The Japanese Nostalgic Car Meet – free to attend, bad ass classic Japanese cars, good local craft beer, cool/cold weather, and lots of car people. I’d say this year’s turnout for JNCM was pretty good…. not too crazy or out of hand like the Wekfest Pre Meet, but enjoyable without too much concern lol. With that being said, we really appreciate those who attended, especially the guys from out of town, and Sigma Brewing Company for letting us host a meet of old Japanese cars there.
This year’s Japanese Nostalgic Car Meet (JNCM) was held at Sigma Brewing Company (SBC) in the East end of Downtown (Previous venue for Wekfest Pre Meet 2016). We decided to host the event there instead of the usual Moontower Inn or 8th Wonder Brewery because 1.) Moontower Inn‘s patio was under construction at the time and 2.) 8th Wonder Brewery gets too packed with their regulars for our type of events. The only other possible location that would work was Sigma Brewing Company to host a small gathering. We messaged Matt Peterson of SBC and their schedule was open for November 10… we confirmed the day and times (evening changed to day time later)… and verbally booked the day for JNCM 2018.
What was the interest like and turn out for the meet? There was a lot of interest from the Facebook event page and more than 600+ people attending… really surprising, to me at least. We really never know the outcome of things until it gets out of hand… then we’re just fucked lol. I would say about 4-500 people attended with around 150-200 cars(?). The cold and rainy weather probably turned off some of the super nice collectors/warehouse cars while the event time change held some guys back because they were still at work during the day.
I took my camera out for photos maybe twice while passing out free stickers to all the people with cars 30 yrs and older… Shout out to Thomas from Spectrum Graphics for printing out stickers and hooking us up with the oil spectrum!
Not an uncommon swap but definitely unique to see a Japanese engine transplant in a Mini Cooper…
Of course everyone and everything was allowed to attend like this cheesin’ guy over here…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a flat 6 engine or “F6C” powered motorcycle before…
Another shot of the Honda powered classic Mini cooper…
If my lens is aimed at you, just strike a pose and smile….
Everyone notices me…
Especially the OG’s of Mayday Garage…
I invited out the guys from AE86 Society of Texas…
Then there were the usual guys from Coffee and Rice and Best Friends Garage…
AE86 bois…
R33 GTR… barely makes the cut for the JNCM…
That face you make when you know you’re going on dtphan.com… sorry Brian
It seems everyone is going vintage and switching to 35mm film now like Alex Brogan here…
I haven’t seen a Subaru Brat in a while but this one seems to be a little on the rough side…
Cold and wet… tolerable weather for these nostalgic car guys…
Always a pleasure to see Thai Youtuber, Jiro, around town… I made a cameo in his YT video haha…
Get down low for the shots…
Iphone photographer for the JNCM, @masonfoto 🙂
What’s better than 2 Hakosuka’s?
3 Hakosuka’s!
Mark Manalo freezing and a little wet from the weather that day… thanks for the help in organizing!
He also drives this out of focus shot CRX on TE37’s…
If there wasn’t anymore street parking, why not park on the grass?
I don’t know much about these LandCruisers but these look pretty nostalgic to me…
You can see they’re enjoying this lovely cold weather 😀
Line up of the RHD 80s guys…If you watched Mr. Jirochan’s youtube clip above, you’ll see some clips of Ameen’s TT Soarer (right) rolling on the streets…
Weird flex, but ok…
The food truck that was supposed to be at our meet was a bit late so some spectators took pizza into their own hands…
That’s not a bad engine bay for being ~40 yrs old…
The clowns checking out the aero on a nostalgic corolla…
Time to snap random people and things…
The ‘Not a JNCM Parking’
Artist Ackzilla is a frequent go-er on Sunday’s gathering at coffee and rice… his EF is one of the cleaner ones in Houston.
A vintage racer Honda bike I absolutely know nothing about…
As the day got late, it would eventually stop raining…
John Hoang and Pecx gives me a thumbs up for dragging them out to the JNCM haha….
Branden’s super clean AE86 made the trip from Austin with Thaison sitting in the back seat…
Goals AF…
Parked two cars over was Edward’s beams swapped Starlet… a favorite from 2 JNCM ago… glad he was able to make it out this time around…
Beams powered Starlet? Definitely a fun car to drive…
As the sun came out, a few more cars rolled into the meet…
Turbo rotary powered NB Miata… Not a nostalgic car but the transplant passes I guess…
Another “Weird flex, but okay.”
John Yim’s mint AE86 bought from Bringatrailer… super jealous for the auction price he got it for…
A near mint Celica GT… totally forgot this car was in Houston since it was at our last JNCM 2016..
Not your typical Datsun 1600… especially a KA powered one…
@ayzxs is one of the better lowkey photographers in Houston… check out his work on IG…
Wait til you see the finished set up…
The sun was peaking out as it got later in the day…
See how excited Jordan is to see the sun?
The legend @dennisvnguyen.
Back to shooting cars and random details…
And people…
Vintage car and now photo guys Chris / @beanbone83
Thomas, a recent Houston transplant, is the 3rd Hakosuka owner in Houston. Missing the meet was Princeton Wong who owns the 2nd Hakosuka, was in San Fran with family…
A car I’ve never heard about or even sI always see this “Pumpkin Yellow” Nissan Be-1 around the Heights area. Upon further research, only 10,000 units were made from 87-88 in Japan @ either ~50 to 70hp… lol.
Since S-chassis was allowed in recent Japanese Nostalgic car events, Anthony Do had a chance to show off his 2JZ powered RocketBunny S13.5.
Also debuting his model career, Patrick ‘LuckyFRS’ Cambel.
Mike Valencia’s 4G63 in his VR4… always a supporter of Mayday…
Mike’s other toy…
Nice gas container…
All the way from California??
Not a Japanese Nostalgic but damn those BBS mesh wheels look good…
First time seeing a campfire at a car meet in the city…
Tag all the things…
A oof shot of Jason Scott appears out of nowhere…
Andy Soun of Shadetree Group tries to stay warm with his doggo…
Thanks again to all those who attended near and from afar, Sigma Brewing Company, Mark, and Johnp for helping with the organizing/parking/etc…. I was able to hang out, try some craft beer, meet new nostalgic car owners, and caught up with old friends/people who I haven’t seen in awhile… something car meets should be about. Now I have to start thinking about doing an annual event since this one turned out pretty well… Should it be held in the Spring, Summer, or Fall? You can leave a comment or just email me for any suggestions.
Gallery of photos here: https://www.danhphan.com/Events/2018-JNCM-/
Danh Phan
maydaydphan at gmail dot com
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