The Japanese Classic Car Show(JCCS) was held on Sunday 9/12 in Long Beach, CA and it was incredible. This show started in ’06 at the Queen Mary, moved to a park venue in Irvine for a few years and returned to Long Beach where I hope it stays.

We left the Bay Area at 8am Saturday morning and spent the night aboard the Queen Mary(Hotel). This is an experience in itself and I highly recommend staying here not only for the convenience.

Sunday morning Rob and I gave the roadster a quick wipedown before driving a few hundred feet to the staging area of the show. The JCCS staff really have their act together and made parking a breeze. At first I thought it was impossible to fit all participants in as there were 200+! I parked with 18 other Datsun Roadsters under a tree lined area. We were right across from what turned out to be 61 Datsun 510s! Nissan/Datsun had a strong presence for sure.

Grabbed my goody bag from the registration booth and we started checking out all the J-tin in a semi-orderly fashion. No lawn chair lounging for us! We spoke with Ron Carter, Les Cannaday and John Morton near the MOTUL booth where the BRE 240z and BRE Roadster were being displayed. Morton treated show-goers with a long autograph session. It was great to see him in good spirits!

If there was any doubt about the growing popularity of Japanese vintage cars all you had to do was look at how many spectators lined up for the show, some waited more than 1hr! This is great for JCCS and all of us classic car owners. Having a good venue doesn’t hurt either 🙂

Make sure to check out all of the pictures below at the end. The bar is contantly being raised and the level of detaiI/restoration of the cars these days is tremendous! I can’t possibly discuss all of the awesome cars but here are a few that caught our attention:

Randy Yee’s 240z with an RB26 drivetrain. Super clean, track-day resto. Flat black wrinkle powdercoating.  Simple interior. And what made me go gaga was the BRE-style exhaust system…why don’t we see this more often? Maybe it’s too loud 🙂

Wheels, wheels and more wheels! A JDM-wheel fanatic would appreciate the variety on display. From Volk’s new TE37Vintage wheel, various WORK and SSR wheels, ultra-rare Sakuras(the pink ones), Compmotive, TRD, even CCW showed up on 510s! Lots of Rota RB-R too:

This Nissan Patrol pickup truck was imported from Saudi Arabia!

61 510s, and it seemed like over half had some kind of engine swap. In a sea of SR20s and KAs this Dime built by Mario of TSR really stood out. John Morton was enamored with the engine bay! Lots of attention to detail in this one. Check out the welding. I love 510s

The Nissan 200sx or Silvia (S12 chassis) is often overlooked stateside. These cars were modded out and looking great.Yes, One had an RB26!

The Honda N60 models are coming out of the woodwork. There were about 10, all with mild to wild mods! Lots of CVCCs too.

Toyota and Mazda had a strong showing. Several 1/2Jz-swapped cars, Rotary pickups.

From L to R: This 18RG-powered Toyota looked boosted with period parts. I always liked the lines and B-pillarless body of the Celicas(RA). Fender-flared, wide-tired and mean Starlets are always welcome

This Mazda RX-4 wagon had FD Rx-7 running gear, front suspension bits and a linked Ford rear end…wicked:

I always like to see and hear car stories from owners. Interesting stickers also catch my eye, here are some highlights 🙂

It was an awesome weekend. We traveled 860 miles to see the show, and we did it in a Datsun. The sheer number of spectators and participants at JCCS 2010 reminds us that Japanese Classic Cars are still gaining popularity and recognition. Here’s to JCCS 2011!
UPDATE: ZCarGarage built the 1st place-winning Datsun Roadster in the “Modified” category!

For more information on 2010 Winners from all categories check the JCCS website

Full photo album below so click and enjoy!
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This 1973 240z belongs to a friend of the shop, Lou S.  It is a rare sight to see this Japanese-spec, Right-Hand-Drive (RHD) model with appropriate “FairladyZ” badging/lighting. The Z recently got new 3-piece, custom offset 17″ Panasport wheels. You might remember these beauties from the multiple sets ordered for the RB-240z builds.

 
These wheels allow the use of massive 255/40/17(Bridgestone RE050a) tires without major fender mods/flares. To take advantage of the larger footwork a complete Arizona Zcar suspension upgrade was installed.

The rear controls arms offer multiple points of adjustment. Struts were shortened and a Ground Control coilover kit with custom spring rates can be dialed in for any condition. Sway bars and new bushings throughout. The result is a car that stays absolutely planted in corners. It is almost begging for more power now. Triple Mikuni’s Lou? 🙂

  The new stance makes this “RightLady” look awesome, and the black center spokes with polished lip complements the paint really well. Here is a short video clip of the car rolling on the freeway, enjoy!

