Japanese Nostalgic Car

Kids don’t know anything, and as a kid there were many cars that I thought were incredible until I grew up and my brain got better. Growing up in the 80s, I had the obligatory Countach poster on my wall, thought the DeLorean was fast for hitting 88 mph, and wished for nothing more than a talking Firebird. Conversely, I grew up reading the big four buff books and thought Japanese cars were cheap appliances that people only bought because they couldn’t afford a better car from Europe. Even as an grown-up who should’ve known better, I briefly indulged my childhood dream of owning a C3 Corvette, but as they say, don’t meet your heroes. If I only knew then what I do now, I could’ve saved myself a pricey mistake.

What car did you love as a kid but realized was terrible when you got older?

The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What automotive T-shirt do you wish existed?” Continue reading →

Today, July 20, is T-shirt Day in Japan. It was chosen to coincide with Marine Day, which celebrates the ocean, on the third Monday of July, but also because T is the 20th letter of the alphabet. The T-shirt isn’t just a simple yet convenient way to cover your torso. It’s also a conversation starter, a way of declaring your loyalties, or a canvas for a pointed statement. And it’s pretty easy to find a shirt with, say, a Miata on it, but what about more obscure automotive references, bad dad jokes, or hot takes? Something that will identify your allegiance the second someone sees it?

What automotive T-shirt do you wish existed?

The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “If you could only drive cars from one marque for your entire life, what marque would it be?” Continue reading →

We all have our favorite marques, but how committed are we really? Back in the day, if you grew up a Chevy man, you’d stay a Chevy man for life. I knew a guy whose dad bought a new Chrysler every other year well into the late 80s. I remember him trading in a perfectly good (relatively speaking for an 80s Pentastar product, of course) New Yorker for a slightly newer, zero-mileage facelifted example. Sometimes the allegiance was multi-generational.

Brand loyalty isn’t really a thing anymore, but let’s pretend you had to pledge your devotion to just one marque for your entire life, and for every stage of it. What would you pick for your school-age set of wheels, family hauler, and midlife crisis-mobile? And we’re limiting it to marque, not company, so no cross-pollination between Nissan and Infiniti, for example, but Datsun is grouped with Nissan because that was a name change.

If you could only drive cars from one marque for your entire life, what marque would it be?

The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What selfless car-related thing do you do for others?“. Continue reading →

Today, July 6, is Helping Hand Car Wash Day in Japan. The origins date all the way back to the year 755 and is related to the holiday Tanabata, traditionally held on July 7. Without getting too deep into the backstory, Tanabata is supposedly the one day a year when two star-crossed deities, Orihime and Hikoboshi, represented by stars in the night sky, are allowed to meet, but only if it doesn’t rain. However, if it rains on the day before Tanabata, legend has it that it’s because Hikoboshi is washing his oxcart in preparation for meeting Orihime. You gotta pick your date up in a clean ride, right? The purpose of Helping Hand Car Wash Day is to encourage people to consider others, just as Hikoboshi diligently washes his oxcart for his loved one.

What selfless car-related thing do you do for others?

The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your best story about buying or selling a car via auction?”. Continue reading →