ARCHAEOLOGY> Super Silhouette Pics from Japan
I just love Japanese Super Silhouette cars from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. I actually saw these photos posted sometime last week on the Team Obscurity website, but didn't get a chance to post them up until just now. These Super Silhouette cars were said to have influenced the Bosozoku/Yanki style of crazy aero kits, fat lip wheels, and humongous front chin spoilers... obviously!
Just check out this famous S110 Nissan Silvia, which was raced by legendary Japanese racer Kazuyoshi Hoshino's team, Impul. Hoshino-san has reached God-like status amongst race fans in Japan because of all his HISTORY. He actually raced in two Formula 1 races*; both of them at Japan's legendary Fuji Speedway - the old school course, with the famous old (and dangerous) banking, which is now closed and sits on the side of Fuji Speedway as a holy relic of the Shizuoka prefecture's glorious racing days of the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, I'm still kicking myself because I had the opportunity to chill out in the Impul/Calsonic Super GT pit area when I attended the Pokka 1000kms Super GT race at Suzuka Circuit, and Hoshino san was standing right freaking THERE... and I didn't even take a photo with him or ask him to autograph something. What an IDIOT I am. I still regret it. Read more...
Just check out this famous S110 Nissan Silvia, which was raced by legendary Japanese racer Kazuyoshi Hoshino's team, Impul. Hoshino-san has reached God-like status amongst race fans in Japan because of all his HISTORY. He actually raced in two Formula 1 races*; both of them at Japan's legendary Fuji Speedway - the old school course, with the famous old (and dangerous) banking, which is now closed and sits on the side of Fuji Speedway as a holy relic of the Shizuoka prefecture's glorious racing days of the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, I'm still kicking myself because I had the opportunity to chill out in the Impul/Calsonic Super GT pit area when I attended the Pokka 1000kms Super GT race at Suzuka Circuit, and Hoshino san was standing right freaking THERE... and I didn't even take a photo with him or ask him to autograph something. What an IDIOT I am. I still regret it. Read more...
COVERAGE> SoCal Roadsters at Datsun Museum
Anyone that worships at the altar of Nissan must, some day, make a pilgrimage to the Datsun Heritage Museum. Located in Murrieta, California, it contains a treasure trove of Datsun and Nissan memorabilia, a library of pre-digital reading material and, of course, cars. For many southern California Datsun enthusiasts, it also serves a community center where meets and events can be held. Last weekend, the SoCal Roadster Owners' Club held their annual charity toy drive and car show there. Read more...
WEBMINING> Bluebird SSS at Flex Auto Yokohama
Ever since we started the Motor Mavens blog, I've been so busy that I haven't really had much time to cruise the web like I used to. However, there are a few sites that I try to check once in a while, because I really like the content. Al's Car Stuff Blog is one of the very few sites that I see that consistently posts up cars that I like! I don't know much about Al or his background, but seeing these photos of this Nissan/Datsun KP510 Bluebird 1600 SSS on Al's blog brought me back to a Japan trip I took several years ago.
Back in 2004, I went to visit D1 driver Takahiro Ueno and his shop, Sui Vax in Yokohama, Japan. I was doing a feature photo shoot on Ueno and his shop for Modified Magazine at the time, so I spent the whole day hanging out in Yokohama. When I told him how crazy I was about Japanese nostalgic cars, he said he knew a shop that I would love, and he wanted to take me there. That shop was Flex Auto Review - they restore and sell Japanese classic cars! Ueno was absolutely right. I flipped out when we got there! AWESOME. (I was kind of embarrassed afterwards, because I was so obviously excited when I was walking around Flex Auto... and I didn't quite show the same level of excitement when I was hanging out at Ueno's shop earlier that day. Oops, my bad.) Read more...
