With all that’s been going on, these photos almost seem as if they were shot ages ago but it’s only been about a month since I returned from Japan. I honestly do miss Japan very much right now but with this pandemic not seemingly slowing down any time soon, it doesn’t look like another trip is going to happen. I’m glad I made the most out of my two trips this year because all this content is really helping to keep me busy these last few weeks. While most are in self-isolation and looking for things to do, I’ve been on my own editing photos almost every night and honestly just finished everything the other day. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do now but I have some ideas circulating daily so we shall see which actually comes to fruition…
The Nostalgic 2Days event was a first for me. I’ve heard of it before but I don’t follow the Japanese classic car community that closely. I go to the Japanese Classic Car Show here in Long Beach annually but I’d never been to a car show like that in Japan. It sounded like a cool idea. Der told me that he came across their Instagram account and found out that the show was happening the same weekend as Attack over in Yokohama. It was a two-day event but the first day overlapped our time in Tsukuba but we decided to devote our afternoon the following day to seeing what Nostalgic 2Days had to offer. Granted, I don’t know all that much about Japanese classic cars but I do appreciate most forms of Japanese automotive tuning and styling. I’m also trying to constantly find new opportunities to see everything that Japan has to offer when it comes to cars so this couldn’t have worked out better…
Der’s main objective was going to Nostalgic 2Days to acquire the extremely rare Watanabe Falcon steering wheel. These wheels are long-discontinued but Watanabe still had some dead stock without the horn buttons left. They decided to make them available to the public only at Nostalgic 2Days and Der wanted one for his collection…
The interesting thing about this show was that it had an entire section dedicated to selling new and used parts, accessories, and toys. Think of it as a swap meet where vendors could sell just about anything they wanted as long as it related to cars. I’ve never really seen anything like it in Japan so overall, it was a pretty cool experience. There wasn’t a whole lot of variety in terms of styling and execution but you wouldn’t expect it from a show that caters mostly to Japanese tuning cars of old. I did see some pretty rare parts on some of these cars and rare cars themselves so that was cool…
While we were on our way to Yokohama that morning, we spotted this super clean Cadillac Series 62 Eldorado Biarritz cruising on the highway. Appropriate sighting I guess considering where we were headed…
One of the first cars that caught my eye when we arrived was this C10 Hakosuka Skyline running Speed Forme flares and Volk TE37V wheels…
The L-series engine inside the Hakosuka featured a Kameari-reproduced Datsun L6 competition valve cover with the signature “PRINCE 245” on top…
Car Service Hiro works-style Datsun 240Z on RS Watanabe wheels…
Number7 Racing’s C10 Hakosuka coupe running a Pandem kit with carbon headlight covers and Watanabe wheels…
Mizuno Works brought out two Datsun/Nissan builds presented in their signature green colorway…
Behind the 240Z was this Kenmeri Skyline sedan with wide flares, rebarreled steel wheels, and a bumper-less rear-end with just a single taillight on each side…
R30 Skyline RS-Turbo looking clean and simple on classic Work Equip 03 wheels…
This A70 Supra from Garage Fun on BBS LM wheels was actually for sale for anyone willing to spend 20K on it…
There were a plethora of Hakosuka Skylines in the building but only likely a handful which were actual GT-R models. The rest were mostly 2000GTs running the “GT-R” badge which is quite common there…
Nostalgic 2Days had their own specific line-up of cars on display, ranging from Skylines to FC RX-7s and more…
This particular AE86 Levin stood-out to me, with its traditional black/white two-tone and SSR Dori Dori wheels…
You ever wonder what a $50,000 engine looks like? Well here you go. This is the famed OS Giken TC24-B1Z engine which is a complete engine that can be special ordered from OS Giken. It uses all of their best products like their forged and counter-balanced crankshaft, H-beam connecting rods and oversized pistons…
The star of this show is the TC24-B1 head, which is completely reworked from the inside and features their own camshafts, valves, valve adjusters, and a gear conversion that replaces the old chain-driven distribution system. The engine revs to 10,000RPM and also comes with this equal-length header and Weber carbs…
