Archive for April, 2009

The “Do Want” files, case #45674

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April 23, 2009
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It’s KHR31 heaven this week on Goo.

The R31 Skyline packed on the pounds and shed a lot of the raw edge that made its predecessor the R30 such a thrill to drive – making it more subdued and quite possibly the black sheep of the ‘modern’ era of Skyline – but it made up for this by virtue of its HICAS and 4WAS technological wizardry, brand-spanking new RB inline six with ceramic turbo for instant boost response, and carrying over the mega-angular styling cues of the R30 while other manufacturers began inclining towards more rounded, graceful shapes.

Exhibit A: 1986 Skyline GTS-X turbo

KHR31

How is it so slammed?

Yours for the sum of 598,000 yen, complete with “panel board” rear spoiler and slammed on 14″ XR4s :D

…which is a point of minor contention, really. I know there are folks out there who like ridiculously small wheels and stretched licorice-strip tyres, but from a purely aesthetic point of view a car the size of a R31 really deserves some larger diameter XR4s with bigger profile tyres; 195/50R15s would be perfect (plus you get to keep your stretch!)

Exhibit B: 1987 Skyline GTS-X turbo

KHR31

You'd better hope that front spoiler don't catch on nothing.

this one’s a ‘facelift’ KHR31, identifiable by the snazzy projector bulb headlights and covered tail lamps. The retractable front spoiler receives mixed reactions, but I for one like it. At 580,000 yen it’s a smidge cheaper than the example above, but you know as well as I do that it’s simply crying out for some less ugly wheels!

: Car Spotting

Cars For Sale

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April 22, 2009
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Initially when I put my S12 up for sale, I pondered putting it on here.  I didn’t really see too much point and so decided against it.  More likely than not, most that read this are far from my tiny hometown of Invercargill, NZ and being it’s at the bottom of the South Island, not that many people are likely or even vaguely keen to want to drive the distance to get such a car unless it was mint.  Which mine is not.  It’s tidy enough and it does it’s job well as a reliable daily driver but it’s certainly not mint.

Then recently when Alistair decided he would be putting his Isuzu Bellett up for sale (a previous feature car on RC, as seen here) I offered for him to put it up here on RC as an entry.  Then the thought occured to me that perhaps I should dedicate a section of the website as a classifieds type area for as the title of this entry says “Cars For Sale”, it seems the done thing on most magazines, to have a dedicated section of cars available to buy.  SO … why not?  It wouldn’t exactly be a hard thing to manage.  However, I wouldn’t want to engage in something if there was little purpose.  So what I will do in this entry, is ask you the reader whether you think it would be a good idea or not.

Just make a comment on this blog entry, letting me know what you think and I’ll weigh it up based on the responses.  Alternatively you can use the RC forum or the RC thread on the oldschool.co.nz forum to let your opinion be known.

…and as to make this entry not an entire wasted breath.  If you’re interested in an S12 or a Bellett, then follow these links… (more…)

: Authors Cars

Old in New

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April 21, 2009
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I was going to provide a video link for today’s entry, showing something cool from YouTube that I hadn’t found yet.  I then discovered that Broccoli from oldschool.co.nz had already discovered something that I thought was sweetly epic so I figured I’ll just roll with that.

I have seen before, on auction an R32 Skyline Coupe with an L28 on triples, it’s not a common occurrence for people to swap an RB for an L and is infact far more common for the opposite to happen.  I do think however, that more people should swap in L6′s.  Like this chap has…

Would be so much sweeter to see it actually powering the car but still… it’s pretty damned cool to see.
-Michael

: Retro Videos

Want to buy from YAJ? Here’s How.

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April 20, 2009
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Having recently gone through this myself, I thought I would share the simple process with you all so you feel less worried by it or rather can just understand the simplicity of it all and realise there’s little to lose and much more to be gained.

If you’re like me, you would have spent ages scouring the YAJ (Yahoo! Auctions Japan) website, countless hours of countless days dreaming the dream of owning those parts that are seemingly unavailable anywhere else other than shops in Japan which you’re unable to visit or they’re un-willing to send, or the worst of the lot that they’re not unwilling to send but rather that there’s the language barrier.  So, here’s the solution!

When you use their contact form, the person you’ll come into contact with is Ewan.  He’s a friendly and exceedingly helpful chap and best of all, he comes from New Zealand and so speaks and understand English perfectly.

So, you’ve got a contact point.  What now? (more…)

: YAJ - Yahoo! Auctions Japan

2009 ‘Exciting Car Show’ – Japan.

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April 20, 2009
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OK, so not all these pictures are of a retro nature and on top of that, they’re not a massive resolution but what they do show is another viewpoint taken by the non-professionally mannered photographers, a different angle on some of the cars we’ve already seen at this show via other websites such as noriyaro.com and speedhunters.com.  The few I’ve sampled here are essentially the retro shown.  You can see the rest by clicking the album link at the base of this entry.

Japanese Modified Mini

Japanese Modified Mini

How cool is that little Mini?  The answer…  Very.  Fender Mirrors, SSR’s, Hilarious Roofrack to carry picnic type table.   I dig it.

Next up, this little SE70 Corolla that everyone seems to love; (more…)

: Events
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