We've just returned from a wonderful week in Tokyo, guests of Nissan, who unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Show a clear successor to the Datsun 510 we all know and love, the Nissan IDx Freeflow and Nismo IDx. We provide details on the trip below and a big thank you. As you'll read, you helped make this happen.

It's been a really busy few months, starting in August when our new book on the origins of the '63 Corvette Sting Ray came out. Peter started his career as a designer at GM Styling in 1957. It was later that year when he sketched what would become the iconic American sports car, the Corvette Sting Ray. Following Monterey, we set out on a wonderful book tour seeing friends at the Corvettes of Carlisle event in PA, at Pasteiner's Auto Zone Hobbies store on Woodward Ave in Detroit, AutoBooks in Burbank, CA, the LA SAAC (Shelby American Auto Club) on the Santa Monica Pier, the Palos Verdes Concours, the Las Vegas Corvette Club, etc, etc. The book is quickly becoming one of those must-haves for car enthusiast libraries. Next week we hit the coast of CA. In the Closing below we provide further details.   

We give an update below on quantities and some items being discontinued AND, a surprise new product that has already been sold out by its manufacturer before it even went on sale to the general public.

Have a great holiday season,  

Gayle and Peter Brock

BRE

We have only THREE Truescale signature series BRE 510 full team car sets left.  Get them here before they're gone.

We're also discontinuing some shirts.  When the current inventory of these classic 510 and 240Z wreath shirts ends, they'll once again become "history".  Some sizes are gone already so

The Tokyo Auto Show, where the  IDx Freeflow and IDx Nismo will be unveiled, is Wednesday. Tuesday we spent with friends.  First was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon with our dear friend, and talented artist, Telly Sahara and his wonderful wife Yuki (all of us seen here).  

You are probably familiar with Telly's wonderful art of the BRE Datsuns, which we offer here.  

Yuki treated us to a wonderful lunch of roll-your-own Sushi.  What fun!  Everything you could imagine could be picked up and rolled into a sushi roll.  Followed by tea, coffee and Brock's favorite... vanilla ice cream!  It was a fun afternoon and we're very grateful for the Sahara's sharing their home with us.

That evening we went to dinner with Minoru and Mutsumi Hayashi.  Minoru is the founder of Dome Ltd which has designed many great cars and run at Le Mans many years.  He calls Brock his master and inspiration, being a fan of Brock's designs since he was young.  We last saw Minoru and Mutsumi last year when they visited us in Henderson, NV.  We are blessed to have such good friends as the Sahara's and Hayashi's in Japan.

Our next day in Japan would be the opening day of the Tokyo Auto Show where Nissan will unveil the IDx's.  We share that day with you below.

We worked with Mattel months ago on a new BRE Datsun 510 model for their special Red Line series.  In checking in recently to see when they would be launched we found that Mattel had made them available exclusively for pre-purchase to their Red Line Club Members. The entire 3000 production volume sold out immediately, to be shipped in January.  They will never be made available publicly. BRE however will still receive their 100 units. This is your opportunity to get this model here even though Mattel never made it available to the general public.

As this model is so exclusive, we're going to offer it autographed by both team owner and manager Peter Brock and Championship driver John Morton. Only our 100 models will be signed (not the models Mattel has already sold out of). The price will be $69.95 (just a reminder: we pay the people that sign our products for their autographs).  By comparison, the last Hot Wheels BRE Datsun 510 model (not the special Red Line series), unsigned, are now selling on the resale market for more than $50.

We arrived at Tokyo's Big Sky convention center at 8am.  The Nissan display was impressive.  The Delta Wing inspired Blade Glider was already in view on stage.  The NISMO IDx was on stage but encircled out of sight by a black curtain.  CEO Carlos Ghosn would drive the NISMO Freeflow on stage himself when the presentation started at 10:30am.  

The first day of the show was only attended by media and they started to gather (top photo).  At 10:30 the lights went down and a video played showing the new NISMO GTR making a record breaking run at the Nurburgring. As the video ended the new GTR came rolling out onto a side stage.  Next a side door opened and here came the Freeflow driven by Ghosn.  A beautifully designed, rear wheel drive street car.  The murmur of the words "510" were heard throughout the crowd.   

As Ghosn got out of the car he turned toward the black curtain and as it rose he made comment about honoring their racing past.  The NISMO IDx came into sight with the BRE racing livery.  The two cars were the hit of the show.  Brock was brought on stage several times for media photos.  Ghosn was on stage several times throughout the day being interviewed on camera about the cars.  It was all quite an honor with numerous Nissan designers coming up to meet Brock. It was an amazing day!  But not the end of the week... more below.

Brock with Nissan Design SVP Shiro Nakamura

Brock with IDx designers David Beasley and Dai Saito

A highlight during the Tokyo Auto Show was having lunch with Mr. K and his son Mitsuo Katayama.  We met Mr. K at the Nissan booth after the unveiling of the IDx.  Brock showed him the cars on stage.  Mr. K was quickly spotted by Nissan personnel and given a grand tour of the booth which included a history display of Nissan's 80 years.

We then went to lunch where we had a great conversation.  Mr. K is as lively as ever.  His sense of humor was in good form as he handed Gayle his business card, explaining he was the official greeter of Hamamatsu, the town where he grew up that named a street after him on his 100th birthday.  With his wonderful smile and twinkling eyes he told her that if she showed the business card to people in Hamamatsu she could get a free ride in an elevator.  What a delightful man. Seeing Mr. K again after his 100th birthday (the last time we were in Japan) was purely wonderful.

