GALLERY> More Scenes from JCCS 2009
Cressidas and Levins and Sprinters and Skylines, oh my! I was just clearing out some images on my Mac and transferring them to one of my terabyte drives when I stumbled upon these images I shot at the Japanese Classic Car Show last month. Before I transfer them to the HD archive and forget all about them for another year or so, I thought I'd just share some more pics of these awesome Japanese nostalgic cars! Read more...
CENTER STAGE> Shakotan S30 240Z
Last weekend at the Japanese Classic Car Show, the Showa car lovers that gathered in Irvine California for this year's event were treated to a sensory overload of Japanese nostalgic cars of all sorts - from Skylines to Corollas to rotaries to Hondas to Datsuns... Oh, the Datsuns!
There were so many cars from Datsun/Nissan lineage represented at this year's JCCS, it was hard to focus on them all. Everything from Japanese style G-nose S30s to US market 240Zs were in abundance at the event this year, but there was one Z in particular that had a certain combination of presence and shock value. I just knew I had to feature it on our site... but there was just one problem. The car (and its owner) live in San Jose, California. And they would both be returning to the Bay Area on the morning after the show.
I had to figure out how (and where) to somehow shoot the car before it went back to San Jose - and I knew I didn't want to do one of those "on the grass" photo shoots after the show, because I think photos of cars on the grass are cliche, unimaginative and overdone... especially since there were 236790 photographers from different magazines doing the same photo shoot on different spots on the grass after JCCS.
The owner of this shakotan (super low down) boogiemonster is Yuta Akaishi. Let's pronounce it together. His first name is Yuta, pronounced like "Utah" and his last name is pronounced "Aka-ishi." I was first drawn to this amazing 240Z because it is just so damn low... it's mind boggling, seriously! The car may be showing its age with the presence of surface rust and dents here and there, but hell... to me, it's just a sign that this car lived a full life. It's kind of like battlescars on a seasoned fighter - they actually ADD to the look. Read more...
There were so many cars from Datsun/Nissan lineage represented at this year's JCCS, it was hard to focus on them all. Everything from Japanese style G-nose S30s to US market 240Zs were in abundance at the event this year, but there was one Z in particular that had a certain combination of presence and shock value. I just knew I had to feature it on our site... but there was just one problem. The car (and its owner) live in San Jose, California. And they would both be returning to the Bay Area on the morning after the show.
I had to figure out how (and where) to somehow shoot the car before it went back to San Jose - and I knew I didn't want to do one of those "on the grass" photo shoots after the show, because I think photos of cars on the grass are cliche, unimaginative and overdone... especially since there were 236790 photographers from different magazines doing the same photo shoot on different spots on the grass after JCCS.
The owner of this shakotan (super low down) boogiemonster is Yuta Akaishi. Let's pronounce it together. His first name is Yuta, pronounced like "Utah" and his last name is pronounced "Aka-ishi." I was first drawn to this amazing 240Z because it is just so damn low... it's mind boggling, seriously! The car may be showing its age with the presence of surface rust and dents here and there, but hell... to me, it's just a sign that this car lived a full life. It's kind of like battlescars on a seasoned fighter - they actually ADD to the look. Read more...
CENTER STAGE> Garage Autohero Datsun 510
Whenever I hear the words Datsun 510, I picture either a fully restored and super clean car or a moss-covered, stock car that has been hiding under bushes for the past 10 or more years. Either way, in my opinion, this is one of the most amazing cars built to date. These days, everything possible has been done to modify them including SR20DET, KA24DE, and VG30 swaps. But, no matter what kind of fancy wheels or paint jobs they may have, they are always a dime in my eyes. Apparently the guys at Garage Autohero feel the same way.
The story begins with Ray Stonehocker and his desire to build a daily driven showcase car for his shop - Garage Autohero. He wanted something completely different from everyone else so he stayed away from the obvious Nissan Skylines or Toyota Supras that are crazy fast with the very expensive paint jobs. Ray wanted to take a step in the opposite direction. He chose to go with the Datsun 510. He had a chance to buy an old 510 from a friend not too long ago - but not in pristine condition. The 510 had some rust issues, fading paint, and the years had just taken a major toll on the poor car. That didn't stop Ray though. In fact, it was exactly what he wanted. Read more...
The story begins with Ray Stonehocker and his desire to build a daily driven showcase car for his shop - Garage Autohero. He wanted something completely different from everyone else so he stayed away from the obvious Nissan Skylines or Toyota Supras that are crazy fast with the very expensive paint jobs. Ray wanted to take a step in the opposite direction. He chose to go with the Datsun 510. He had a chance to buy an old 510 from a friend not too long ago - but not in pristine condition. The 510 had some rust issues, fading paint, and the years had just taken a major toll on the poor car. That didn't stop Ray though. In fact, it was exactly what he wanted. Read more...
