Category Archives: News
Toyota Stout name could be revived for sub-Tacoma pickup
Compact pickups are coming back. Former compact trucks have gotten so large that there’s now room at the low end of the market for smaller offerings. The catch is that this new crop of vehicles like the Ford Maverick and … Continue reading
Wanton Toyota MR2 Spyder destruction proves takeovers aren’t about the cars
A couple in Tolland, Connecticut were heading home from a dinner in a Toyota MR2 Spyder when they passed through a street takeover on May 21. The crowd of supposed car enthusiasts ended up surrounding their mid-engined roadster and deliberately … Continue reading
RIP Tina Turner, singer, actor, DSM spokesperson
Japan is known for poaching American celebrities for car commercials, and at first glance this spot for a DSM starring 12-time Grammy winner Tina Turner could easily be mistaken for that. But no, it’s a home-grown all-American ad for the … Continue reading
Mitsubishi Electric, which put the world’s first in-car GPS in the 1990 Mazda Cosmo, is leaving the nav business
Mazda’s Eunos Cosmo was a car of many firsts, one of which was the world’s first in-car GPS system over three decades ago. The so-called CCS (Car Communication System) was developed by Mitsubishi Electric, a trailblazer in car-based nav systems. … Continue reading
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Toyota Camry vs Mazda 626 in 1983: History keeps on repeating
Motorweek was just two years old in 1983 when it decided to do a four-way test of five-door family hatchbacks. It’s not a format that stuck around — we’re talking about both the show’s comparo and the body style — … Continue reading
Fight 1/8 scale crime with this gull-winged Nissan Fairlady 280Z from Seibu Keisatsu
Last year Hachette released an ultra-detailed model of the DR30 Nissan Skyline from Seibu Keisatsu, Japan’s most popular 80s cop show. Now they’ve followed up with the only logical move, a 1/8 scale model of the show’s Super Z, based … Continue reading
Posted in bosozoku, Model Kits, News
Tagged fairlady z, model kits, nissan, s130, seibu keisatsu
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Shoichiro Toyoda’s farewell memorial attended by 4,500 mourners, including Prime Minister
On April 24 three farewell memorials for Shoichiro Toyoda were held across Japan. The former Toyota Motor president passed away on February 14, 2023 at the age of 97. As is the custom, a private funeral was held for close … Continue reading
Yukihiro Takahashi’s ads for Mazda, Daihatsu, Toyota Cresta and MR2
The seminal electronica band Yellow Magic Orchestra lost one of its founders, drummer and vocalist Yukihiro Takahashi earlier this year. Last week we remembered the band’s keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Nissan commercials; now it’s Takahashi’s turn, and he was even more … Continue reading
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Tagged cresta, daihatsu, familia, Familia BG, hino, mazda, mira, Mira L70, mr2, Super Dolphin, sw20, toyota, X100
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Mitsubishi 3000GT car phone made functional again, despite total network shutdown 15 years ago
It never fails to impress us how deeply one can nerd out over some obscure aspect of the car hobby. We’ve seen insanely detailed customized Hot Wheels, logic-defying audio setups, and single-model shrines whose devotion would rival some actual religious … Continue reading
Nissan’s R32 Skyline GT-R EV conversion donor is surprisingly mint
Nissan announced last week that it will be converting an R32 Skyline GT-R to run on battery-electric power. A followup video has revealed the candidate that will undergo the knife, and it’s a pretty mint example. That has polarized many … Continue reading
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The Toyota Celica Liftback debuted 50 years ago today
On April 6, 1973 the Toyota Celica Liftback was born. It joined the lineup just two years and four months after the original Celica in Japan, though it wouldn’t appear in the US market until 1976. Thanks in part to … Continue reading
Harry Bradley sketches Toyota Soarer, Isuzu Piazza, and Nissan Leopard
Remember the post about car designer Harry Bentley Bradley’s, uh, eccentric Infiniti J30? While Bradley was mainly known for designing hot rod and custom American cars and many early Hot Wheels castings, he also worked for a number of car … Continue reading
Happy 4×4 Day from JNC
Today is 4×4 Day (April 4, or 4/4), and incidentally it was reported that the Toyota Land Cruiser J70 was returning to the Japanese market as a 3-Number class vehicle. These numbers, the smaller digits on top of Japanese license … Continue reading
Mazda CX-90, the first straight-six RWD machine from Hiroshima, is a superb driver
There isn’t a single new car on the market we’ve been more curious about than the Mazda CX-90. Normally we wouldn’t think twice about a heavy three-row SUV, but the CX-90 marks the long-awaited arrival of Mazda’s rear-wheel-drive, inline-six platform … Continue reading
Toyota Celica revival is the “life’s dream” of new president Koji Sato
By this time tomorrow Akio Toyoda’s reign as President of Toyota Motor Corp will be over. He’s stepping aside and his protégé Koji Sato is taking over. Toyoda will be missed. When he took the helm the sportiest thing in … Continue reading
Nissan is converting a Skyline GT-R into an R32 EV
Nissan has launched a teaser for an electric Skyline GT-R. No, it’s not speculation for an R36, but a classic R32 GT-R that will be converted to an EV. So far there’s very little about the project, which is commencing … Continue reading
QotW: What JNC will never die?
We were as surprised as anyone to learn that the Toyota Camry was ending its 43-year run in Japan. It’s popular enough to live on in some form in places like the US even if it will no longer be … Continue reading
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Toyota will end Camry sales in Japan after 43 years
The name Camry is almost synonymous with Toyota. It would be unthinkable for Toyota to kill its bread-and-butter model off in the US, but that’s exactly what’s happening in Japan. Today, Toyota notified its Japanese dealers that Camry production would … Continue reading
A toy car helped Nissan reclaim the Skyline trademark from Ford
Two years ago Ford filed a trademark application for the name “Skyline” with the US patent office and was granted those rights. As one of Nissan’s most valuable properties, the makers of the GT-R weren’t about to let Skyline get … Continue reading