Holiday Highlights

Our two "hottest" shirts right now are the BRE 3 Champions and the BRE History shirts.  The 3 Champions shirts (in long sleeve or short sleeve) show the three BRE Championship cars (the #44 Datsun Roadster, the #46 240Z and the #46 510), the championship each won, in what year and the driver.  The printing on this shirt is so amazing you can actually read every decal on the cars.  In long sleeve or short sleeve it's a great shirt for everyone. 

Our newest shirt, which has been very popular even though we have to admit the photos we have don't look as good as when they're being worn, is the BRE History shirt (in navy or black, short sleeve or long sleeve). As a treasure trove of BRE trivia, these shirts are a great conversation piece. From team drivers, guest drivers, team members, tracks, championships, the years, the cars, the car #s, the engines and VIPs. Each category printed in a unique style.  On the front are the classic BRE stripes with the classic "BRE DATSUN" in-between.

Especially unique is the special process used to make the graphics on this shirt whereby the die of the shirt is removed to reveal the graphics. Consequently it is soft throughout with no difference in texture where ink would normally be used.

We're also running a holiday special on our BRE Team shirts.  These are the same shirts the BRE team wore from 1969-1972.  On Race Day the team wore their red BRE polos but every other day the "Peter Brock Dyno" shirt was the team attire.  It was quite an accomplishment for a team to have their own Dyno back in those days and the team proudly showed it off on their back!   Holiday price is $19.95. For how long? You guessed it... through the holidays. 

Go here for any of these high quality shirts 

Tokyo Auto Show Unveiling is Over

Early Thursday morning we spent posting numerous photos from the show onto the bre.datsun facebook page. At 11am friend Seigo picked us up at the hotel. Seigo is a Shelby dealer in Japan and is building up the Superformance Daytona Coupe which we initially were going to make into a track car.  Our first stop was at "Mini Maruyama's".  It's an amazing success story of creative thinking. When Cooper stopped making the Mini, Mr. Maruyama approached them asking if he could license the right to build the cars and buy all their remaining parts.  The answer was yes and Maruyama built 1800 Mini's in Japan. He's a legend!

The next stop we had been looking forward to for quite a while.  It was to visit one of the original six Cobra Daytona Coupes which Brock had designed in 1964 and that won the FIA World GT Championship in 1965, chassis # CSX2602.  Three of the Coupes are in the US.  One is in Switzerland.  One in Argentina.  And this one in Japan.  It was a wonderful reunion for Brock, who was promptly asked to sign the car.

After lunch at the new Tokyo SkyTree (currently the tallest tower in the world) we proceeded to a small shop nearby where the owner has two amazingly beautiful Shelby GT350 Mustangs. As Brock said: "You never know what you're going to find around every corner here."

That night, as guests of Nissan, we went to a private gathering of designers throughout the industry at the Tokyo Creator's Salon. It was a unique opportunity for Brock to meet and talk to a group of his peers, albeit they were much younger (-:  Everyone was pleased to have the opportunity to share ideas and experiences.

We spent a relaxing Friday, mostly reading. That evening we had dinner at an incredible Italian restaurant with the delightful Shiro Kosaka (collector of the best Abarth's in existence) and his daughter Tomoko.  Shiro has the most amazing taste in vehicles, including the Lancia sedan he picked us up in.  It's always a delight talking to him. Another treat occurred at the end of the evening when we were joined by Mr. Uchida.  His father was an executive at Hino at the time Brock designed and built the BRE Hino Samurai. It is a car known well in Japan and was mentioned many times during out trip.

Saturday morning came and we had our last breakfast at the amazing buffet at the Conrad Tokyo hotel. We then walked two blocks away where a road rally would start in an hour. 

The cars were amazing; "Etceterini's" such as Stanguellinis and Erminis. Abarths, OSCAs, Bugattis, Dyna Panhards, Renault Alpines, Cobras, GT40s, Maseratis, and more.  Once the cars had departed we returned to our hotel in wonderment at what we had just seen and checked out for our return to the airport.  It was an amazing, amazing trip.

We couldn't be more proud of John's latest accomplishment, a book on his years at Shelby American.

Morton's successes with the BRE (Brock Racing Enterprises) team from '69-'72 were well chronicled in one of the best motorsports books ever written, Sylvia Wilkinson's book "The Stainless Steel Carrot" available here, signed by Sylvia, John, and Peter Brock and on Amazon here

Being a well known Japanese breed, photos of our Shiba Inu, Kitsune, were popular during our trip.  Kit recently turned one year old and at her full grown size she now weighs 15 pounds and is 14" at the shoulder.  She happily greets everyone who visits the BRE shop and she's a good traveler.  She joins us on most road trips as seen sitting here navigating in the truck. 

At the recent LA SAAC (Shelby American Automobile Club) show at the Santa Monica Pier she is seen here on the lap of Douglas Campbell, son of Doug Campbell, owner of Superformance Brock Coupe #088.  At Bondurant's 80th birthday bash in Phoenix, AZ she is seen here

Orders include new BRE Stylus Pens

As we were shown throughout the Nissan Design Center, we saw old Datsun ads showing the production 510s alongside the BRE 510s.  A presentation was shown to us about the research that Nissan did, searching for where the enthusiasm in the market is today. They found your BRE tribute cars, they found your BRE Datsuns in today's computer games (in every game they said). You! made these 510-like cars happen.   

Thank you, as always, and even more today, for your support. On that note, we found a great new pen we had to get to place in every order.  The end is soft rubber so it's the perfect stylus for your computer or phone and with a quick click it's a ballpoint pen.  We love them and know you will too.