In reply to ShadowSix:
Atlanta...
Related story: An acquaintance purchased a new AE86 GTS and subsequently moved to Ohio. A few years later he and the car were back in Atlanta. He looked the same as always but the car was rust infected. It lasted long enough to be gutted and autocrossed but the damage had been done and it had to go.
Techno Toy Tuning has lots of goodies for vintage J-tin. Most of these cars probably won't handle incredibly in stock form from the get go, but they can be made to handle with some work. Lots of the cars mentioned dominated or were at least competitive in Japanese racing, so there's a lot of info on most of them (Datsuns, Corollas, common Mazdas, etc). Plus, there's just nothing like driving in a vintage Japanese car IMHO, so even if you lose you still have fun! I will take any of these please! 
ShadowSix wrote: Jeez, what kind of JNC Shangri-la do you guys live in? In Ohio a 1G Celica is considered extremely rare, and I've never even seen most of the rest of the stuff on this page, even in car shows.
Well that's why you look for all of these and pick the one car you can find in the best condition. This is more about raising awareness of what's good so he has more cars to choose from.
In Las Vegas i've seen most of these cars aside from the Mitsubishis and the Isuzu on the road. I have never seen a 70s Mitsubishi probably because they were badge engineered and thrown away as a "E36 M3ty" malise era American car.
On the other hand i've seen ALL of these on JDM auctions if he wanted to go that route. If he wanted to he could pick up one of these then...
Probably can get a L20 engined car and not a GTR. GTR would be a lot of money probably.
That or the Isuzu 117 or this Bellet GT.
Once you start looking outside the US for a classic J car you have a lot of choices.
This Shangri-La is called the west coast. 60's stuff is getting rare in Oregon, but 70's stuff can be found with a little looking, and 80's stuff is so commonplace it is trip-over-it-on-your-way-out-the-door, not-even-worth-mentioning common!
ae86andkp61 wrote: This Shangri-La is called the west coast. 60's stuff is getting rare in Oregon, but 70's stuff can be found with a little looking, and 80's stuff is so commonplace it is trip-over-it-on-your-way-out-the-door, not-even-worth-mentioning common!
One night on a beer run I saw a Datsun 510, a 610, and a BMW 2002. 610 and 510 people were together. There is an early 80s notch-back Celica and a Celica Supra both curb parked on my block. These cars are all over here in Las Vegas. I even see the occasional 60s car. There was a guy with a classic Mini at my work last week.
As far as 80s stuff I see multiple "desirable" 80s cars per day in my commute, it really is extremely common. Off the top of my head I see E30, E28, S130, several (as in around 5) 944s.... these are cars i see daily driven. I could make a very long list. Most of them are not "collector" cars either, they are daily driven and in a used original condition.
It really shows at the local driver events like autocross.
kanaric wrote: If you are interested in cars like that i'd recommend this forum so you can maybe get some ideas on additional cars to look for: http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/
I was a regular on there a few years ago. Paid for a subscription to their magazine (might have been 2-year), got 2 issues (which were phenomenal) and then they stopped printing it. The site owners (also the publishers) stopped answering the "what happened/what did you do with our money" questions and I got kinda soured on the site.
I guess I should check it out again sometime. 
I would do awful things for a clean RX-3 or RX-4.
Having played in both the pony/muscle car field, and now the J-tin field...
there is more freedom to do whatever YOU want in the J-tin field...
BUT, as with the muscle/pony cars... original examples are beginning to command STEEP premiums...
For example... this 1980 Corolla GT sport coupe with original 2TG engine. Asking price is 13k+ euros, or a bit OVER $19,000
http://nl.autoscout24.be/Details.aspx?id=249585175&asrc=st|sr
I'm not saying its worth it... but looking through the photos reminds me of all the restored Mustangs and other muscle/pony cars that command HUGE premiums these days......
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