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Posted
Mar 11 2010, 02:21 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 12 comment(s)
Alright, here's a build that may lack speed, but more than makes up for it with charm.
David as big fan of the Speedhunters and is living a bit of the dream life, restoring vintage cars in at his home in Nagoya, Japan. David's stable includes several different JDM classics, and the latest addition is this 1967 Mitsubishi Minica 360 micro wagon....
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Posted
Feb 15 2010, 09:31 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 18 comment(s)
Slappy from the Slide Asylum Blog just sent us a high res version of his internet-famous "Wall of Wheels" picture. We've just uploaded it into the Desktops section for you guys to enjoy. Thanks Slappy! -Mike Garrett
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Posted
Feb 05 2010, 10:08 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 33 comment(s)
Last weekend my parents were in Southern California visiting for a bit before heading off on a cruise ship to Mexico. My dad had been bugging me for a while that he wants to check out a Cars and Coffee event, so Saturday morning it was up before the sun and down to Irvine to show him SoCal car culture at it's best....
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Posted
Feb 04 2010, 12:40 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 1 comment(s)
This Len Clarke photo really comes to live as a full size desktop image. I'm sure Japanese classic car fans will be able to literally spend hours staring at this one! Get it in the desktop area . Tx Len! :R
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Posted
Feb 03 2010, 07:05 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 27 comment(s)
Ok let's keep going with my coverage from the 2010 New Year Meeting starting with this wild rendition of early racing Fairlady Z. A row of early British Marcos machines looked slightly miniature as I walked by, but from this angle you get an idea of the firm’s racing heritage. Hey, how’s this for a Japanese oddity! The car, named the Mazda Roadpacer AP in Japan, is one of only 840 sold in the country between 1975 and 1977. It’s actually a Holden HJ Premier, with Mazda’s...
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Posted
Feb 02 2010, 05:00 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 25 comment(s)
This past Sunday was the annual JCCA New Year Meeting, held as always in the heart of Tokyo’s Odaiba district in the middle of Tokyo Bay. Though smaller than last year, there was still a fascinating array very interesting cars – and of course a whole lot more. Arriving at the site, I was greeted by row upon row of Japanese classics, many of which were sold only domestically. For any diehard Japanese car fan this is a great day out; with all sorts of stuff you wouldn’t expect to...
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Posted
Jan 27 2010, 10:30 AM
by
John Brooks
with 10 comment(s)
Another week another Show, this time I got up before I went to bed to jump on the first Eurostar to Paris and onto the 2010 Retromobile. What a contrast to the gruesome NEC and not just the Show itself. Alighting from the cab at Porte de Versailles the scene could not more different from the horrors of the charmless Birmingham. The cast was not made up of the dog eared and shop worn UK motorsport fraternity but instead there were legions of tall, slim young women. Everywhere you looked there were...
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Posted
Jan 08 2010, 09:14 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 16 comment(s)
I thought it'd be cool to follow up yesterday's Opel Kadett feature with a photo of the Kadett's JDM counterpart, the Isuzu Gemini. I spotted this car in the parking lot at Tsukuba Circuit last year and had to snap a photo.
This also reminds me that I need to dig up some more non-mainstream JDM machines to post up this month...
-Mike Garrett...
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Posted
Jan 07 2010, 03:08 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 22 comment(s)
If you've ever read Hot Rod Magazine in recent years, you'll know there aren't too many Toyotas to be found in its pages. However, a few years ago Hot Rod featured this wild Toyota Corona as part of its "Dare to be Different" theme. For the magazine to feature a Toyota means it must be something special, and indeed this car is.
Built by Mitch Allread of Newhall, California, what was once a basic '68 Corona sedan is now a street-going circle track racer that also happens to stay true to its Toyota roots....
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Posted
Jan 07 2010, 01:45 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 34 comment(s)
Years ago, I remember my friends would always show me videos of the Berg Cup hill climb races in Germany. I didn't understand a whole lot about what was going on, but the cars were undeniably awesome. One model in particular stood out to me with it's small, fastback shape - the Opel Kadett. In Europe the Kadett Coupe is a bit of an icon, not unlike the AE86 is in Japan.The Kadett and the AE86 actually share a lot of the same traits - a light weight body, rear-drive chassis, and simple styling. Due to the car's cult status in Europe, we thought it'd be a perfect addition to our features this month....