Speaking of beautiful engines, here’s a Tomei Genesis RB26 engine that was on display at their booth showcasing their new turbo manifold and twin turbo set-up…
The twin-turbochargers on the Genesis complete engine are Tomei T550B ball-bearing units…
The “Genesis” badge on the cam cover of the RB26DETT…
Tomei wire cover which replaces the factory piece…
Kazumasa Hirota’s Tomei Datsun Sunny B110 race car on display. This Sunny is actually a replica of the original Tomei Sunny #84 competition car built with the help of Tomei…
The Datsun A12 engine features a Tomei Genesis cylinder head with custom oversized valves, valve springs, a Balinit-treated rocker shaft, Nismo valve lifters, and Tomei rocker cover clamps. Also check out the Tomei valve cover…
The displacement has been increased to 1303cc thanks to a 4mm overbore and 77mm Tomei pistons…
The header is also a Tomei piece, paired with a custom exhaust and Weber carbs…
Outside, Hirota’s Sunny hosts a set of fender flares, a front air dam, headlight delete panel, and rear wing. Those who aren’t regulars in the Japanese classic car community may not be aware of this car but it actually debuted back in 1998 at the Tokyo Auto Salon event…
I don’t know if it is still used for competition today but I did find an article online where it stated that it’s best lap time at Tsukuba Circuit was a 1’02.594. Comparing that with some of the cars I saw running at Attack, that’s a pretty quick lap time…
One of the few builds that I had encountered before coming to Nostalgic 2Days was Kosuke Mori’s LHD AE86 Corolla which I first saw at one of the Wekfest Japan events a couple years ago. It started out as a bare rough shell in the beginning and Mori went over every section of the Corolla by himself and restored it to this condition. The shell is actually currently for sale as it looks like he’s set to begin another project car…
20-Valve 4A-GE inside the shaven and smoothed out engine bay which has been resprayed in a light gray. The engine itself has upgraded cams, a balanced crank, ported cylinder head and this custom fabricated exhaust manifold…
Being a newer 20-valve version of the motor, the 4A-GE utilizes direct injection and individual throttle bodies which have been dressed-up with polished horns…
The most common build, if you can even call it that, at Nostalgic 2Days was the S30 chassis executed typically with bolt-on ZG flares and either a matching ZG front or a BRE front…
The Works Bell display featured this Datsun Bluebird SSS wearing a BRE front lip and a set of Volk TE37V wheels…
The one manufacturer that I did not expect to encounter at a Japanese classic car show was Rolls-Royce. Not only was there one in the building, but it was one that I’d also never encountered before or knew existed…
This is a Rolls-Royce Camargue, the first post-war Rolls-Royce production vehicle which was not designed in-house and was the creation of Paolo Martin at Pininfarina. It’s a two-door luxury vehicle which only 531 units were ever manufactured, making this one at Nostalgic 2Days quite rare, and under the massive elongated hood is a 6.7-liter Rolls Royce V8. An interesting factoid of the Camargue is that it was largely disliked by Rolls-Royce internally because of the design in which the body overhangs the wheels and the rear being sloped in such a way where it appeared as if the self-leveling suspension technology wasn’t doing its job properly…
Some of the better builds that I had encountered before were the demo cars from Star Road, one of the famed classic car tuners in all of Japan. This S30 Fairlady Z has been in numerous magazines, appeared at multiple events and is one of the staple builds of Star Road…
Right next to it, wearing the same paint tone and Glow Star wheels was the Star Road Hakosuka seated nice and low with carbon fiber over fenders and a matching carbon front lip…
While the two previous builds would be on the more aggressive end of the tuning spectrum, Star Road also hosted this silver C10 Hakosuka on a staggered set of Glow Star wheels with just the rears widened with a pair of fender flares…
Star Road and Restore-Parts.com collaborated on this widebody Fairlady Z mixing aero from Star Road and reproduction OEM body panels from the latter…
Under the bonnet is a L-series set-up with Mikuni carbs…
The Racing Service Watanabe booth was one of the bigger displays at Nostalgic 2Days, hosting their line-up of wheels and highlighted with this legit C10 Hakosuka GT-R coupe on their R-Type wheel…
Also displayed in a glass case was the rare Watanabe Falcon steering wheel in silver, available for about $1100 CASH….
