The original Honda City–built from 1981-’86–was cuter than a button, shared the stage with ska legends Madness, and featured its own dinghy.
Learn about the Suzuki Cappuccino, the brand’s 1991-’98 alternative to a Honda Beat or Autozam AZ-1.
Classic Dodge vans road raced in Japan. It’s the American way.
Daihatsu sold cars in the U.S. market for about a hot minute–1987 through early 1992–and sadly that was well before releasing the Copen.
Flat-black hood, a pair of side-draft carbs and a twin-cam head atop a 1600cc bottom end. Meet the Isuzu Bellett GT-R.
Back in the day, Xenon offered aero kits that differed from the rest in a big detail: Instead of fiberglass, they were produced in durable polyurethane–kind of like a bendable rubber.
Back in the ’50s, Karl Meier designed a front spoiler for the VW Beetle. It didn’t take off, but his company, Kamei, did.
Go big or go home. That was Gemballa’s M.O.
The name almost sounds Japanese, but it’s German. Styling Garage gave the world the 1000SGS–sedan said to be twice as good as the Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL that it was based upon.
The Zender master catalog of 1992 was a thing of beauty: 222 pages featuring some of the greatest add-on body styling, from subtle to extreme.
How to win Radwood: Show up in an ASC/McLaren Capri or Mustang, the realized dream of Ford engineer Peter Muscat.
So what if we lived under a 55 mph national speed limit, pro street was big in the ’80s–well, at least that’s what the hot rod magazines constantly told us.
If one shifter is good, then three must be better, right? Okay, maybe that wasn’t quite what was going on here. Call the Hurst Lightning Rods, a popular sight in a mid-’80s issue of Hot Rod, a road-going take on a Lenco transmission.
Traction bars, slapper bars, whatever you call them, all the cool kids ran them.
Like Late Night with David Letterman, fuel injection was also fairly new in 1982.
A car chase featuring top talent, top action, top BMWs.
Neo Tokyo was about to explode.
What “Bullitt” is to San Francisco, “The Seven-Ups” is to New York City.
Welcome to “Ghost in the Shell,” Shirow Masamune’s 1995 anime classic. It’s as aesthetically beautiful as it is violent.
What’s cooler than racing a Subaru WRX through the mean streets of Atlanta?
The Drift Bible, featuring drift king Keiichi Tsuchiya, turns 20 this year.
When is a parking lot not just a parking lot?
A lot of legendary drift videos were shot at Gunsai Touge, a collection of winding roads that make up the Gunma Cycle Centre.
Call the Tokyo Auto Salon Japan’s version of the SEMA Show, and you’d be fairly close.
Once a big deal–loud bikes, loud lifestyle, loud everything–the Bosozuku numbers have been falling.
This documentary about one of the greatest endurance racers ever doesn’t get bogged down with talk about gear ratios and tire compounds.
Willy T. Ribbs was called the Jackie Robinson of motor racing.
Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen brought something else to the table.
In 1977, Janet Guthrie became the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500.
Meet Wendell Scott: WWII vet, bootlegger and NASCAR legend.
The most desirable Subaru? Perhaps the 1998 Impreza 22B STI
Let’s go back–all the way back to 2004. Subaru gave shoppers its first U.S.-market Impreza WRX STI.
In 2011, Subaru persuaded Isle of Man Time Trial organizers to allow a car around the famed course.
Before the Impreza, before the WRX and before the STI, Subaru offered the 360. This is the car that launched Subaru of America.
The Fuji Rabbit beat the famed Vespa to market and helped mobilize a postwar Japan.
Meet the Dekotora, Japanese for decoration truck.
The Kaido Racers–Japanese for highway racers, take their cues from Group 5 machines.
Those tall exhaust pipes found on Kaido Racers and other Bosozoku-inspired cars have a name: Takeyari. Now you know.
Bippu is all about VIP style: nearly zero ride height, a ton of negative camber and, generally, a luxury nameplate attached to a full-size, rear-drive chassis like a Toyota Crown or Nissan Cedric. What would you build?
Onikyan is Japanese for demon camber. So much negative camber.
After his stint with Shelby American, Peter Brock formed his own team: SoCal’s Brock Racing Enterprises.
Several factory-backed teams dominated the ’70s SCCA road racing scene, with Triumph employing two teams: Bob Tullius’s Group 44 Inc. in the east, and Kastner-Brophy Racing in the west.
The look was unmistakable: white paint, green trim and a logo featuring a reversed pair of 4’s. Team uniforms were spotless. Group 44 Inc. helped raise the bar on car prep and team presentation.
Connecticut’s Bob Sharp Racing would give Datsun their first SCCA national championship in 1967 by winning the F Production race in a Datsun roadster.
