VENTS: Japanese Classic Car Show 2010, Part 04

We have so much coverage from JCCS that we’ve skipped the Friday Video this week and spilling the final installment into the weekend. So like a fleet of ported rotaries roaring down the 710, let’s tear right in!

As we mentioned before, this year’s JCCS drew record attendance, and a Datsun 510 with an S15 SR20DET swap is always a crowd pleaser.

It’s hard to believe there were only four years separating Leo del Cid‘s 1964 Bluebird with the iconic 510, but the pace of Japan’s industrialization was steaming forth at record pace. This is actually a PL312 from the Bluebird 310 series.

But don’t confuse it with the Datsun 310, an early Nissan Pulsar with the N10 chassis code. This front-wheel-drive car is actually ancestor to the modern-day Nissan Versa.

The 510 is one of the few cars in which the wagon body style is as stylish and popular among enthusiasts as coupe and sedan versions. Hey, Snoop Dogg owned one.

We spotted this amazingly clean Datsun 521 in the parking lot. Though the two are unrelated, one can see the styling resemblance to the 510 in the front end. Companies would kill for this kind of cross-platform branding nowadays.

Vic Laury‘s Datsun 2000 Roadster looks fantastic wearing SSR MkIIIs and a solid vintage pale yellow.

Though this Datsun 280ZX appears plain in appliance white from afar, a second glance reveals details like smoked scoop covers, purple wheels and rainbow Frankenstein stitches in the air dam.

Some may call it sacrilege, but this Mazda RX-4 had a 2JZ swap and its stock leaf springs swapped for a full Lexus IS300 independent rear.

The Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE differentiated itself from other first-gen Sevens with special wheels, different interior trim and a fuel injected 13B. Despite their popularity, it’s still fairly uncommon to see an example this clean nowadays.

Some Civic owners are downright quirky, and three of them with matching trailers drove in like ducks in a row.

The crew from Norm Reeves Honda had this rare second-gen JDM Honda City on display at their booth. Though kitted out with questionable aero bits, it’s a rare sight in the US, a predecessor to the modern-day Honda Fit.

Long before deep dish SSRs and hippari stretched tires migrated across the Pacific, the “proper” way to modify a Datsun 240Z was with polished slot mags so this is period correct, right down to the root beer metallic hue.

Nowadays, one can guess the age of a Z owner with fairly decent accuracy based on wheel choice. In descending order, it would go slot mags, Panasports, then SSR MkIIIs.

Like SSRs, black Watanabes and flares suggest a Nintendo-era owner as well.

Gotta love the 1970s, the era of metallic brown and dealer-installed vinyl roofs on your Mazda RX-2.

Remember when these were everywhere? Most of these solid-front-axle pickups have probably been driven into the ground by now, so this Toyota Hilux in classic light brown with period-correct stripe decals was a rare treat indeed.

Will the 1967 Toyota 2000GT ever be dethroned as king of Japanese classics? Perhaps a Fairlady Z432 or genuine GT-R could take the crown as they gain more traction in the US.

If you’re looking for JDM decals, T-shirts and accessories like fender mirrors for your Toyota Crown, the crew at Mooneyes are the ones you need to talk to.

Last time we saw this Celica liftback, it was on stock steelies. Now it’s set off by a set of rare Hoshino Impuls.

JNC super reader Toyotageek is a JCCS regular with his bone stock Celica liftback. Believe it or not, it he got it because someone walked into Cabe Toyota one day and traded it in!

2TC/3TC inline fours can be modified to create insane power, a favorite among drag racers. If it wasn’t for the roll cage and fat slicks on the rear, this TE71 Corolla would be a total sleeper.

The Japanese call them ninanas. Filipinos call them mangos. We simply call a TE27 on TOM’S Igetas classic.

Even a two or three years ago, MX73 Cressidas were still a common sight on the west coast. Sadly, Toyota’s pre-Lexus flagship is slowly going becoming an endangered species. They exhibit a subtle beauty from every angle easily emphasized with a modest drop and SSR meshies.

The Honda CR-X was too popular for its own good. Just like drifters have made a good AE86 nearly impossible to find, 90s tuners have pushed bone-stock CR-Xs to the brink of extinction. Many already consider them to be the next big classic.

But if there’s anything rarer than an all-original CR-X it’s a clean, complete Mugen CR-X Pro kit. Mega JDM points for this one.

Along with this silver hot hatch from Aichi, it was like being in the middle of bubble economy Tokyo. As 80s cars continue their march into history, we’re sure to see more cars like this stunningly mint Toyota Corolla FT-S FX-16 at JCCS.

