The 2018 Japanese Classic Car Show was held on September 15, in Long Beach, CA. This is the original vintage Japanese-car event in SoCal and in its 14th year, JCCS has grown incredibly–over 430 cars covered the lawn of Marina Green Park. The vehicles themselves remained a fantastic blend of stock, modified and restored. This is the most important show for Japanese cars, and the Z Car Garage crew keeps coming back every year to soak up the sun, see old friends and drool over some spectacular vintage builds.
ZCG Displays Two Z Cars!
Z Car Garage displayed two customer cars at the show: Randy Jaffe’s 1970 Datsun 240z and James Stevens’ 1972 Datsun 240z. Randy’s Z was completed in time to be our booth car. This Series 1 S30 started as a project car 4-years ago with paint/bodywork performed by Bryson Richards of Classic Livery. The Z was shipped to us from Georgia for finishing Randy’s vision of a wild show/go race car:
Inspiration for the Jagermeister livery came from Randy’s obsession with Porsche, and the Max Moritz Racing Porsche 934.
We will take an in-depth look at this Z in separate post, but here are a few key details. Providing room for the 275/315-width tires is an authentic Pandem Rocketbunny aero kit. Randy channeled his passion for racing into this build and the chassis is virtually identical to his #46 BRE Datsun 240z, using zinc’d DP Racing suspension parts. The engine is a big displacement L-series running 13:5:1 compression, triple-Mikuni ph44s, a Fujitsubo header and glorious BRE-style exhaust. Running gear includes a close-ratio ZX transmission, OS Giken LSD for the 4.11 R180, our ZCG CV Axles and ZCG Big-Brake Kit (race version).
We are happy to report that Randy’s Z won 1st place, Best 240z in a class filled with incredible Z cars!
James’s 1972 S30 was displayed with fellow Z car owners in the show. At the heart of this beast is a turbocharged L-series managed by Haltech. Chassis upgrades include custom full-length subframe connectors, our ZCG CV Axles and Big-Brake Kit (328mm) behind Volk TE37V wheels.
A stack instrument cluster was integrated into the gauge pod, viewed from leather Recaro Pole Position seats. This Z has a very unique sound. We recently tuned it on E85, dyno results and videos coming soon!
We are very happy for James as he won the award for Best of JC Speed!
Stay tuned for in-depth reports on both of these Z cars coming to zcarblog.com.
Showtime!
Our friend and talented racer Troy Ermish transported both of our Z cars (and his 510) down to Long Beach Friday afternoon. Below is a video of the Z’s loading from the shop:
We unloaded early Saturday morning from the expansive parking lot near the new venue in Marina Green Park. Immediately we could tell this location was larger and more vendor-friendly than The Queen Mary of past shows. Our booth was situated in a great spot, at the mid-point of the show with our neighbors from OS Giken.
We had lots of traffic at the ZCG booth. Randy’s Z definitely created a buzz, and enthusiasts checked out our Big-Brake kit for small wheels, CV Axles and picked up some free swag. Thanks to customers, fans and friends that stopped by! We met many great Datsun fans and enjoyed talking cars.
The Rocketbunny 240z of course was the star, garnering positive feedback and some nice media exposure:
Highlights from JCCS
Enjoy this video I made highlighting the sights and sounds of JCCS 2018:
Why do we keep coming back to JCCS? Each year the bar is raised for the show cars, and this year was truly impressive. With over 430 cars and 70 vendors it was almost impossible to see it all in the 9am-3pm show time. Here are our favorites, starting with Nissan/Datsun.
Nissan’s return to JCCS
The OEMs have always participated at JCCS since inception in 2005, but Nissan Corporate started only in 2016. They did have an official display, but this year their showing left us wanting more than the base model 370z (and a few others) on display. What did draw my attention was this 1965 Fairlady SPL, owned by to automotive journalist Lyn Woodward.
Skylines
Here are few of my favorite Nissans and Datsuns, starting with that not-so forbidden fruit commonly known as the hakosuka Skyline. There was no shortage of C10 chassis Skylines this year and my favorite was Rick Ishitani’s restored 1971 2000 GT-X. A mint interior, correct spec badging, spot-on stance with re-barreled gunmetal Watanabe wheels stuffed under new Speed Forme flares set this one off from the rest.
JDM Legends showed its stunning Safari Gold KPGC10 GT-R, fresh from the display at the Japanese Automotive Invitational. This Skyline was just as clean underneath!
Robbie Pyle’s authentic KPGC10 Skyline, and Joel Tan’s C10 in the Colin wheel booth:
Roy De Guzman’s Hako sported a new look with the premier Pandem Rocketbunny flare kit and Cross Fever wheels:
The lone Kenmeri Skyline!
Mel’s R30 4-door on Volk Racing Artisan Spirit Fins:
Raul’s R31 Skyline was a total surprise, wrapped in the amazing Calsonic livery. It was rad!
I didn’t expect to see a large gathering of R32 Skylines, even a 4-door!
