Coverage:JCCA New Year Meeting In Tokyo Part One

Madness. That is the only word that can describe yesterday's Japanese Classic Car Association New Year Meeting in Odaiba, Tokyo. For a Japanese classic car enthusiast or even just a fan of cars in general, this event is a rite of passage. It is a tradition for enthusiasts go gather in their home areas and make the predawn-dawn cruise down to Odaiba for the meeting. Unfortunately my trip was not quite so exciting. After waking up at 6am, we headed south at 80mph through the countryside on the Tsukuba Express. In the early morning sun Mt. Fuji was visible, which is a good sign as it is rare to be able to see Fuji-san from Ibaraki. After changing trains a couple times in Tokyo, we finally reached the event site on the man-made super island of Odaiba. The streets were lined with vintage cars of all types, waiting to get into the show or the spectator parking lots. While about 400 cars were in the show itself, that actual number of classic cars in Odaiba was probably closer to 1000.

For this year's meet, Toyota was the featured mark. Virtually every Toyota model was present. Including the Sports 800, 2000GT, KP Starlet, various generations of the Crown, Mark II, Celica, and what had to be the biggest gathering of TE27's that I have ever seen in one place. Here's a few of the Toyota's from the show.

Some of the many TE27's in the show, check out the rally-style fog lights on the left car.

Nearly all of the TE27's were either this Orange color or the British Racing Green-esque color seen above.

These two Hayashi Street-equipped Celicas were nearly identical, with the exception of one being a coupe and the other being a lift-back.

More vintage Toyota compacts just outside the main gate.

Two Starlets with TRD flare kits.

This left -hand drive Cressida Wagon was imported from the United States. Note that it still has a California blue plate. This car was one of many left hand drive Japanese cars at the show that were "re-imported" back from the United States. Some of the others included another Cressida sedan, a 2-door Datsun 510, a Datsun 620 Pick-up truck and a couple 240Z's.

Low Crown Wagon on whitewalls = cool. Note the custom number plate "1966", the year of the car.

Rare Crown 2-door hard top.

The 2000GT looks great in gold. This example is from Tsukuba city, where I am living now.

Toyota Publica Roadster.

Mitsubishi was the featured mark at last year's show, but even this year I was surprised by the number of classic cars from the three diamond boys.

Part of the day's festivities included parades where the entrants would cruise around the area. This provided a great opportunity to see and hear the cars action. Though to really see them in action we will have to wait until the JCCA racing festivals later in the year. Here is a Galant during one of the parade runs.

The classic Mitsu guys are a small, but dedicated bunch.

The Honda enthusiasts were also out in force with a number of Z's, N360's and S roadsters.

All original Honda Z.

You don't hear a lot about early Honda's being street-modified like the other makes, but check out this N360 with SSR Mk.2's and bolt-on flares, among other modifications. This was one of my favorite cars at the show.

I love how the exhaust comes out of the grill.

Check out the Advan rubber, so cool.

Honda S800 coupe.

Isuzu is a pointless brand in the United States now, selling only re-badged Chevy SUV's, but they used to make some really cool stuff in Japan, like the Bellett GT.

Bellett's get wicked negative camber in the rear when they are lowered.

The owner of this Red Bellett came all the way out from Shizuoka Prefecture.

Now for the vintage Nissan's, which have the biggest following and appeared in the greatest numbers. By the end of the day I was almost "sick" of seeing of Hakosuka's, Kenmeri's and S30Z's. That is a good thing.

240ZG.

Hakosuka sedan.

Although most C10's are usually silver or white, they also look quite good in bright red, like this 4 door.

Timeless.

Laurel SGX.

110 Sunny GX.

More Hakosuka craziness.

S20 under the hood of a genuine Z432.

C10 Skyline Van (wagon) in the parking lot.

Although not ultra-well embraced by Z fans in the US and abroad, the S130 has a strong following Japan. It was a very important car in the early days of the Japanese tuning scene.

