By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

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 battle scars on a seasoned fighter – they actually ADD to the look.  Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

Set in the beautiful country lanes of Princes Risborough, the Kop Hill Hillclimb is one of the oldest hill climbs in England. During the early 1900s it was one of the largest motorsport events in the UK. The hill itself is a pretty straight road, but it’s over 1000 metres long to the summit and rises to 100 metres high. Big crowds would line the edges of the road to watch drivers and motorcyclists try to achieve the fastest times and speeds up the hill. Unfortunately, as the speeds got faster, so did the risks, and on the 28th of March 1925 an accident involving a spectator led to the end of the original Kop Hill event and led to the RAC banning all motorsports on public roads.

On the 26th and 27th of September, organisers decided to do a Kop Hill Commemorative Run to bring the sounds and sights and even smells (mmm, Castrol R) back to Kop Hill again. Over 250 cars and bikes were there, ranging in age from the 1900s right up to 1980s and even some very special modern cars (which no doubt require the owners to compare car insurance carefully). Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!

By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

What makes a classic car? Is it a pre-war Bugatti, a ’57 Chevy, ’32 Ford or perhaps anything slathered in British Racing Green and stuffed with a rat’s nest of Lucas electronics? But what about our automotive brethren across the Pac Rim, from the island nation most known for the Camry and Accord? There’s some deep history here such as Honda’s S600, Toyota’s 2000GT, Mazda’s Cosmo or this – Nissan’s OG “Hakosuka” Skyline spotted at the Japanese Classic Car Show held on Saturday, October 3 at Irvine, California’s Hidden Valley Park. This was the fifth anniversary of the show, which is open to any pre-1985 Japanese car. This particular PGC-10 is a 1971 model owned by Mickey Castillo. JDM urban legend says that of the handful of C-10 Skylines in the States only a few are authentic GT-R models. I really don’t care if Mickey’s car is an R because it’s chock full of sick Sonny Chiba style. Hit the jump to see more tasty morsels from JCCS.

Continue reading "Suntory Times! Classic Car Show with a Japanese Twist" »