Datsun 510 Does Mexico Too

This year, team Lucha Libre Racing’s Datsun 1600 roadster wasn’t the only nostalgic running in Mexico’s vintage road race, La Carrera Panamericana. Check out Francisco Ortiz Rivera’s BRE-replica Datsun 510! Our Spanish is a little rusty (ie, nonexistent), but it appears that it sustained some damage and was a possible DNF. Even if you don’t habla Español, check out photos on Rivera’s blog.

03/12/2008

Datsun 1600 Roadster Does Mexico

Team Lucha Libre Racing’s Datsun 1600 Sports roadster has once again returned triumphantly from La Carrera Panamericana 2008. As readers know from the article in Japanese Nostalgic Car magazine Issue 2, this was the first Japanese car ever to run the legendary road race, and we are happy to report that it is still in one piece. Car owner and navigator Michael Emery emailed us to say that the Datsun “ran like a dream.” Over the week-long race across Mexico’s open roads,...

02/12/2008

Yutaka “Mr K” Katayama Inducted into Japan Automotive Hall of Fame

In a ceremony last month, Yutaka Katayama has finally been inducted to the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame at the age of 99. Known as Mr. K to his fans, he presided over Nissan USA during its formative years in the 60s and 70s, largely responsible for making it the car company that it is today. Katayama is also called the father of the Z-car for his involvement in developing a sports car for the US market that became the Datsun 240Z. He is also helped build Nissan’s storied reputation in...

01/12/2008

Issue 3 Sneak Peek: Datsun 240Z & Nissan 370Z

Here’s a sneak peek of what we think will be an awesome article in the next issue of Japanese Nostalgic Car magazine. When Antonio Alvendia of Cipher Garage told us he was shooting a 2009 370Z for Speedhunters‘ Nissan month, we knew we had to put it side by side with its great grandfather, the Datsun 240Z! So we called up the Datsun Heritage Museum, which has a bright yellow one-owner 1971 240Z in their collection. Easy peasy, right? No way. This photo shoot almost didn’t...

29/11/2008

Happy Thanksgiving and Honda Thanks Day

Each fall Honda Racing puts on something called Thanks Day at their Twin Ring Motegi complex. Any machine that has fought to bring home a checkered flag for Honda is honored, from MotoGP bikes to SuperGT NSXs to F1 cars. This year it took place on the November 24, just a few days before our Thanksgiving Day, but the weather didn’t cooperate, making it far too risky to run vintage F1 cars on the track. In past years, however, it was not a problem. Check out the 2007 Thanks Day in this...

27/11/2008

Car Nut Could Take the Wheel at Toyota

There’s more than a few Toyotaku who come to JNC because, let’s face it, most of the exciting machines in the automaker’s portfolio are in its past - RWD Celicas, Supras, Sports 800s, MR2, twin-cam Corollas and the glorious 2000GT. But ever since the Celica and MR2 Spyder were given the axe in 2005, the wealthiest car company in the world has been missing some excitement in its lineup. Some say that the drought began a full decade ago, with the discontinuation of the 1998...

26/11/2008

Vintage Japanese Drag Racing at Fuji Speedway

Old School Japanese Drag Cars Break out the earplugs before watching this footage of vintage Japanese iron doing the Zero-Yon (0-400m, approximately a quarter-mile), circa 1986. Unlike the nostalgia drag racers of the US, these cars sport canister mufflers and big fat turbos instead of superchargers and open headers. This setup probably favors trap speed over low E/Ts, but the ear-splitting echoes in the mountains of Fuji Speedway sound incredible all the same. The majority of cars in this...

25/11/2008

Toyota Sports 800 Styled iQ Roadster

Last month, Toyota launched the iQ city car, to much fanfare amongst the green-machine crowd. Within days, speculation began on a sporty two-seater roadster based on the same small platform. Naturally, the first thing we noticed was its resemblance to the 1965 Toyota Sports 800, itself based on a lesser commuter car, the Publica. If built, the yet-unnamed iQ-based convertible could be powered by a 1.0 or 1.3-liter gasoline or diesel engine. Sadly, unlike its predecessors, both this roadster...

24/11/2008

Game Over for Sport Compact Car

This is sad news. Sport Compact Car, one of the most authoritative and well-written magazines about small engines and tuning tips for compact cars has been killed off by its parent company, Source Interlink, along with Truck Trend, with 115 employees cut loose. It’s one of the few import scene titles out there that had informative articles about the import scene, with no fluff about bikini girls and rap albums to distract from its core content. They even did the occasional story about an...

22/11/2008

Subaru 50th Anniversary Continues in Full Swing

We’re getting on our favorite hobby horse again and talking about how Japanese automakers don’t talk about enough their past products. We’re lookin’ at you, US subsidiaries! For example, this year was Nissan USA’s 50th anniversary, but you wouldn’t know it from attending the LA Auto Show. The event was dominated by Nissan, but at no point, not in CEO Carlos “Mr. Bean” Ghosn’s keynote address, or the debuts of the Nissan 370Z, Cube or...

21/11/2008

World Micro/Mini Car Meet in 2010

This is a ways off, but we thought you Subaru 360, Honda N/Z/S and various kei-car owners might be interested in making plans for the World Micro/Mini Car meet. It’s the brainchild of Ken & Sylvia Weger, owners/curators of the Small Wonders Microcar Museum and will take place in downtown Crystal Lake, IL at the University Center, located at 100 S. Main Street, on August 21-22, 2010. From the website: This will be the first ever WORLD MEET of its kind. Microcar and Minicar owners and...

