What a month!
In case you missed the original announcement, the Motor1 staff worked for the better part of 2024 to deliver an extra feature story per day during the month of November, including videos, columns, and opinion pieces. Each showcased the best we could offer. We tried our very best to share our joy with you, the reader.
We called the project Japan Month, an ode to some of our favorite vehicles on earth, the people who built them, and our special relationship to the island nation and its cars.
The month started with a bang. We drove every Nissan Skyline on a California race track to crown a Godzilla king. Spoiler: They were all godly. Then our first video of the month dropped, an incredible, narrated time lapse of a Toyota 2000GT model, immaculately assembled by our own staff writer Chris Smith.
Hot off the heels of our first two features, a pair of Miata delights. The first story, a travel piece to an Italian hamlet for the Miata-obsessed, simply called "Miataland". The second, an oral history of a current/future classic, the Mazda ND Miata, detailing the car's creation and execution from ideation to completion.
Then Motor1 deputy editor Brian Silvestro ventured off to mountainous Washington State, testing the new Lexus GX's mettle against some of the most beautiful (and challenging) off-road scenery on earth. (Staff writer Victoria Scott even took some slick film photos on the story, too). Scott wrote the next piece, too, a history of the funky 90s EVs you've never heard of.
And then something completely different: Another Chris Smith banger, attached to perhaps the best art of the month, a cutaway of Japan's only production V-12, rendered beautifully by renowned artist Jim Hatch, followed by a history of the Honda Super Cub, the vehicle that put the people of earth on two wheels.
In our second video of the month, Victoria Scott detailed the Honda EV Plus, the company's first EV. Hot metal abounded after that, with the Lexus LC500 chasing autumn leaves in Northern Michigan, and a gooey-sunset photo set of the Mazda RX-7 alongside the gorgeous vintage Ferrari that inspired its design.
Then we got into the mechanical weeds, highlighting the only piece of genuinely great marketing ever: the technical document produced alongside the Acura Integra Type R. That paired excellently with another Victoria Scott video pitting the classic Type R against its modern successor, the Acura Integra Type S.
We covered niche interests during Japan Month too, including Anthony Alaniz's industry trend piece on Kei Trucks, and a key legal victory for their American owners. There was more Kei content, too, including a drive review of the Honda N-One by Motor1 writer (and hot shoe) Chris Rosales, which Rosales ripped around on some legendary Japanese roads. That review paired to another Rosales piece, a meditation about expectation and travel to Japan itself, with visits to more legendary roads and tuners.
For a bit more funk, contributor Brendan McAleer covered two of the more visually outsized Japanese tuner scenes, in a piece titled Bosozoku Vs Kaido Racer: A History of Japan's Wildest-Looking Subcultures. In the context of those rich subcultures and the North-American enthusiasts who adopt them, editor Chris Perkins asked, "When Is a Japanese Car Not Japanese?" One great example of this cultural and mechanical criss-crossing between Japan and America, was the Toyota Cavalier. Yes, The Toyota Cavalier.
If those stories weren't niche enough, how about a comparison test between vintage Japanese video game cabinets? Or a TOP-SECRET journey into the annals of Japanese tuner history? Or maybe a story about how Grand Turismo introduced you (and the world) to Jazz Fusion?
Of course, we didn't forget about racing. (We're racing dorks over here). We wrote two stories about Ayrton Senna's ties to Japan, via a stunning V-12 Honda McLaren hidden in an unsuspecting warehouse, and the Brazilian's infamous part in the greatest driving video ever filmed. But it wasn't all Senna. Senior editor Chris Perkins brought more heat, penning a piece about Toyota's wildly successful forgotten racing engine.
Our racing stories were capped by a two-parter, wherein Victoria Scott visited Vermont Sports Cars, the shop that saved rallying in America and an interview with Travis Pastrana, who played a huge role in that same mission.
To round off the month, we made room for some stone-cold classics as well. Managing editor Jeff Perez wrote a thoughtful piece about the Toyota Land Cruiser's American origins and its subsequent re-adoption by the very same country that inspired it. Head Honcho Travis Okulski also write about That Blue Civic Si. The one that kicked off the obsession for millions of young car enthusiasts.
It was indeed one hell of a month, one that pushed everyone on staff to the limits of their time and sanity, but from the bottom of our hearts, we hope you found more than one story to enjoy.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Kyle Kinard
Executive Editor, Motor1