Of course, my favorite was Naveed’s R32 with Nismo LM-GT2 wheels:
Z Car Extravaganza
Z cars from all generations were in full force with cars spanning crested lawn of the Marina Green Park. I’m a big fan of subtle modified Z’s but I can also appreciate pristine, bone-stock examples and the occasional shakotan build.
Stock is good: Johnnie Gable’s S30, RHD FairladyZ and 112 yellow ’72:
Star Road 280z:
My favorite modified Z car was from Kyle Kuhnhausen: this car was built from the ground-up with tons of self-fabricated parts. Dubbed “inZanity”, it literally has an insane amount of detail work. See you at SEMA Kyle!
It even caught the eye of SEMA-veteran Dominic Le!
Matt Kochaon’s 240Z on classic SSR meshies
Good old triple-carb’d L-series power!
No less, than THREE RB26DETT-powered S30s and a VQ35:
A pair of S130s:
Wild Z Cars
Z31s were plentiful too, in both stock and modified examples:
The Nissan S12 chassis has been growing in popularity. Known as the “200sx” stateside there were some cool examples of both hatchback/coupe bodystyles.
With the “Neo classics” category welcoming cars up to 1995, five Z32s showed up! Kevin Neely’s silver TT, and a very clean white NA with Stoptechs behind Nismo wheels were standouts:
People
At the JCCS it is always great to see old friends! Thanks to everyone that visited the ZCG booth. Below: JDM Legends, Big Mike, Robb Ferguson and Mario Lozano
Our friends at BringaTrailer.com and JNC:
Datsun Fairlady Roadsters
The Datsun Roadsters came out in full force this year, running 13 cars strong!
In addition to familiar faces and roadsters, I spotted two 1967 Datsun 2000’s!
More roadster pics in our gallery!
Datsun 510s
Datsun 510s were the most represented model at JCCS! From stock to modified wagons, coupes and sedans it was epic!
RHD converted and slammed with L-series power:
Troy showed his 510 race car “Penny”:
Next to Troy was his “Tanto 510” build for actor Daniel Wu. This 510 won 1st place! Congrats Troy and Daniel!
Steve Elamparo’s 1973 Datsun 510 in the Techno Toy Tuning booth. NA S14 SR20DE, Watanabe wheels and super low stance.
13B Turbo powered Dime in the vendor area!
I’ve drooled over of Wild Cards member John Ross Huckins’ 1972 Datsun 510 wagon since we first saw it at JCCS many years ago. It has a 4-link rear end, built SR20DET and tons of neat touches. You can see more on Speedhunters HERE
Even more wagons:
An incredible number of Dimes were displayed this year, please see our gallery for more pictures.
Not a Dime
Our customer Kevin M drove his RL411 Bluebird all the way down from the Bay Area! We will have a report on this build soon.
Datsun 1200’s
My first time seeing a Sunny wagon and truck side by side!
A lowered Isuzu Gemini, only at JCCS, people!
Dogs Love Trucks!
Jose Tarin’s 521 sported a Toyota BEAMS engine:
Neo classics: Kei (tiny) cars
Autozam AZ-1, Honda Beat and Nissan Figaro:
Mazda
Mazda had yet again a very impressive corporate presence. This year however, I was shocked to see only a handful of RX-2/RX-3s.
Toyota
Toyota always has a huge corporate involvement with an assortment of race cars. No corporate showing this year! Toyota owners came to the rescue with some killer examples:
Great showing of RA29 (Liftback) Celicas!
Crown Wagon:
3TC-powered TA27 Corolla:
3nd gen Celicas:
My favorite MA61 though was his Supra-powered sleeper:
Sprinter trueno on rare Watanabe wheels:
Lexus SC/Soarer group:
Honda
Honda also had a great corporate presence. The Neo Classics Hondas were my favorite:
EF hatchback slammed on SSR Takechi Project Racing Hart Spinner Fin wheels…
Super clean EF chasis with K20 swap and Volk TE37 wheels:
It was strange seeing DC-Integras at the show:
Honda S600, coupe and N600
Wheels For Fantasy
I personally love going to JCCS because I get to see very rare Japanese/tuner wheels and parts. Preservation of authentic wheels and appreciation of the time and effort spent to find certain specimens that most folks have never heard of in this generation is what I admire most. My favorite wheel at JCCS: Speed Star Racing Air Stage Tommy D’s Starlet:
Variations on the mesh wheel from BBS, Epsilon, SSR, Volk, Bahn and more. You can’t go wrong!
Many more pictures from JCCS in the gallery!
Thank You JCCS!
It is difficult to run a car show and keep up the quality and interest levels but the folks at JCCS have managed to do exactly that for 14 years! No other show gives you the chance to see obscure, pristine, modified Japanese classics…and we look forward to next year’s entrants. Koji and Terry the new venue is great, almost overwhelming with the number of cars! We hope you have enjoyed our coverage and please visit our mega-gallery for more pictures. Special thanks to the ZCG crew and Troy Ermish.
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