The 2011 Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS) was held this Saturday in Long Beach, CA. Our trip down to LA from the Bay Area included several freeway spottings including a clean Datsun 510 and 240z and this convertible Honda CVCC:

Despite some wet morning weather the show drew hundreds of spectators, some lining up 1hr before the 9am opening. We were stoked to hear that three S20-powered Nissans would be on display and it was truly a spectacular sight. You may have seen Tom’s 1971 Skyline KPGC10 GT-R from the Palo Alto Concours, but he also showed his Skyline KPGC110(Kenmeri) and a stunning Fairlady Z432!

The Z432 was impressive, check out the badging and almighty S20 with its beautiful tubular header:

The Kenmeri SKyline was also a treat to see. This body style and model is very rare, especially stateside 🙂

Still not satisfied with two Skyline GT-Rs? There were two more Skylines in the parking lot: a coupe and 4-door hakosukas both with modern engine transplants:

The great thing about JCCS is the variety of marques including Datsun, Mazda, Toyota, Honda, Mistubishi, just to name a few. We are Datsun nuts at heart but we can still appreciate other wicked JDM metal. That being said let’s start with some highlights of the show from the Datsun crowd 🙂

These two Datsun 510s that caught our eye on the freeway were very sharp in person. Both were 4-doors with ultra-clean engine bays and great wheel choice… From the Work Equips to the smooth paint and understated interior….briliant work.

The blue 510 was sporting some Hayashi Street replicas and they look fantastic

We really wanted to know what was lurking under the hood of this Dime. It had a subtle Bamboo Tan-like paint job and some serious 18″ SSR SP3 wheels with Brembo calipers. From the back there were two large mufflers setup like a dual exhaust system. V8? V6? What could require such huge exhaust? Then we peeked under the front end to find a rack and pinion setup(ultra low) and a Rotary!



I love 510 wagons and this one was SR20-powered with a clever 4-link rear suspension.

Look Ma, no leaf springs!



If you are a fan of JDM/import wheels then JCCS is the place to be. It seemed like the year of the “mesh” style wheel with folks rockin’ everything fom Epsilons and SSRs to Simmons. Lots of replicas as well. Here are some of my favorites:

Several 240z cars were running RB25/26 drivetrains with single and twin turbo setups:

A group from Arizona had their Datsuns transported to the show on a car carrier…check out the 2-tone NL320 truck and Bluebird sedan:

Here are two strikingly different approaches to forced induction of the Lseries powerplant in 510s. A totally homebrew blow-thru SU setup and a very rare SK period-looking system:

Datsun Roadsters were out in full force. I spotted SRL #573 and a very sweet red ’69 2000 with black Nissan stripes:

As if you needed more Nissan/Datsun presence there were 3 SR20-powered Toyotas(Corolla and 2 AE86s)…if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em 🙂

Mazda was well represented by the Wankelholics and several wildly modified RX-coupes:

Toyota even showed their new LF-A supercar. There were plenty of Celicas and Starlets too.

Bisimoto diaplayed their 700whp Honda Civic wagon, it is a total beast! I think it needs a bigger turbo 🙂

Last but not least I had to tell you about this die-hard (or crazy) Datsun 510 owner that drove his dime all the way from Missouri! He even had a map highlighting his route. That’s how Datsun folks do it because Datsun are Driven!

We had a blast at the show and there were just too many cool cars to report on like all of the 411s, S12s, Z31s, Honda N600s, Bosozoku cars etc. so check the gallery!