[Previous entry: "Trip to Hakone Pt.2"] [Next entry: "Another Visit to Daikoku"]

So one day while driving on the Wangan as I do from time to time, I looked in front of me and saw a strange collection of flashing lights. As I approached closer, I soon saw around forty power-ranger-esque police officers barricading the road. As it turns out, the street racing on the highways around Tokyo has become a big problem and the cops are out in force to try to stop it. On a popular turn-around interchange leading back into the Tokyo C1 loop, the police set up a check point where they stop any cars appearing to be illegally modified. I'll explain more about this in another post, but in short, my car's registration was revoked for several points of illegal modification. One of those points, was being too low. This brings us to today's post. I sometimes frequent Weld (a famous tuning shop) to check on parts and to see their amazing showroom. This time, I needed to stop by Weld to see if they had any stock R32 suspension I could borrow to fix my car with.


Unfortunately they didn't, and I had to resort to less conventional means to "adjust" the ride height of my car. On the drive home from Weld, a glimmer off an unmistakable shape caught my attention. My senses are fine tuned to notice any tuning cars driving about, even more finely tuned to notice oldschool Skylines such as the sexy Hakosuka.





Much to my giddy delight, I had noticed a Hakosuka Skyline hanging out at an oldschool Japanese sportscar dealership. It was already night and they had closed up for the day, but I sure wasn't going to miss the chance to caress and inspect so many rare vehicles sitting together in one place.





Right in the front, one of my true loves from before I was born was parked, enticing me with its alluring and timeless body lines. We of course know this car as the Datsun 240Z in the states, but here it's known as the S30 Fairlady Z (which I'm sure most of you knew already). This beast of a car had the sticker set at just shy of $19,000. Taken back by the price? Don't be, it's got barely any km on the odometer and it's been modified with the rarest of parts in the cleanest manner possible.





I walked a little behind the first S30 Fairlady to see a close twin S30 in the same perfect red color. To the left of the first S30 I found an ever rare Mazda RX-3. RX-3? Yea, there were plenty of RXs before the RX-7 and RX-8. Personally, I've only seen a chassis of one in the states, and this was the first chance for me to see a full one in person.





Look at the perfect lines... just perfect. These oldschool cars are referred to as "Kyuusha", which directly translates into "older version" and "car", or simple "oldschool car".





Back view of the Mazda RX-3. Dang.





Behind the 2nd S30 Fairlady there was the ever-awesome Hakosuka Skyline. This ones a 4-door model selling for around $18,000. Next to it on the left lies another older Skyline of which I can't define. If you recognize it, please email and let me know which one it is.





Here's a front view of the dealership with a long line of kyuusha just hanging out and making me cry tears of joy.





Another red S30 (was it that popular of a color back then?) with a slightly different front end and a more expensive $22,000 price tag.





A closer view of the RX-3. $20k is a lot of money for a car almost double my age. I also think this deep green is a timeless color for cars of that era. I'd love to paint a car that color someday.





Purple S30 Fairlady. $20k.





Another 4-door Hakosuka for a cheap $15,000. I plan to pick one up and import it in the next 5 years or so. Did you know that there is no import restrictions on these older Hakosuka Skylines? If you really want to be different and have a car almost noone else has, import one of these.





Aw, this car hold a special place in my heart. A friend of mine had one in high school for a short while and I have oh so many memories of pushing it down the road or getting high from the fumes of its leaking gas system. This car is known as the Datsun 510 in America and the Nissan Bluebird in Japan. This beast used to run alongside the Hakosuka and had the Toyota Corona as its rival. It evolved to the nowday Nissan Sylphy.





Here we have another Bluebird in that old green color. This is the first car I found that was under $10k with it's $9,300 price tag.





Here we have a the old Nissan Sunny. I believe (not certain) this is the B110 model with some aero parts added. This car never really came to the states but is old enough that you could legally import it. It later evolved into the Nissan Sentra, which is unfortuantely FWD and a complete disapointment in every way.





Here we have another Nissan Bluebird, but this time, it's a wagon in puke yellow. I have a personal grievance against wagon sportscars. I have the firm belief that you should seperate your car utility needs from your speed needs. You shouldn't go throw your golden retrievers in the back of your car for a quick spin to Costco, followed with a stop by the track. It makes your car look like it has some unexpected disfiguration. This is why the new Subaru STi gave me a strong desire to defecate upon its hood when I first saw it at the Tokyo Motor Show last year. Stop buying wagons so auto manufacturers get the idea that it's a wrong life choice.





A more basic yet clean white S30 Fairlady with under 20k km on the odometer. These cars are so sexy. I'm so glad that the new Nissan Z34 370Z has adopted the S30's traditional body lines.





Looking ahead from the white S30. The dealership is actually pretty small in size, but they sure fit in quite a few awesome cars.





Oldschool style fender flares with fat Watanabe wheels in black. It's hard to make a car look that good.





I wanted to get a close-up of the price tag on that RX-3. This car was made in 1974.





In addition to the outside selection of cars, they had an indoor showroom as well. Got a BMW for some reason on the right, a Bluebird SSS in the middle, and I have no idea on the left but it's suuuuuuper expensive ($40k).





Closer view of that Bluebird. The Bluebird offered a special edition in those years dubbed the SSS (stands for Super Sports Sedan). In Japan they offered this as the SSS-E, which had Nissan's first electronic fuel injection. All production cars prior to it were equiped with carburetors.


You're probably wondering, "gee, what's the name of this awesome and sweet dealership?" They're called Flex Auto Review and you can view their website here. After leaving this dealership, I was enlightened to the fact that these sorts of dealerships of not that uncommon. When I get the chance, I'll be sure to check out others and share it with all of you. I love Japanese cars, but man, oldschool Japanese cars are the best. Old cars in general are really interesting and it's like hitting a pot of gold by accident coming across places like this. If you ever come to Japan and you stop by Weld, ask about this place, it's only a stone's throw away from them.