When September comes around each year the old fogies quit their busy schedules of waking up early to walk aimlessly around malls and bring their restored beauties down to the Queen Mary in Long Beach for JCCS. Along with the many amazing restorations in attendance there are guaranteed to be at least a few modified bad boys mixed amongst the yawnfests that get us out of bed for this event.
With the recent popularity of boso-infused styling, there were lots of totally unimpressive buckets with poorly done renditions of Japanese trends and lots of knock-off parts. However, there were plenty of pristine examples of modified cars, the best of which have mostly been featured in this rag over the years. One such example was Paul Bischoff’s RB-powered Hakosuka which has found it’s way on the debut cover of our new special edition Super Street Retro magazine.
What we weren’t expecting to see were three cars that were nearly completely stock, yet didn’t suck. Petterssen Motorworks of Chico, CA brought out a trifecta of über-rare Nissans—the likes of which I have never seen stateside. A genuine Hakosuka GT-R, Fairlady Z432 and Kenmeri GT-R, all complete with matching S20 power plants, stopped me in my tracks for a triple-take. The Hakosuka GT-R, a rare car in it’s own right, pales when compared to the production numbers of the 432 (420 examples) and Kenmeri GT-R (193 examples).
I don’t think I’ve ever been so blown away by a standard car and these were the last things I expected to see at JCCS, but that’s part of the allure of the show—you never know what you’re gonna’ get. If you like old school JDM be sure to look out for Super Street Retro on news stands soon and don’t miss JCCS 2012! It’s one show we never miss (but nearly do every year since it’s over at 3pm so the senior citizens can eat dinner and go to bed)!