The Concours event was an amazing experience. Big thanks to David Swig for the invitation and giving Japanese classic cars a presence at the show and in people’s hearts!

We left ZCarGarage at 7am with three 240z cars, a ‘67.5 roadster and one sinister-looking s/c’d 350z.

This was my first time at a Concours event, and I was really impressed with how the venue was organized. As we drove  past the registration and onto the lawn area each car received a bottle of wine!  Flag wavers at every turn directed us to our staging area, where I immediately saw a sea of Ferrari’s and other exotics. I kept wondering, “A bunch of Datsuns get their own display in this show? ” Yes indeed. Not only Datsuns, but Hondas and Toyotas deserve their moment in the spotlight as well 🙂

The Japanese classic car display included a Toyota ’67 2000GT,  Toyota Sports 800, ’68 Honda S800, ’71 Skyline GT-R.   3 Datsun 240zs,  Datsun roadster, and a 1973 Toyota Corolla.   9 lovely Japanese cars in between gangster-era Cadillac’s and bright red Ferrari’s.
 
 

 

 
People were smitten with the display. I could hear memories being conjured, stories being swapped. It was great exposure for our cars, and quite endearing to see this happen amongst all of the high dollar iron surrounding us 🙂

                    
Rob told me that the Skyline was real, with the S20 drivetrain. My jaw dropped and I got very giddy as I have never seen a real Skyline GT-R in person. When the owner opened the hood the mighty S20 gleamed in all its twin-cam glory. Check out the pictures below for more detailed shots…from the underbody to the interior, it was a treat.
                  

The arrival of summer came late to the Bay Area but it was definitely felt with 95 degree + temps. Multiple tents and water stations were available to the attendees. Our invitation included snacks, drinks and lunch in a pavillion with a perfect view of the car display ramp. We were fortunate to have a chat with David Swig about seeing more folks getting into vintage racing and increasing Japanese car representation.
    

Here is a sight that was new to me: Concours judges scrutinizing cars. Maybe one day these gentlemen will be judging your Nissan/Datsun at a Concours event! Why not?

After lunch it was time to check out more of the cars, and I can’t describe or include all of the wonderful machines so I will  list a few favorites. Make sure to click after the “read more” to see all of the pictures!

Mercedes Benz 300SLs, and Gullwings galore! The new SLS was there too.

This Alfa Romeo Guiletta Sprint had just the right proportions:

Chrome everywhere, huge grilles, hood ornaments, and interiors that are so huge and luxurious that they belong on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

           

The event was truly an incredible experience and hopefully we can have an even greater display of Japanese cars for the collector car world to appreciate. Enjoy the pictures!

Click on the “continue reading” link below for the full picture album (315 pics)
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Costumes and decorated vehicles. Sounds like a parade? Ummm…sort of. It was actually the May 8-9 running of the 24 Hours of LeMons at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, CA. This is a nationwide endurance race series for $500 cars. Teams must purchase and prep their vehicles for no more than $500. The limit does not include safety items like roll cage, brakes, wheels and tires. This event was 16 hours of racing over two days. Some LeMons events are a full 24 hours.

Teams “themes” are part of the fun, but the series is so popular that a good theme is often needed to get a team accepted to an event. This race included:
Two Starship Enterprises

A Supra with Tiger and Elin Woods on the roof

A Ford Ranchero wagon (built from an E-30 BMW)

And a beautiful 1958 Plymouth Fury (also built from an E-30 BMW)

There were many good drivers, but also many with little or no track experience. To make the race as safe as possible, the series prohibits even a hint of poor driving. Putting two or more wheels off the track, tailgating, not allowing faster cars to pass, spinning, etc. will get a team black flagged, whereupon they must go to the penalty area. The penalties, however, are hilarious. They might include writing a phrase on the car 100 times, reading a passage from a book “revival preacher style” to their team, or the parading through the paddock confessing their on-track sins. Regardless of the type of punishment, they keep the perpetrators off the track while the rest of the field adds to their lap count.

The bad news: Z cars typically don’t do well in this series (I think it’s because Z cars are so cool they need to be in pretty sad shape mechanically to fall to a value of $500). The organizers award a special prize, the Z Cup, to the Z car team that does the least poorly. This event’s prize went to The Underground from Tempe, Arizona, driving a 1985 Nissan 300ZX Turbo. They finished 19th out of 108. Not great considering the 18th place car was a Mazda 323.

The good news: This event’s winner was a Nissan. The winner on laps was team Rogue Squadron with their Star Wars themed Nissan SE-R. Way to go!