The Japanese Restorer in Australia Magazine
I love the Japanese Restorer in Australia magazine. It’s produced by Jonathan Barr in Queensland and it’s devoted to old Japanese cars.
Australia is in a fairly unique position with old Japanese cars. We were usually the only export market for a lot of old, interesting, cars from Japan. Coupled with the mostly warm air and lack of salt on the roads, we have many more old Japanese cars getting around than any other country.
JRiA is a broad church, covering all Japanese manufacturers of cars and trucks. The contacts Jonathan Barr has allows him to cover car shows in Japan as well as locally. If you’re at all interested in old cars, check it out. And if you’re in to old Japanese cars — Toyota, Datsun, Mazda, Honda, Mitsubishi, and more — you really need to check this magazine out.
I recently showed several of my copies to my parents, which was interesting for two reasons. First, although I knew that my Mum owned a new Toyota KE20 Corolla, back in the day, I didn’t know that what she really wanted was a KE15 Sprinter. I reckon she’d be in for a KE15 today, given her enthusiasm for the ones in the magazine. Second, while I’d always thought of my Dad as a Holden (and maybe Valiant and Volvo) man, he told me that he’d always like the 1970s RX-4/929 coupes. Excellent. A KE15 and an RX-4 coupe would go nicely with my 1500ss.
A mate of mine used to have a brown KE11, it was used as a paddock basher. Kinda make me sad when I though how we treated it, it was so dam reliable… and not a spec of rust anywhere! I think when I get back to Aus, I’ll have to finish of my big falcon and try and convince the lady to get a KE11, who knows, I might find a big 1.3L model. Although I’ll have to watch out for the keys flying out the window which was a trait of the paddock basher… got to switch it off and…bugger.
Comment by Casey — November 4, 2005 @ 11:12 am