This classic Japanese beauty is another car you don’t see too many of these days…
Despite its modern wheels and Endless brakes, the rest of this first-generation ’60s Nissan Silvia is essentially stock…
Inside the engine bay is a 1.6-liter Nissan R series engine with dual SU carburetors…
Such great body lines on this car and which showcases Nissan’s early design work before the influx of American muscle car-inspiration took over Japan in the 1970s…
I thought it was a little odd to see a Jaguar XJ on display at Nostalgic 2Days but something told me that there was something unique about this one…
My suspicions were confirmed once I got a little closer and looked under the hood to see a Toyota 2JZ-GTE swap…
Yet another beautifully assembled C10 Hakosuka coupe, this one on Work Equip 40 wheels with the ZG flares and front air dam package…
Standing out like a sore thumb in a sea of Japanese classic cars was this Ford GT40 MK I. I don’t know how this ended-up in Japan but I’m very sure whoever owns it now has some pretty deep pockets…
Speaking of incredibly rare and expensive vehicles, not too far away from the GT40 was this Mercedes 190E Evo II 2.5-16 which was brought to the show by Japanese collector car company Auto Roman…
Shibata R31House is known more for their DR30/31 Skyline builds but the Skyline-specialty shop also tinkers with other oddball Nissan platforms like this Leopard, better known to us in North America as the Infiniti M30. The outside remains relatively stock in appearance, other than the lowered ride height and R31House wheels/brakes but as you’d expect, there is much more lurking beneath the hood…
The F30 Leopard’s factory six-cylinder VG-engine is long gone and in its place now is a 2.5L inline six RB25DET swap. The RB sees upgrades with an R31House intake manifold and their Takaoshi MAX turbo manifold…
A favorite of mine which stood-out to me immediately was this Z31 Fairlady Z also built by R31House. I love oddball, underappreciated platforms and the Z31 is definitely one of the weirdest cars that Nissan produced during the 1980s that never really became one of those timeless platforms that remained popular to mod over the years. This one featured a huge front-mount intercooler, a lip kit which has been painted in gray to provide that two-toned look which matched the Leopard next to it, and classic BBS LM wheels…
I thought this might have been a swap but I did a little research and found out that the 200ZR trim model of the Fairlady Z of this generation actually came with a turbocharged RB20 engine. This one isn’t stock of course and sees an R31House turbo manifold, custom intake manifold and Blitz SUS Power Intake Kit…
Speed Forme Kenmeri Skyline with their over fender kit and Volk Racing TE37V Mark II wheels…
The Speed Forme S30Z G-Nose with their full kit and Wald Classics wheels which debuted just a few months ago at the Tokyo Auto Salon event…
The green Speed Forme Fairlady Z was yet another familiar build at Nostalgic 2Days. If you have followed my trips to Japan over the past few years, we’ve actually become quite close with the lovely people at Speed Forme and actually saw this Fairlady Z parked inside their home garage…
When I visited Speed Forme in January, they were actually putting this 20Soarer back together after they had resprayed the entire car specifically for this event…
Mizukami Auto’s S31 Fairlady Z looked great in all-white with its chrome accent trim pieces redone in a matte gray…
Der was worried that the steering wheels would be sold out by the second day of the show, since we were still at Attack Tsukuba on the first day of Nostalgic 2Days, but our friends from Speed Forme were nice enough to front the cash and help him get one. Before we left, Der picked it up and took it out of the box to show us. Congrats to Der for acquiring a Watanabe Falcon wheel. Being that the price was a bit steep, they actually were still available on the day we were there. I thought about getting one but I just couldn’t justify spending that kind of money on a wheel considering I’d never know what car to put it on or if I would ever even use it. I’m happy for Der though, he loves collecting stuff and this is definitely a good piece to add to his ever-growing pile of rare stuff. That’s all for Nostalgic 2Days, hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for looking…
No Car Shop Friend? that was a funny part of the video that I enjoyed. The name just sticks.