Remembering Japanese cars from the past
When I was at Infineon Raceway I spotted this little Datsun 510 on a set of deep dish rims!
Datsun 510 at Infineon Raceway
The 510’s hood was rollerpainted and the interior was stripped to next to nothing.
Here you have a bit better view of the deep dished wheels:
Datsun 510 at Infineon Raceway
Anyone got an idea what brand/model these SSR Longchamps XR4 lookalikes are?
I went to a drift event in the SF bay area last wednesday. I missed a grand meetup of hachis in Daly Vale on Monday, but Michael Kee told me there would be some more action on Infineon Raceway on Wednesday night: a drag/drift charity event for Japan. After the conference was over for the day I hopped into the car and made my route through 880, 580, 101, and 37 and arrived just in time when all the action was starting.
It was dark and freezing cold so I could not make any pictures with my phonecam, but I sure did shoot up three rolls of film! I’m positive there are some really nice pictures I can post up when they have been processed. So you will have to do with this nice hachi that stopped next to me after its driver didn’t make it to next round:
Corolla GTS drifter at Infineon Raceway
Apart from that there was a lot going on in the paddock. Inside the building I found a great looking Hellaflushed Roofracked and deepdished Honda Integra:
Hellaflushed roofracked deepdished Honda Integra
The car was an excellent example of this Californian style and I was very pleased to see it IRL. I also met the owner and gave him a Bosozoku Style sticker which he, hopefully, will put on the car next to all the other stickers…
His car was pretty stickerbombed where this sidewindow was still clear:
Stickerbombed Honda Integra
Apart from the modern cars there were also a few oldies. I’ll save them for next time!
Today is my third day in the San Francisco bay area and I think I’ve shot at least 50 photos of remotely interesting cars with my phonecam and about 20 interesting cars with my analogue SLR. Time for a small recap!
First of all I found it hard to believe, but in the first 10 minutes of driving with the rental car to the hotel I spotted an 240SX S14, a Lexus SC400 and a drift style 240SX S13. I think if I would have spotted those cars in the Netherlands it would have taken me either a week to spot them or I must have been at a meeting at that moment. ;)
Second of all: everybody drives an Integra!
SF Bay area: everybody drives an Integra
Again: back home the Integra is just as omnipotent as my Carina, so spotting one is quite rare. In the bay area everybody seems to be driving an Integra!
I looked it up on Wikipedia:
A total of 301,102 Acura Integras were sold from calendar year 1994 to 2000 in the U.S.
And I bet most of them are still driving around in the bay area!
Apart from the Integras I saw many many many Nissan 350Zs!
SF Bay area: everybody drives a 350Z
The 350Z is back home a bit less omnipotent as the Integra, but here you see them on about every parkinglot. The one above was shot in downtown SF btw.
Runner up is definitely the Mazda Miata (or MX5s) and for some weird reason none of them was topless. After the Miata it gets a bit harder, but I guess it probably would be the four door Charger…
I did see much variation in the styling: from lowrider trucks to drift cars to big rim cars to hellaflush ratlook roofracked Integras:
SF Bay area: Hellaflush roofrack Integra
I must say this car was pretty bad maintained and the rat look was not deliberately made.
Last but not least: I spotted many many older cars including this Cressida MX61.
From this angle it looks great, but on the right side it was pretty smashed up. Which brings me to another weird thing: everybody tends to keep on driving with insanely dented cars. In the Netherlands most people get their cars fixed as soon as they get a dent in it, but it appears as if you don’t need to fix up your car and you keep on driving as if nothing ever happened.
SF Bay area: Smashed up Cressida
That’s it for now, but I’m positive I’ll have more of this stuff in the upcoming days. ;)
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