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Posted
Jan 06 2010, 01:23 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 14 comment(s)
A few weeks ago the wife and I picked up a much-need bookshelf for my office. As I unpacked boxes of magazines and books that had been stored away for a couple years, I came across a stack of Hot Rod magazines from the late '60s and early '70s. I think I paid about five dollars for the whole bunch at a swap meet several years ago. There's really no better way to look at automotive history than browsing through the pages of a vintage magazine.
The articles, the photography, the advertisements, and even the smell of the pages - it's quite the experience. ...
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Posted
Dec 29 2009, 03:14 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 50 comment(s)
For me, a car's most important quality is the way it makes you feel when you jump behind the wheel. It's something that goes beyond acceleration figures, chassis design, and the quality of the parts. Sure those things are important, but it's that connection between man's feelings and the machine that defines a great car. Many cars can trigger those feelings, whether it's a high dollar exotic, a simple Japanese sports car, or a home-built race car. But what about an American muscle car?
Now a lot of people might see muscle cars as wasteful, hulking, barbaric, sloppy machines - and maybe they are.
But that's what makes them so great. ...
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Posted
Dec 23 2009, 02:43 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 43 comment(s)
We all like to dream about cars don't we? I'm sure every single person who reads this blog site has regular thoughts about what cars they want to own. I personally take time every day to think about my automotive plans! There is nothing wrong with dreaming, as it's the act of visualizing that's the first step to building your future. Your ability to realize your automotive dreams will of course depend on your circumstances, the opportunities that present themselves and how you navigate...
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Posted
Dec 17 2009, 01:35 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 5 comment(s)
I grew up around vintage American cars, and I suppose for someone my age I'm somewhat knowledgeable about them. Even then, there are cars I have a hard time identifying. Especially customs that have little of their original body features left. While the car above might look like a creation from the likes of George Barris or Gene Winfield - it's actually a nearly stock '56 Lincoln Premiere two door hardtop. With the exception of its stance of course......
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Posted
Dec 08 2009, 09:12 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 52 comment(s)
It's a bit ironic how I sarcastically spoke of Southern California's warm winters in my last post, as right now we are experiencing an honest to god winter storm here in LA. One that's complete with snowfall, frost warnings and other wintery bits.
Anyways, It seems that the first half of my coverage from last weekend's edition of Cars and Coffee went over well, so lets jump right into some more photos from the event....
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Posted
Dec 07 2009, 09:08 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 31 comment(s)
It was a cold weekend here in Southern California.
So cold.
Cold as in you'd probably want to thrown on a light sweater before going out for a cruise in your convertible.
Being blessed with what's probably the most car-friendly climate in the world, the auto events never really stop here in LA. It's been a few months since I moved to SoCal, but it wasn't until this weekend that I finally was able to get down to Irvine for Cars and Coffee....
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Posted
Nov 06 2009, 03:19 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 30 comment(s)
I was browsing one of my favorite forums, ClubRoadster.net the other day when I found a thread about an LS1-powered Mazda Miata drag car out of Mississippi. Now any time you combine a light weight rear-drive car with a powerful V8 the potential for awesomeness arises, but I noticed something about this car that I don't think the builder intended - it's likeliness to sports car-based drag cars of the '60s....
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Posted
Oct 28 2009, 12:21 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 48 comment(s)
I'm not quite done with my Garage Boso features yet, here's one more Boso-built car you guys might be interested in. The RA21 Celica above is owned by Option Magazine and Tokyo Auto Salon founder Daijiro Inada - a very well known personality both in Japan and abroad. Dai spends a lot of time in LA visiting his brother and taking part in the automotive culture here, so he decided to build a car to enjoy in sunny SoCal. After picking up the project, Dai brought the car over to Garage Boso where the guys got to work on transforming it into a modern kyuu-sha hot rod....
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Posted
Oct 27 2009, 05:12 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 6 comment(s)
There's something about crisp fall weather that makes me fantasize (more than usual) about spending some time with a classic sports car and a curvy backroad.
It didn't help when I went to a car show on Sunday morning at the South Coast Botanical Garden in Rolling Hills and saw these two early Porsche 911's parked neatly in the lot.
Now if we could just find one these for a Speedhunters project car...
-Mike Garrett
...
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Posted
Oct 07 2009, 08:43 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 35 comment(s)
As you are reading this I'll likely be making my way up to Monterey for the weekend's American LeMans race at Laguna Seca. In the meantime - here's some more JCCS photos to enjoy! Up above we can see a few of the Hakosuka Skylines at the event, including a two-door wearing US military tags from Okinawa (evidenced by the "Y" on the number plate). What better souvenir to bring back from your time in Japan than a certified legend on wheels?...
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