The warm sun, the cool ocean breeze blowing through the trees; Downtown Long Beach makes the perfect venue for just about any get together – and the 6th annual holding of the Japanese Classic Car Show is no exception. Without a doubt JCCS is the show to go to to see the best in classic Japanese cars. Datsuns, Toyotas, and Mazdas from the 70’s and 80’s are littered throughout the grounds and parking lot. Some are daily driven, and some have been restored to show quality; there is definitely something for everyone. Take this Corolla for example; old school parts, executed with modern drift styling. It took me about 2 hours to walk through the show, and I tried to get a little of everything. Some photos will have a more retro look (i.e. warm temperatures, desaturated); I did this as a throw back to the era of the cars. Hope you enjoy!
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Engine swaps were as common as DSLR’s at this show. It’s a no brainer to swap to a more powerful engine when one becomes available. JDM 4A-GE’s and SR20’s were aplenty, replacing their single cam counterparts offered in North America. This is the bay from the Trueno pictured above; however, I’m guessing this is the stock engine…
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..because it’s RHD too.
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I was pleased to see a few Honda’s scattered around the grounds as well. This SCCA spec CRX was posted at the front, near the entrance. It was parked next to that cool little convertible one!
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This racing orange Celica was parked at the water’s edge in between a couple orange Fairlady Z’s. You could really feel the era of these cars as you walked around them. This show is like a time portal back to older times. I actually found myself a little jealous for being so young, and not getting to enjoy them in their prime.
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The S30 mentioned above. The old build on a larger set of modern wheels actually flowed pretty well. The body work on this was flawless.
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Shot at another angle, we can see it is another genuine Fairlady Z! RHD and as JDM as it gets. I wanted to see if the carb’d engine was still sitting in the bay.
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I’d say something like…mid-80’s Cressida. One of the few Sparkle Garage cars that made it out to the show.
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Downtown across the water – great day for a car show!
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There are so many variations of the 510, and to be honest, I’m not all that educated on them. That being said, I know for sure this is not the original engine. This bay was shiny and had a gigantic turbocharger. I was digging the yellow inner lights.
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A side shot reveals that it is a 2-door coupe, which looks to also have rear seats – although rendered useless by the roll bar. The 2-door sedan style was very popular in the late 60’s.
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This Datsun 610 wagon was one of the few five doors I saw at the show. Not in the greatest condition aesthetically, but on a platform like this, I’d take this style of build over a spotless restore. It just adds to the character. It has a Heartbreaker sticker on it, just like the one on Henry Nguyen’s S12, but they were no where near each other.
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Not positive, but it looks like it’s rolling on a set of Longchamps. I like how the owner has moved the mirrors to the front fenders. Nice touch! I’m not sure how he got it this low though. Probably a lot of custom work. Bagged?
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Another shot with the Queen Mary poking out over the hood’s of all the 240’s. For how old the wagon was, it really wasn’t in that bad of shape.
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As we were walking down the rows of cars I spotted these colorful zip-ties out of the corner of my eye. I got a little excited when I realized again that a lot of the owners of these cars actually use them. This Z was testament to that. I like the headlight covers too.
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Looks like it was on some custom colored Watanabe’s. It had a Hybrid badge from a Prius on it…hmmm. Yeah, it was swapped and turbocharged.
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I’ll finish off the first part of the show coverage with this wicked Skyline GT. Looks to me like a late edition C10 – one of the last ones before the C110’s. I don’t know what engine this one had, but I think these models came with the 2.o liter L20E as OEM spec. These are my all time favorite Skyline’s and I was a little disappointed to see only this, and one other at the show. Nevertheless, they were both really cool. I’ll have some shots of the other one, as well as dozens more in the next two or three posts. Stay tuned!
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