Hardcore fans of vintage J-cars were gathered together this past weekend at the annual Japanese Classic Car Show, now in its third year. This great show, organized by Koji and Terry Yamaguchi, attracts enthusiasts of all makes from all over Southern California and far beyond. Entries from the past have come from as far as Canada! This year, Rory Baldrey came all the way from Boise, Idaho to steal the show for many with his '76 Nissan Laurel, looking mean in primer black and sitting on some badass SSR MK1's.
Going to LA for a weekend is always a good time and a great chance to catch up with SoCal friends. During JCCS, I hung out with my good friend Antonio Alvendia from Cipher Garage, and ran into Joji Luz from TORC, Ben and Dan Hsu of Japanese Nostalgic Car . I got a chance to meet Ken Miyoshi, something of a godfather in the import scene, which was cool! If you don't know him, he's the founder of Import Showoff and has been in the game forever. Jay Leno even rolled in with his Mazda Cosmo - he parked near the Mazda factory cars. Here he is being interviewed by Barry Meguiar of Meguiar's Car Crazy:
For me, the star of the show was this incredible tube-frame, Hayabusa-powered, carbon-fibre-bodied Honda AZ600 built for some extreme autocrossing. I can't even imagine what it would be like to go buck wild in this thing, but I like it:
Other attractions, such as the R/C drift festival, featured vintage Japanese car themes as well:
A Dodge Colt 2-door in strikingly original 70's white/red two-tone was a real stunner:
And for many, this incredible "what might have been" "Ken Mary" era Skyline was pure perfection:
I was awestruck when I saw the condition of this '74 pre-CVCC Civic:
And I got way more enthusiastic upon meeting Telly Sahara (pictured below), the renowned artist whose incredible works grace the covers of Lightning magazine.
Towards the end of the day, I met up with Antonio and Mike Bumbeck of Jalopnik...we were hanging around with the late stragglers, reluctant to leave, when we came across none other than Steve Kopito who was loading up his genuine Toyota Land Cruiser Fire Truck! This thing beats the crap out of anything made by American LaFrance, and Steve told us (if my memory serves me correctly) that he actually uses this in the Chatsworth 4th of July Parade. Steve is an awesome guy, and even brought his '65 Toyota Publica and his Honda Beat to our Motoring J Style show this past July.
More good stuff...
A sick PJ Bonifacio Corolla
Datsuns everywhere...
Mini-truckin!
What a great show! We can't wait to see what comes out of the woodwork for next year!
Read more at:
www.japaneseclassiccarshow.com
Japanese Nostalgic Car's Coverage
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