Bay Area Toyotas at Performance Options Meet

Straight outta Oak-town, here’s some photos from an old school Toyota meet at Performance Options in Oakland, California. The crew hopes to make this a semi-regular gathering, welcoming all old school J-tin. Thanks to Miles Aquino and Justin Bonoan for sending us these awesome photos! Click through for more images.

05/12/2008

Big Block Nissan V8 Goodness

Pop quiz! how big is the biggest engine that was available in a JDM production car? Give up? The answer: well a pretty good guess would be 6.3L for the 1966 Prince Royal. This umm…exclusive…limo was powered by a JDM 388 cubic inch pushrod V8, engineered by Prince for the Japanese royal family. It was designed and built prior to the 1966 takeover of Prince by Nissan, and so the 6.1m long behemoth was unveiled at the 1966 Tokyo Show as a “Nissan Prince Royal”. The...

06/11/2008

Blue Monday: Toyota Supra DOA, FJ to Follow

Some sad news on the new car front. Automotive News (subscription required) is reporting that Toyota is making some changes to its long term plans thanks to the high cost of gas. The company sees this as a permanent change, with prices firmly pegged at $5.00 or more by 2015. Also, the Big T intends to make offer hybrid powertrains in all of its models. First, despite the presence of a hybrid powertrain in the FT-HS concept (pictured), which many predicted would be the next Supra, a revival of...

18/08/2008

BigJohn’s Datsun: The Saga Continues

The Pyramids of Giza. The Great Wall of China. These are just some of human civilization’s accomplishments that are nearly as epic as what we’re about to show you. Once in a while, you come across one of those projects that just makes your chin hit the floor like you’ve eaten a grenade. Such is our reaction upon seeing JNCer BigJohn’s ongoing restoration of his 1979 Datsun Stanza (or Violet, 160J, 510, 710 depending on what country you’re from). In case you missed...

25/07/2008

Buy Back Programs Destroying Old Cars

Here’s some truly disturbing news for nostalgic car owners. We recently spotted a billboard portraying a Datsun B210 as a generic polluting old car while visiting NorCal for the Motoring J Style show. Turned out, it was part of a California program to buy back cars that fail the state’s infamously strict smog check. For up to $1000, these cars will be “retired” from service, meaning that the government is paying people to scrap old cars. According to a new Detroit News...

02/07/2008

Battle S30Z Does Battle

This JDM Fairlady Z is a total track monster, built by a Mr. Kuni of Gunma Prefecture. The L-series motor has been stroked to 3.1L and puts out 337ps, which gets channeled through an R32 Skyline GT-R transmission to motivate the car and its 23-point rollcage and FRP doors around Tsukuba circuit in 1:02.911. Check out the details on Speedhunters.

20/06/2008

Blimey! Old Japanese Cars Invade UK Show

Our English friends across the pond at Old Japanese Car gathered in Leeds this past weekend to represent the J-tin at a car show in the Yuke. Take a gander at this fantastically preserved Datsun Violet (aka 710) sedan, one of the most under-appreciated members of the vintage Nissan family. That wing mirror to the right belongs to a pretty mean looking 610, and the first Sunny imported to the British Isles waay back in 1968 was there as well. Even Japanese-influenced machinery from neighboring...

17/06/2008