Nissan Cedric in taxi form. Looks straight out of Seibu Keisatsu.

Datsun Roadster Club display.

Extremeley rare KPGC110 Skyline GTR, genuine.

Here are a few of some other unique vintage Japanese vehicles from the show-

These early "san rin-sha" (three wheeled vehicle) are the predecessors to the current kei trucks that fill the roads of Japan.

Early Toyota Vans.

These early Subaru vans and pick-ups were sold in the United States as well, just not the ultra-fast STI version. (That was a not very funny joke.)

This is awesome. It's like a mother san-rin truck carrying it's child.

Before there was the Titan and Tundra, there was this. I love the wide whites.

This guy was giving demonstrations and cruising around all day, he kind of looks like Gen. Kuribayashi from Letters From Iwo Jima.

Most Japanese people known Hino as the maker of large commercial trucks, but they used to make passenger cars as well. You can see a lot of Chevy Corvair influence in this Contessa Coupe.

This beast was in the swap meet area.

Besides all of the classic Japanese machinery, the New Year Meeting also includes foreign cars of all types, from American low riders and muscle cars to VW's, Jags, and many other European cars. The quality of these cars was absolutely amazing.

This 'Cuda can be found at drag strips all over Japan.

Ridin' solo.

You don't buy a car like this and then complain about people giving you weird looks when you are driving down the road.

Huge gathering of Lotus Europa's.

A 1957 Plymouth, very similar to the car from the movie Christine. I was brought up around old American cars so I will always have a soft spot for cars like this. This is one of my favorites.

Alfa time.

For a moment I thought I was in East LA or the LBC. Dre and Snoop would be proud.

Lastly, a few shots from the swap meet/auto jumble area. For those with money to spend, there were a million different ways to spend it at the New Year Meeting. Vendors sold everything from parts and wheels to toys, models, magazines, and stickers. You could even purchase whole cars. Next year I am going to drive to this event so I will have a way to get stuff home. I don't think it would be too fun carrying a set of wheels home on the train.

Take your pick!

Sticker city.

I need to stay away from places like this.

S30Z sus.

Check out the S20 cam cover.

Nothing is cooler than selling the parts from the back of a Skyline van.

That wraps up the coverage of the show itself. I think this probably the longest single post I have made since I started this site. Check out the full photo album with 370+ photos right HERE. If that is not enough, don't worry. This post is just half of the action from the New Year Meeting. The surrounding parking lots and streets were just as, if not more exciting the show itself. If you want to see more, or think that these cars are a little to "mild" for you, wait until you see the next post. Look for it soon.

Comments

[Vince]

OMG This is proply the best blog post I have ever read in my life. And all those Classics >< Forget about aerodynamics it's all about the looks. I wish I was born in that era where gas are leaded and prices were 50cents a gallon and riding cool looking classics with no emission laws.

[HoTWire]

LTRFTW, Great entry. Make sure you gets yourself to Nakayoshi Hot Olds Meet in the summer for more classic Japanese goodness.

I'm hoping that your next post contain some friends cars as I know they were there,.. and are a bit more extreme.

Keep up the great work.

[ZOLTAN]

This has to begoing the crzyest old skool auto coverage i havve ever seen my god i could handle the pics >were assome im to this wen it comes next time no duot and definalty bringing my s30z >time to take a trip to japan

[Yawnny Cash]

Oh my gawd, best part of my Monday....no, scratch that, best part of my WEEK!! Thank you thank you thank you.............

j!

[Warren]

That make me want to be there right now! Next year I'll be for sure here to see this event!!!

[Carl King]

I've never been a small size classic car guy, but there is a lot of beauty in some of these. These classic cars are about as clean as they come.

They even have some full size 60's series Chevy Impala models. The focus on these classic car restorations seems to be more on originality than here in America.

Nice work!

[Josh / F/M Tuning]

Absolutely amazing.