Back in 2004, I went to visit D1 driver Takahiro Ueno and his shop, Sui Vax in Yokohama, Japan. I was doing a feature photo shoot on Ueno and his shop for Modified Magazine at the time, so I spent the whole day hanging out in Yokohama. When I told him how crazy I was about Japanese nostalgic cars, he said he knew a shop that I would love, and he wanted to take me there. That shop was Flex Auto Review - they restore and sell Japanese classic cars! Ueno was absolutely right. I flipped out when we got there! AWESOME. (I was kind of embarrassed afterwards, because I was so obviously excited when I was walking around Flex Auto... and I didn't quite show the same level of excitement when I was hanging out at Ueno's shop earlier that day. Oops, my bad.) Read more...
CARSPOTTING> Datsun 410 Bluebird in Tokyo
Looking through one of my terabyte hard drives full of photos, I found this image I snapped of a Datsun Bluebird 410 sitting in a carport near my friend Kenta's home in Tokyo. Look at the cool vintage Datsun emblem on the grill! If I remember correctly, I snapped this photo really quickly from the back seat of a Toyota Chaser owned by Kenta's father. (Luckily for me, his dad drives pretty slowly through city streets, so I was able to point the camera at the car really quickly as we passed!)
For me, finding photos like this in my hard drive is cool because it reminds me of why I love Japan so much - there's something interesting on every corner, and you never know what you may find. This is a very typical scene in the suburban area of Tokyo that Kenta lives in, but you don't normally find super clean cars this old just sitting outside in a carport! Most likely, this old Bluebird is a car that's been in the family for decades, while the daily mode of transportation is more than likely the charinko (bicycle) that's sitting right next to it.
This type of Datsun Bluebird 410 was made between 1963 and 1967, and was available with a 1200cc or 1300cc engine, depending on how fast the owner wanted to drive their Bluebird. It's funny to think that you could stand in a Datsun dealership in 1964 or something, telling the salesman, "yeah, I don't quite think the 1200cc engine is going to do it for me. I need more power, so I'll take the additional 100cc." (Haha!) To make the Bluebird sportier and more competitive in circuit racing, Datsun decided to launch a 1600cc sports model under the name Bluebird SSS in 1965.
Perhaps the coolest thing about this car (in my opinion, anyway) is the super old school original Japanese license plate, which only has one number on it. This top number (in this case, a 5) signifies the engine size and/or purpose of the car. Read more...
For me, finding photos like this in my hard drive is cool because it reminds me of why I love Japan so much - there's something interesting on every corner, and you never know what you may find. This is a very typical scene in the suburban area of Tokyo that Kenta lives in, but you don't normally find super clean cars this old just sitting outside in a carport! Most likely, this old Bluebird is a car that's been in the family for decades, while the daily mode of transportation is more than likely the charinko (bicycle) that's sitting right next to it.
This type of Datsun Bluebird 410 was made between 1963 and 1967, and was available with a 1200cc or 1300cc engine, depending on how fast the owner wanted to drive their Bluebird. It's funny to think that you could stand in a Datsun dealership in 1964 or something, telling the salesman, "yeah, I don't quite think the 1200cc engine is going to do it for me. I need more power, so I'll take the additional 100cc." (Haha!) To make the Bluebird sportier and more competitive in circuit racing, Datsun decided to launch a 1600cc sports model under the name Bluebird SSS in 1965.
Perhaps the coolest thing about this car (in my opinion, anyway) is the super old school original Japanese license plate, which only has one number on it. This top number (in this case, a 5) signifies the engine size and/or purpose of the car. Read more...
SHOPAHOLIC> The Vintage Racers of Racecraft
I was up in Seattle earlier this year and took the opportunity to stop by Racecraft, one of the northwest's premier vintage race shops. When I arrived, the men behind the operation were wrenching hard on a pair of BMW 2002 track bandits, each worth over six figures. But founder Jim Froula and his partner Terry Forland are not only immensely skilled at making 30-year-old cars go fast, they also don helmet and glove to get behind the wheel of their own old school race cars. Read more...
