Japanese Classic Car Show 2007
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If you like classic cars, this is the Japanese take on it. The Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach is incredibe.
My friend Justin flew in from KC to help shoot the event for Nissan Sport, and we met up with a local Datsun 510/Datsun Roadster owner at 6am the morning of the event to help him drive down the cars and shoot photos as the sun rose.
Driving down a tall hill, then down 5 and 710 in what amounts to a race-prepped Datsun 510 is quite an experience. No power steering wasn't a surprise, but no power brakes sure were. Switch the fuel pump on, hold down the gas, then start the car. Try not to rear-end the owner, driving in his Datsun Roadster in front of us, as we come to a stop. Windows down, get it up to speed... and the sensation quickly goes from one of mildly foreign nature to holy freakin' crap this is AWESOME. Power isn't great compared to what we're used to, some 30 years later, but roaring along, Justin shooting off pictures from his seat, half way out of his seat, sorta hanging out the window, and the whole car coming alive as you get it up to speed. The manual steering, heavy and awkward for someone 10 years younger than the car is, disappears as we hit 35, 45, 55, 65 miles an hour into something very precise and direct. It still doesn't talk to you like an E36 M3 does, but it's direct and communicative all the same.
It turns out we're there to help setup, almost 3 hours before the show really gets underway. The array of classic hardware is impressive. I wish I knew the names of half of it.
A Laurel SGX, the 240Z with the complete 350Z automatic (!) powertrain and interior conversion, Dave Coleman's Sport Compact Car Project Rally Beater (a Datsun 510), SoCal-SERCA's own Annie Sam's B12 turbo race car, and a number of other one-offs were present, too. Mike Kojima made a later appearance, although the SERCA people aside from Annie weren't showing any cars, so participation there was minimal.
The major commerical presence was Mazda, who dragged out a number of classics, plus quite a few race cars and some Japanese (American-local?) race queens for good measure. (drool...) Toyota had the next largest presence, dragging out some serious classics and an impressive trailer. Nissan was also there, showcasing their newest items-- the Rogue SUV, Nismo 350Z, and Altima coupe.
All images (c) 2003-2007 Brian J. Won (homepage). vq30de.net and brian1.net are property of Brian J. Won. VQ30DE is Nissan's engine designation for their all-aluminum 3.0L gasoline DOHC engine. No infringement or misuse of the VQ30DE designation is intended.
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