20/11/2008

LA Auto Show: Retro Nissan Z, Nostalgic Mitsubishis

Today at the LA Auto Show, Nissan finally revealed the 370Z to the world, finally, at long last, and for reals. Mitsubishi also brought out a couple of classics to show the world, “Hey, we’ve been doing this since waaay before rebadging ourselves as Plymouths!” We’ve been following the Nissan 370Z since March, because it’s one of the few new Japanese cars to explicitly draw on its heritage for its design (the other being the Toyota FJ Cruiser). We love that!...

20/11/2008

Mazda and Ford Break Up, Remain Friends

Mazda has announced last night that it is breaking up with corporate partner Ford. Until now, Ford owned a 33.4 percent of Mazda’s stock, giving it control over the company under Japanese law. But now it’s selling off 20 percent, worth approximately $540 million, to raise desperately needed cash. The alliance began back in 1979, when Mazda spent much of the decade developing the fuel-thirsty rotary engine, even after the 1973 oil crisis. Ford purchased a 27 percent stake then and...

18/11/2008

Cars of the World Show in Oz this Weekend

Here’s a quick reminder for our Aussie JNCers in Melbourne, Australia. This Sunday November 23 is the Cars of the World show, and the featured marque is Nissan. There will be a concours type show and a charity auction. See these posts Go Baby Go and ajax240k for details.

18/11/2008

EVENTS: Norm Reeves Honda Show

Click the image above to see the show!

17/11/2008

Nissan 370Z on Display

The Nissan 370Z doesn’t officially debut until the LA Auto Show next Wednesday, but Datsun Z owners were invited to bring the car’s forefathers down to a special sneak preview event in LA that just ended an hour ago. Sponsored by Edmund’s Inside Line and Nissan, the purpose was to have older Z-cars on hand for comparison and photo shoot opportunities, so we tagged along with some members of Group Z. We’re happy to report that the 370Z looks much better in person than...

16/11/2008

EVENTS: Datsun Heritage Museum Toy Drive

Last week there was a car show and charity toy drive at the Datsun Heritage Museum. Click on the image above to see the gallery.

15/11/2008

Do the JDM Burnout Dance! G-Works Magazine review

Click here to view the embedded video. Pay your local Japanese bookshop a visit and you’ll see that one of the new JDM magazines catering to the new boom in nostalgics is G-Works. It’s one of my favourite Japanese magazines: it’s chock full of modified classic cars, real hardcore DIY articles and reports on local meets and clubs. They also have an ongoing drag racing competition, held at Sendai, which flushes out all the uber-fast nostalgics. We’re talking 350+hp...

15/11/2008

Skyline and Z Hoonage, Japanese Style

Seriously, folks. If this video doesn’t make you want to get a nostalgic car of your own and tune the living crap out of it, you’re deader than Abraham Lincoln. Watch as a bunch of old school Nissan nuts shake out their Skylines, Fairladys, Bluebirds and Sunnys on Japan’s immaculate roads. The exhaust notes bouncing off JDM tunnel walls are pure auditory sex. These are definitely not trailer queens! We think this has been posted more than once, but dsalni’s was the...

14/11/2008

Design Study: Datsun 240Z Vs Nissan 350Z

Here’s an good design comparison between the Datsun 240Z and the soon-to-debut Nissan 370Z on Jalopnik. Rumor has it that the 370Z is 300lbs lighter than the outgoing 350Z, and will produce more horsepower, 332 to be exact. Though it’s hard to tell from photos, the 370Z is also shorter than the 350Z, with a wheelbase of 99 inches. We’re not as fond of the new look as our friends at Jalopnik are, but we’ll reserve judgment until we see it in person at the LA Auto Show...

13/11/2008

EVENTS: SEMA 2008

Our coverage of the SEMA show. Due to the economic disaster, the mood was a bit down and every company is struggling. However, there were some bright spots, including the first JNC car at SEMA! Also, read the article to find out why we are eating our words about Toyota.

12/11/2008

Norm Reeves Honda Show This Saturday

Old school Honda-heads don’t often have the opportunity to show off their cars, so come and check out the show this Saturday, November 16, sponsored by Norm Reeves Honda. It’s the third annual event and it’s open to Hondas old and new, so come educate the youngin’s about Honda history. The address is 18500 Studebaker Road, Cerritos, CA 90703 it goes from 10am to 1pm. Here’s some pics from the 2007 NRH show.

12/11/2008

Norm Reeves Honda Show This Weekend

Old school Honda-heads don’t often have the opportunity to show off their cars, so come and check out the show this Sunday, November 16, sponsored by Norm Reeves Honda. It’s the third annual event and it’s open to Hondas old and new, so come educate the youngin’s about Honda history. The address is 18500 Studebaker Road, Cerritos, CA 90703 it goes from 10am to 1pm. Here’s some pics from the 2007 NRH show.

12/11/2008

Morning Cruising in Yokohama

We’re still trying to go through the hundreds of SEMA photos we took, but in the meantime here’s a small set of photos from Satoshi, our man in Japan, from one of the Morning Cruises sponsored by Barracuda. Here are two more galleries from some of their past cruises in our Events Section.

11/11/2008

EVENTS: Crown Picnic 2008

We’re still recovering from SEMA and will be posting up the backlog of events that have accumulated. First up, the Mooneyes‘ Crown Picnic 2008!

10/11/2008

<< Anfang < Vorherige 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Nächste > Ende >>