Auto News 5

Although a mere 350 miles of California coastline and a few weeks separate mist-shrouded Pebble Beach from sunbaked Long Beach, the concours d'elegance that takes its name from the former would seem, to even the most casual observer, to be a universe removed from the Japanese Classic Car Show. This year's JCCS was held in a parking lot aside the Queen Mary. The port of Long Beach has long been one of the main entry points for cars shipped from Japan, so it's quite plausible that, for a fair number of vehicles at the show, this was something of a homecoming. Since it was established eight years ago, the JCCS has more than doubled in size; this year 400 cars and trucks plus thirty motorcycles were on display. The thermometer hit a toasty 103 degrees (the high at the Pebble show was 40 degrees lower), but that didn't deter the 5900 sweaty souls who came to ogle old Zs and have fits of nostalgia while viewing the other vintage imports from the land of the rising sun. Datsun has long dominated the show, but there was official presence from Toyota, which displayed some treasures from its nearby corporate museum. While some of the vehicles were as pristine as any Hispano-Suiza you might find at Pebble Beach, there were certainly quite a few that showed some "patina," as you might expect of vehicles that were considered somewhat disposable when purchased new.