The definition of what a Japanese classic car is very loose. Most people will tell you it is a vehicle which is has Japanese origins and was produced in the yester-years before plastic bumpers. These same people would probably argue between what it means to have Japanese origins and whether or not the vehicle should be at least 20 or 25 years old.

At JDM Origins, we define a Japanese classic car as any vehicle, whether it bears a Japanese manufacturers mark or not, that originated from Japan.  This would include Toyota’s, Honda’s, Datsun’s, Nissan’s, Subaru’s, Mitsubishi’s, and even the often outcasted Chryslers/DSM’s that were really Mitsubishi’s under desguise. In relevance to age, the vehicle should be at least 20 years old or more.

However, in technical terms, the definition varies from region to region. In the US of A, we refer to our older cars (generally 20yrs or older) as ‘classics’. Vehicles which are older (generally 20 to 50yrs) are coined as ‘vintage’ and lastly, anything older can be considered an ‘antique’. In Japan, the term ‘nostalgic’ is used by the locale to refer to anything which may remind them of days past. Of course, you can see then how this would apply to their cars.

Within this publication, you will most likely find that we refer to older Japanese vehicles as classics or nostalgic cars. If the car is much older, perhaps it may be referred to as a vintage. Of course this is always open to debate and time will keep passing by bringing in more classics, but for now it should be a good guideline.

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