need to start advertising here, so we can afford flights to the US for all these awesome events, haha.
So, since we can’t bring you firsthand photos ourselves, here’s a bunch of links to galleries and reports on what looks like an awesome event. Hopefully we’ll be there ourselves next year!
Auto Otaku report | Flickr gallery
Japanese Nostalgic Car report and photos
ToyotaGeek blog 1 2
JDM EGO blog 1 2
Jalopnik report (I was expecting more. Maybe later?)
V8RX7forums.com photo thread
Flickr tags jccs | japaneseclassiccarshow
EvilEngineering.com gallery
Photobucket jasn0_X
VWVortex.com forum photo thread
Speed Syndicate gallery 1 2
Wow! Every time there’s a Japanese car show in the U.S., there are another one or two freshly imported classic Skylines!
That is true, but I would think there are more vintage Skylines in Australia as a whole. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Australia have an even greater collection of vintage Japanese iron than we have in the States? Where’s the Aussie shows?
We are pretty lucky to have gotten California from the Spanish because it’s just about the only place in the country that has good enough weather to keep old cars around. Is there a similar mecca-like locale in Australia, or do you guys have sunny weather all around?
In any event, if you guys make it over here next year, drop us an email beforehand and we can meet up!
I’m not so sure about whether we have more classic Japanese cars than you guys. If we do, there’s certainly something seriously wrong if we can’t (and as yet, haven’t) pull together an event on the scale of the JCCS. I don’t see a great number of classics on the road, but when I do, it’s usually an RX-3, a 510, or an S30Z.
Aside from that, the classic rotary scene in Australia is extremely “samey”, with virtually all of them having bright metallic paint, modern 18 inch 5-spoke sports rims, and airbrushing or glittery decals. It’s phenomenal that an entire nation’s collection of fans for a specific car can be so one-eyed, but I can only presume that they genuinely like the look. I mean, surely they wouldn’t make their cars look like that just to impress the other guys whose cars look like that, at the expense of their own preferences. I can’t recall more than one or two times when I’ve seen an RX-3 in Australia that didn’t look like that.
Most of Australia has pretty good weather. I mean, it gets damn wet in Melbourne, but not to the extent where it adversely affects the car. Our summers are blistering, that’s for sure!
Actually, I should add that some places, like Texas, do have the requisite weather, but not the requisite mindset to appreciate old Japanese cars.
I think the JDM-style classics are a new phenomenon. For the longest time, the old school flame was kept alive by the style you are describing and by drag racers. Now we have people interested enough in doing cars in period (and geographically) correct styles.
Australia has a lot of JDM classics, but not necessarily preserved well or restored in a JDM way. You are starting to see things like 60s Coronas on Watanabes etc but you are much more likely to see (as Van said) an old car done up with 18in modern wheels etc. And very rarely to the standard of the cars you see at US shows.
I’d say that the big money goes into Street machines/muscle cars and modern JDM iron, not really the old stuff. And guys who go out of their way to import say a C10 Skyline are still pretty rare over here.
Very nice indeed
Hi Guys,
I just want to say that I unfortunately agree with Van when it comes to the old skool JDM stuff here. For too long they have been neglected or tagged with crappy old Datsun and people have a mindset where they assume they are rubbish. Until of course they see a S30Z or a Fairlady Roadster.
There is a huge 1600 (510) scene here but as Van said they usually get done up in the same style. Big wheels, big turbo’s, extreme paint jobs etc.. In one sense its a shame but on the other hand I can somewhat agree with it.
The rotary scene is huge here. In fact being away in Europe I somewhat miss seeing those old rotors. They have been developed by a few race shops here and are generally very very quick machinery. They definitely have been tagged as “hoon” cars and as a result attract a very specific crowd.
I personally would love to see more old school style and more JDM influence in the way these old cars are restored. Websites such as this, and the internet in general has opened up alot of people’s eyes if you ask me and can only be a good thing.
Oh and if there is a MECCA of old school here. I want to know about it :).
well, i’ll leave a late reply since gavin did … i’m very happy with the mazda renaissance here in socal, even if it means big, shiny chariot wheels
from what a friend with an rx2 tells me, this was an aussie look years ago (and still is)