NEWSWORTHY> Hot Wheels x JNC Hakosuka
Recently we met up with our friends over at Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine for this year’s Toyotafest (watch for the upcoming story), and they told us the epic news about the “hush-hush” project they had been working on with Hot Wheels!
Now we can finally share the great news with all our readers, and the above picture shows you the outcome. Hot Wheels is producing the legendary Hakosuka in die-cast form! Just to be clear, this isn’t a KPGC10 Skyline GT-R, it is actually a KGC10 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-X. One of the coolest things about this die cast project is the JNC inkan on the doors. Congratulations, guys!!!
The detail on the car is really nice! It has exterior oil cooler hoses, headlight covers and the interior is fully caged. JNC says it’s heavier than your typical Hot Wheels car so you KNOW this car is gonna fly down the track! Any one still have their orange Hot Wheels track? (more…)
CARSPOTTING> 1978 Saab 99 Turbo at Carlisle
I spotted this 1978 Saab 99 Turbo 16V Aero owned by John Webber at the 2009 Carlisle Import/Kit-Replicar Nationals back in May. It sits lowered on a set of 16″ Saab 9000 wheels and sports a custom front air dam for a pretty aggressive yet clean look. The bright orange 99T definitely stood out amongst all the other Saabs in attendance.
I don’t think we’ve ever featured any Saabs on MotorMavens before, but I thought it would be appropriate considering today’s news. Following two decades of mismanaging and after nearly a year of failed attempts to find a buyer for Saab, GM announced earlier that the quirky Scandinavian automaker would begin shutting down operations.
I’ve never really been that into Saabs but I did appreciate their, for lack of a better term, quirkiness (I tried using a thesaurus but there simply is no better word to describe the brand).
RIP
:: Dan Hsu
CARSPOTTING> Porsche Boxster Spyder
SHOPAHOLIC> Walden Speed Shop
WEBMINING> Rally Finland Citroën C4
With all this excellent coverage of sideways hoonage on Motor Mavens recently, I thought we could use a little dose of vertical shenanigans. Here’s a clip of Russian rallyer Evgeny Novikov taking his Citroën C4 to the very limit, and perhaps a little beyond, of its designed purpose.
Props to the roadside photographers and their balls of steel, although I must chuckle a little at the guy in the video and his missed opportunity at what would’ve been an amazing shot. Remember to always be ready for that money shot, but don’t forget to have an exit strategy too!
::Dan Hsu
COVERAGE> Motorsport Auto Z-Car Nationals 2009
We took tons of photos at the event yesterday, so we'll have to spread out the Z photos into more than one posting. We admired Japanese Classic Car Show organizer Koji Yamaguchi's gorgeous orange 240Z as it basked in the sunlight, with it's straight up Japan-style look, fender mirrors and all.
Click here to check out more of our Z-Car Nationals photos after the jump! Read more...
COLLECTION> The Fifth Celica, RA20 RC Version!
Joji Luz's Fifth Celica
If you owned the fifth RA20 Toyota Celica in existence, you’d certainly be a proud papa – especially if your car was in the same condition Joji Luz‘s Number 5 Celica was in! Joji’s car is always, always clean. It has been featured in Sport Compact Car Magazine (RIP SCC), and is always on display at the annual Toyotafest put on by TORC, the Toyota Owners and Restorers Club and at the Japanese Classic Car Show.
It seems the Number 5 Celica recently had a baby – and here it is! This is an ABC Hobby RA20/TA22 Toyota Celica body, painted to look just like Joji’s Celica. We think it looks great – same color, same wheels and everything! Even the stance of the RC looks cool! Look how far those wheels stick out from the slightly exaggerated fenders!
Time to start painting our nostalgic Japanese car ABC Hobby bodies!
::Dan Hsu
