The final Canepa Cars & Coffee of the year was held on 10/11. To celebrate our good friend Lou S’ birthday we joined him for a morning drive to Canepa. Instead of taking the direct route via HWY 17 we Enjoyed the Ride though HWY9/Big Basin Way and Skyline.

 

A Skyline mountain blast wouldn’t be complete without a Skyline! Lou naturally chose to drive his classic R32 Skyline GT-R:

 

Adding to the fun our group also included Andy in the Mazda RX-4 wagon, Rob J’s beautiful S30, Henry’s R35 GT-R, my ’67 Datsun Roadster and Rob Fuller in a Porsche 911 Turbo (for sale soon):

 

 

When we arrived, Canepa’s parking lot was already full and our group was relegated to overflow parking, which was a car show in itself! Mandatory Datsun content: I found two S30s,  stock and with massive flares/Chevy V8 power

 

Canepa as usual were gracious enough to open their entire facility to the public. Touring the showrooms and shop areas with soft pretzels and strudels in hand was a great way to start the morning!

 

Looking pretty in red, a recently restored Ferrari 288 GTo and Testarossa:

 

Turbo Fan madness! Love these BBS icons on the several Porsche’s. The Rennsport prep was strong inside Canepa!

 

This ’32 fordor hot rod caught my eye with old-school tricks mixed with modern touches. Halibrand wheels, 6-piston AP calipers, 427ci small block with Gurney Weslake heads…

 

Back in the parking lot, more interesting cars show up. A crowd pleaser was this La Ferrari, parked next to Mclaren:

 

Lots of bathub and 911 Porsche’s:

 

Great Muscle Car attendance:

 

Gorgeous Alfa and Jaguar:

 

Many more pics in the gallery. See you at Canepa Cars and Coffee next spring!

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Every year, one of my favorite events to attend in Southern California is the annual Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach.  JCCS is like a big reunion of old school friends, surrounded by the finest vintage metal made in Japan. The iconic Queen Mary cruise ship and the Long Beach skyline is a perfect backdrop for Zs, 510s, Skylines, Rx-7s, Rx-3s, Celicas, Corollas, Land Cruisers and other interesting Japanese old school cars!

 

Founded by Koji and Terry Yamaguchi, JCCS has been running for 11 years strong now and the bar is set higher ever year. I remember the first year of JCCS, and it’s hard to believe the inaugural event was over a decade ago!  I love this show and the Z Car Garage crew keeps coming back every year to soak up the sun, see old friends and drool over some spectacular vintage builds.

  

Attendance was impressive but surprisingly not over-whelming like previous years and this made photographing cars a breeze!  Sure, a bulk of the cars are the same annually but the small percentage of new cars tend to be amazing.  At JCCS we love that every pass up and down an aisle of cars reveals a new detail, emblem, decal, or set of wheels.  Also, this is a more adult car show (no loud Drake/EDM, no booth babes, no car parents towing around scraping cambered-out red Power Wheels with kids in them) and a breath of fresh air compared to the “party” vibe of the larger California shows.

Nissan’s Debut at JCCS

The OEMs participated in record numbers this year. That’s right, in addition to Mazda, Toyota and Honda our beloved Nissan stepped up for the first time with a great showing of rare and unique vehicles from their vault. My favorite was the 1997 R390 GT1 Le Mans race car, sent over from Japan just for this event! Nissan’s collection also included included a 1975 Bluebird-U 2000 GTX, 1972 Datsun 510 and 1967 411. Our friends at JNC were lucky to drive the Dime and Bluebird over the Monterey Car Week.

Completing the “heritage” lineup was this little/big truck combo – a 1960 Datsun 1200 “surfer” Van towed by a 2016 Nissan TITAN XD pickup. Fingers crossed this new diesel rig “passes” emissions. Ha!

 

Here are few of my favorite Nissans and Datsuns, starting with that not-so forbidden fruit commonly known as the hakosuka.

 

There was no shortage of Skylines this year and my favorite was Eric Khamchan’s KGC10. It’s racing livery removed from previous shows revealed a stunning shade of metallic blue. The killer stance with wide, gun-metal Watanabe wheels stuffed under the flares set this one off from the rest:

 

We first saw this short-nosed Skyline at the Solvang Datsun Roadster Show and were surprised by its intact “surf line” rear fenders,  G-series 4-cylinder power and super rare Hayashi Racing Techno Phantom wheels:

 

Eric Bauer’s  Hako sported period-spec goodies throughout like these Dunlop CR65 tires and C-pillar vent:

 

The only 4-door with molded rear flares sitting pretty on deep step-lipped SSR MKII wheels:

Another red Hako with gold Watanabe’s and a striking peanut butter interior:

 

Finally, this Kaido themed racer replete with external oil cooler, livery and side-exit exhaust:

Z-Car Extravaganza

Z cars from all generations were in full force with cars spanning the tarmac near the Queen Mary to the bayside lawn.  I’m a big fan of subtle modified Z’s but I can also appreciate pristine, bone-stock examples and the occasional shakotan build. This S30 had subtle body-colored flares, deep Simmons wheels and a neatly executed RB25DET engine swap:

 

By contrast Richard Madlangbayan’s RB25DET-powered S30 is wildly flared with retina-searing paint and extensive aero.  To-die-for NISMO LM GT2 wheels were re-barreled and stepped up to 18″ by FiveOneWheels. Check out the rear diffuser, side skirts and spolier too:

 

 

This was my first time seeing Kevin Yeung’s “White DevilZ” in person. It had some ludicrously sized fenders, WORK Equip 03 wheels with a huge wing and more aero. My favorite part? The L-series powerplant force-fed by an HKS turbo kit. I think I overheard Kevin telling a fan that “he had plans to track it”…

 

The guys from JDM Legends displayed this immaculate, super sano S30. From the iconic Watanabe wheels to the triple-carb’d L-series this car was a real treat to view.

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In 1974 Mazda introduced the RX-4 wagon with the 13B rotary engine, it’s first debut in the US. Rob found this RX-4 in fantastic shape, it was a real time-capsule! The interior is really impressive with stock panels, seats, and carpeting all intact. Check out the factory air cleaner, and the peace-statement bumper sticker. Rob definitely has a problem: he is addicted to vintage Japanese cars. Find out how he came upon this RX-4:

“While in my early 20s I owned a rotary-powered 510 race car… which made me wanting more so I played with a few 1st gen RX-7s and for a brief period I even owned a 1974 Rx-4 coupe. I am always on the hunt for clean, early Rotary-powered cars. My morning and evening ritual is to cruise Craigslist with my favorite searches. One day I came across an ad for a 1974 RX4 station wagon. I called and arranged a time to see it. It had been sitting in a barn for about 10 years. We hooked up a battery and all the lights worked. The car was really clean so I had to buy it. The following day I had the car towed to ZCG. Once it got to the shop we went to work right away to clean it up and see if it ran.”

“By the end of the second day we got the Rotary Wagon to light off, but it was smoking enough to make Archer St. disappear! The rear rotor seals failed. I was bummed but I knew what this would lead too. The engine was removed and sent to Rebello racing. A few months later the engine was back and ready to go in the car. Using a Racing Beat header and stock carb the piston-less engine put down some nice numbers(188hp/165tq) on the Rebello dyno. A larger carb is on the way!”


The great thing about this wagon besides its functionality is that it’s a hoot to drive!  RWD and the 13B: A legendary motor with 30 years of years of tuning/aftermarket support. Leave it to Rob and the crew at ZCG to get any car running, and performing better than it did from the factory.  ZCG’s dyno shows a surprisingly torquey motor with over 100ft-lbs available from 2000 to 6000rpm!:

Rob drove the Rotary Wagon through the winding hills of Santa Cruz on our last fun run to Canepa Design in Scotts Valley. I was amazed how he hurtled this car around corners at 60-70mph, didn’t see that coming! The rotary sounds distinctive. I had a chance to commute in this wagon for about a week and it was a blast!
Here are few videos to give you an idea what the 13B sounds like:
2nd-gear roll-on from 4500rpm:

Cruising happily on the freeway:

Freeway merging is a breeze!

Rob and the vintage Mazda are featured in the upcoming April issue of the Japanese car magazine “NostalgicHero”!

Rob’s interest in vintage Japanese cars is contagious and word on the street is that there may be an old Subaru hanging out at ZCG, stay tuned!
More pictures below
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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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I can’t believe it’s that time of year again!!  The Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS) is taking place this Sunday, Oct. 12th at Hidden Valley Park in Irvine, CA.  This is the ultimate show for you if you like all things vintage Japanese or true JDM.

There are huge sponsorship deals at the event this year from most of the OEM car companies, all sorts of media groups, and a large group of aftermarket supporters from around the globe (a complete list is on the JCCS website.)  Most of the sponsors will have booths set up so expect free gift bags, entertainment of all sorts, and stickers galore!

In 2007 Mazda brought out an entire trailer loaded with race cars and even a rare Mazda Cosmo, of which there are only few in the world.  They are a major sponsor again, along with Toyota, this year so expect some great things from both manufacturers.

The cars at the event are of the utmost quality and most everyone that attends is of the same caliber.  Not only does this event show off some of the best original Japanese classic cars but it also offers the latest and greatest in innovations and customization that the aftermarket has to offer.  Individuals and shops alike bring out their latest and greatest every year to be unveiled to the world.   One of the best parts about JCCS is the approachability of all who attend.   For example, if you see Pete Brock, of Datsun BRE fame,  walking around the grounds make sure you walk up to him and say hi.  Most “celebrities” here are happy to talk with anyone who shares the same passion for cars that they do.

Check out the video below for some footage of last year’s event and make sure to visit the Japanese Classic Car Show website for all the official updates as well as an awards, vendor, and sponsor list.  The JCCS site also has an amazing gallery of years past where I borrowed most of these pictures from.

 

This event is a MUST ATTEND.  If you have the weekend off we hope to see you there.  Feel free to stop myself or any of the Z Car Garage people to say hi or talk cars.  Long Live the Z and JCCS.

Look for an update right here next week when we return with our original pictures and a full event report.

www.Japaneseclassiccarshow.com