Japanese rally legend Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima can usually be found screaming up Pikes Peak behind the wheel of his 900hp Suzuki, but his very first rally car was a Mazda R360. It’s hard to believe he could have fit inside! And with that we bid JCCS 201o sayonara.

Ur-Turn: On The Death Of The Classic Car

Ur-Turn is your weekly opportunity to contribute to TTAC. Every Saturday we select a different piece submitted to our contact form, and publish it as a showcase for the diverse perspectives of TTAC’s readers. Today’s contribution is a a meditation on the coming classic car crisis, from reader Matthew Betts.
Classic cars have been part of American car culture since the 1950s, when rat rods roamed the evening streets and gas contained heavy metal. As years have passed, those classics have given way to the over-restored muscle car and the garage queen time capsule. Those cars have held the spotlight for quite some time, probably because the kids of the 80s lusted after the cars of the 60s, much like their parents. The next step in the progression of the classic car will be Japanese and turbocharged group from the early 90s. This new wave can already be found creeping into auctions with prices on the rise.
After this wave passes, what will be next, if anything at all? While this may seem like a crazy question at first glance, there are several drastic differences between the cars of the last 10 years and the cars of yore that will make long-term car of them a nearly impossible goal. Some of these differences strike at the very core of classic car culture.

Complexity
Mechanical complexity is not that big a deal to a classic car lover. Some relish in the clockwork symphony of multiple carbs, or the sublime cacophony coming from a multi-cam, high-revving engine. Modern engines, while only moderately more complex mechanically, are vastly more difficult to maintain in the long term due to the control systems used. Can you imagine trying to resolve a software fault in a modern car in 10 years by yourself, without the required 10k dealer-only computer or any software documentation?
Serviceability
Previously, virtually all cars were able to be maintained using a fairly fixed spectrum of tools. Sure, there were specialty tools to make life easier, but they were shortcuts, not requirements. The biggest change here is with the aforementioned dealer computers. In the early-to-late 90s, the specialty computer was used primarily as a diagnostic device, rather than a vital tool. Modern cars cannot be serviced without these computers, as the computers are used to fix software problems directly that cannot be remedied any other way.
Integration
One of the core concepts in classic car ownership is customization, making it your car. This used to be relatively easy to do, as each system was independent. Changing the drivetrain just changed the drivetrain. In a modern car, however, every system is interconnected. As an example, a BMW 335i owner recently found out the hard way that changing the radio prevented him from having his transmission serviced. How are these systems related? They aren’t, except the chassis computer wouldn’t let the transmission software be updated unless all systems were validated first. Lacking the original radio, that system couldn’t be validated, so the car couldn’t be fixed. Eventually, the owner found the original radio in a closet, but otherwise, he would have had to buy a new OEM radio to the tune of 700$. He couldn’t use another used OEM radio because the OEM radio had to be uniquely paired to the car first, an operation that could only be performed once. When changing something as basic as the radio prevents major systems from functioning, that makes the car a single unit, rather than a collection of modular systems.
So how will the kid of today get their dream Jaguar XF in 20+ years? Some of the more technologically-advanced classic cars are showing the way: specialization. As the dealers move on to the next generation computer and tool set, they liquidate the old stock, which is required to fix the old cars. Some of these units will be picked up by independent shops. Even fewer of these shops eventually become known as the “gurus” of that particular car in a particular geographic area. They remain the sole people actually able to fix the car as it was originally meant to be fixed, as they alone will have the skills and tools to do so. Current examples of this include the BMW E9 coupes, the Volvo P1800, vintage Mercedes, and vintage Porsches. These cars often have one or two shops in the entire US dedicated to just that car type. They have all the original tools, original documentation, and the contacts to find all the NLA parts nobody else seems to find, or they make them in-house.
While specialization will ensure the cars will live on, there is a dark side: cost. Being the only gig in town (or the country) gives the shop the ability to call the shots in a way most indys could only dream of. This drives up the cost of restoration to the point of being well outside the capabilities of most Americans. Gone will be the stories of a kid and their dad bringing a car back to life, as dad won’t be able to buy a good used engine control computer without cutting into the kid’s college fund. A classic car will no longer be the result of blood, sweat, and copious swearing, but of shipping it to the other side of the country to the only shop that still has a working diagnostic/interface computer. Classic cars will no longer be testaments to the owner’s mechanical acumen, but of the size of their pocketbooks. This key change is the killing blow against the very core of the original car culture, who customized what they could afford with their own two hands, making the best of what they had.