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Posted
Dec 23 2008, 06:00 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 10 comment(s)
Oh great, more bad news from the auto industry here. Autoblog is reporting on a rumor that much hyped FR sports coupe being developed by Subaru and Toyota has been put on hold until 2012 at the earliest. I can't really say that I didn't see this one coming with the constant stream of negative news coming from the industry lately. Unlike the the Lexus LF-A or next gen NSX, this affordable car actually seemed like a possible purchase for me, and I'm sure a lot of other people felt the same way. I guess we can just hope that the project doesn't get totally scrapped....
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Posted
Nov 19 2008, 07:43 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 10 comment(s)
Over the past few weeks I have been on kind of a JZS616 Aristo kick, digging up everything I can about these sexy four-doors. I have found that it's not the VIP versions that impress me so much, but the traditionally tuned versions like this one from Impact Magic which was shown at Tokyo Auto Salon this year. To me, this car is perfection. Aggressive, but not ridiculous wheels (19" Advan RS's), mild body modifications and the 600+hp TD07-fed 2JZGTE make for a perfect street-tuned sedan that should be able to run away from nearly any car on the road....
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Posted
Nov 10 2008, 09:46 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 8 comment(s)
Tokyo Auto Salon 2008 was all about the GT-R, Evo, and Impreza, and though the Lexus IS-F was already on the market, it didn't have the big showing that those other cars did. It's looking like '09 show might be the time when we see what Japan's tuners are capable of with the IS-F. Wald International has recently shown their new IS-F aero package which is part of its Sports Line series. Like the Sports Line kit for the new GT-R, the IS-F version is quite aggressive in contrast to the rather subtle style of other Wald parts....
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Posted
Oct 30 2008, 04:45 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 23 comment(s)
The first time I saw this car, it was at the Toyota booth at SEMA. Since I spent soooo much time drooling and just plain jocking this FJ45, I was obviously very happy to run into it again this year at JCCS. This car is a definite head turner because at first, you’re really not sure what kind of hot rod this is, and become even more confused when you see TOYOTA stamped on it. Even in the world of highly modified classic cars, this one-off specially built FJ45 Low-Boy is an extremely rare breed...
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Posted
Oct 30 2008, 09:11 AM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 15 comment(s)
I just wanted to share this photo with you guys before I forgot... check out this old school Toyota Century that I spotted at JCCS in Irvine. I really dig this car - it has all the makings of an awesome old school street cruiser. This Century's low stance, gold Enkei 92 mesh wheels, and clean, original bodylines just bring one thought to my mind... "damn, that looks gangster!" Yeah yeah, people who think in proper book vocabulary or "the Queen's English" might roll their...
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Posted
Oct 28 2008, 08:00 AM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 12 comment(s)
As I walked through the field of Japanese classic cars at this month's event in Irvine, a certain car sparked my attention, sitting way in the back, next to the Toyota Motorsports big rig truck. The car was an ST162 Toyota Celica; it was the coupe version of Toyota's first front-wheel-drive Celica. This ST162 chassis of Celica was sold in the USA from 1986 to 1989, with three different normal trim levels: ST, GT, and GT-S. (In other countries, they also released other versions, like the GTR...
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Posted
Oct 08 2008, 11:13 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 14 comment(s)
After just a few years, the annual Japanese Classic Car Show has become a Southern California tradition and the premiere classic Japanese auto event in the United States. In case you haven't heard, the '08 edition of the event will be held this Sunday October 12 at Hidden Valley Park in Irvine. Since I have lived in Japan I have had the chance to attend several classic car events, but there is something special about the unique SoCal touch of the JCCS. Of course I won't be able to go this year, but I'm looking forward to seeing coverage from the event....
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Posted
Oct 07 2008, 03:32 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 3 comment(s)
I don't think it's much of a stretch to say the Japan has the best convince stores in the world. Whether it's freshly made onigiri rice balls, bento lunches, or the latest issue of your favorite magazine, the conbini have everything you could want. They also have a nice selection of toys that come packaged randomly in small boxes that include everything from WWII fighter planes and motorcycles to alien monsters. I always have to take a look at these things when i drop by the neighborhood Seven Eleven, and the other day I came across something I couldn't live without, the 1/64 scale "Granchan Collection" from Aoshima....
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Posted
Oct 06 2008, 04:00 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 16 comment(s)
Downtown Long Beach is such a nice place to visit. Occasionally, I have to go there for meetings at the Belle 1 Communications or Formula D offices, or occasional events like Formula D Long Beach or the Spocom show. On the day of the Spocom show, just as I was wondering if I'd have enough time to check out the new arrivals at Proper , I spotted this UCF10 in the parking structure. I happen to have a black UCF10 in my garage among my old school Toyota collection, so I definitely had to stop and...
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Posted
Oct 06 2008, 03:16 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 5 comment(s)
We always like to show support for our favorite magazines and websites, and Japanese Nostalgic Car is one of the most dedicated enthusiast websites/publications around. After debuting their first print magazine issue earlier this year, they have just finished their second issue which will be received by subscribers soon. After glancing at the cover, it looks like it will again be packed full of cool stuff about old school Japanese iron......
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Posted
Sep 16 2008, 05:32 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 14 comment(s)
I have always had a soft spot for the Toyota Soarer/Lexus SC. I even used to own of them back in the states and I always regret getting rid of it. The styling on these cars still looks fresh to this day and they look even better with aftermarket modifications. The Soarer has seen plenty of drift action over the years, notably as Takahiro Ueno's car of choice in D1 since the start of the decade. As far as traditional grip racing goes, I have only seen but a few Soarers running at Tsukuba in my many trips there. Last week at the HKS Hiper Challenge, I spotted this fully-tuned black JZZ30 Soarer running and I thought that it was cool enough to make a separate post about....
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Posted
Sep 05 2008, 06:48 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 1 comment(s)
Here we have another big event from the UK, the Japanese Auto Extravaganza (JAE) which was last weekend held on the grassy fields at Mersea Island. By the way, I was just noticing that It seems like almost all car meetings in the UK are held on the grass for some reason. Maybe a lack of parking lots or "car parks"? Interesting. Anyways, the JAE event is held over the course of two days and gathers hundreds of Japanese cars of all makes and their owners for a weekend of celebrating all things four-wheeled and Japanese. Looks like there was everything from classics, to drift cars, to "tuner" style cars as well as plenty of machines from the EDC and UK Time Attack Series....
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Posted
Sep 01 2008, 04:00 AM
by
Andy Blackmore
with 4 comment(s)
A few weeks ago, Antonio mentioned the Toyota Corolla AE86's birthday was in August. I didn't realise cars had birthdays, but there you go ;) So, after adding the AE86 to my birthday card list, I started to wonder how many people knew the AE86 was a two-time British Touring Car Championship Champion? As you now know from Antonio's post last week on the Spa winning AE86 , the car was a successful 'tin-top' racer back in the day, I first started going to races in the 80's, when...
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Posted
Aug 14 2008, 07:24 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 14 comment(s)
Now I have a feeling that most of us are a little too young to remember first hand the vanning craze that swept the United States back in the '70s, but I'm sure you have probably heard a little bit about it. Airbrushing, themed interiors, sidepipes, that sort of thing. Sounds glorious right? Well I guess you can say that in Japan vanning has never gone out of style. When I talk to my American friends about what cars are like here in Japan, I tell them that it seems like for every customized truck or SUV there is driving around in the US, there is a customized van driving around in Japan....
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Posted
Aug 12 2008, 05:26 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 3 comment(s)
While the world may be watching the Beijing Olympics right now, thanks to Speedhunter Naoto Suenaga we got our own take on China with his recent post chronicling Team Orange's trip to Shanghai for some drift action.. As a follow up to Naoto's post ,we now have some video of the Toyota REIZ drift show performed by Suenaga and the rest of his teammates. The video can be found on the official Toyota REIZ site, and even though you may not be able to read or understand Chinese, the video is certainly...
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Posted
Aug 11 2008, 03:15 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 30 comment(s)
Well, here we go. I have been thinking of what I was going to write in this post for a while now. As you have probably seen in the past, the definition of what "VIP style" is has been discussed and debated quite a bit over the past several years. In the end I decided that instead of trying to define exactly what VIP style is (which may be impossible), I will give my own perceptions on the VIP movement based on what I have experienced myself over the past few years. Of course let me say that I am not an expert on VIP stuff nor have I ever built a VIP car so I suppose this will become just another viewpoint in the "VIP debate". Hopefully it will at least have some good reasoning behind it......
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Posted
Aug 08 2008, 02:14 PM
by
Naoto Suenaga
with 7 comment(s)
Hello everyone, Naoto Suenaga from Team Orange here again. For this post I will be talking about my June trip to Shanghai, China for a drift event at Shanghai Tenmayama Circuit. Toyota of China held the event to promote the Toyota REIZ, which is called the Mark X in Japan. For the drift show, all four Team Orange drivers made the trip from Japan including Kumakubo, Tanaka, myself, and Hiraoka. We were also joined by two Chinese drivers to make a total of six. The cars that we used were left hand...
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Posted
Aug 06 2008, 12:45 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 16 comment(s)
Throughout the next month I will be doing a number of "101" posts about different aspects of Japanese car culture and I don't think there is a better place to start than with the classic car scene in Japan. After all, the Japanese tuning culture that is so popular around the world would not exist without these nostalgic machines. While it has only been in the past few years that vintage Japanese cars have gained mainstream popularity outside of Japan, most of these cars have held legend status in their homeland for a while now....
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Posted
Aug 04 2008, 07:30 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 22 comment(s)
When it comes to Japanese four door performance cars, the rally-bred Impreza and Evo probably come to mind first. While those have huge following worldwide, when it comes to Japan's domestic tuning scene, Toyota's JZX chassis is right there with them in popularity. Despite the fact that the JZX has not been sold for four years, Tokyo Auto Salon 2008 was filled with more JZX's than I could count and their popularity shows no sign of stopping. We talk about the JZX's quite a bit here on Speedhunters so I figure it would be good to take a little look at just what makes these sedans so cool....
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Posted
Jul 29 2008, 09:45 AM
by
Mike Hayes
with 9 comment(s)
My father was a bit of a car nut. He introduced me to the term "kicking the tires" at the local dealerships. We weren't a particularly brand loyal family either. Dad cycled through Chevy V8's and even an '86 Corolla (At the time this was the new hotness!). (The image is from a Toyota brochure circa 1980's, and isn't the exact car that he had) My first car was the epitome of reliably bland. A 1990 Toyota Tercel (Thank wikipedia for the image of exactly what my lump of...
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