Sincity Japanese Classic Car Meets concludes the year in style
JDM enthusiasts standing next to their parked cars, admiring a green FC RX7. Photo by Ian Cruz
JCCM (Japanese Classic Car Meets) held its last meet of the year, bringing some fantastic builds out for the last meet until March of next year.
Published 11/4/2023.
From crank-start engines to drag-strip-ready builds, Sincity JCCM (Japanese Classic Car Meets) has what JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) lovers look for. On November 4th, Sincity JCCM held its 6th and final meet of the year. Meets were thrown every first Saturday of March, April, May, September, October, and November, bringing JDM lovers together for a night of chill fun.
"The one and only spot where all the JDM classics gather." - JCCM Instagram
Dozens of cars at the meet sported different engines, transmissions, years, makes, and models. However, if it is Japanese, Sincity JCCM and the community love it. The meet closely collaborated with Cafe 86, a bakery and desserts shop that specializes in Ube desserts. Ube is a purple yam native to Southeast Asia, and with a dominantly Asian crowd, this combination of Japanese cars and Ube lovers is a match made in heaven.
Jeff Sison, the man behind Sincity JCCM and their social media page, has gotten the meets to gain success through trial and error, and community feedback.
"For last year's turn out, it had its ups and down. Most of the ups were during cool weather. And I kind of observed that twice a month was a bit too much and assumed that people will get bored and won't come since they were there 2 weeks ago. So last year when December came around, I said to myself, 'let me see how the turn out will be.' There must have been at most, 15 cars and literally, people came out of their cars to say what's up and go back in their cars since it was too cold."
Other organizations in town hold meets every two weeks or do pop-up meets instead of having fixed days. The success of these meets depends on many things, however, not all organizations have the same goals. Sison wants to unite a whole category of automotive enthusiasts, so being a hub for the community is a large responsibility and requires trial and error to find success in turnout each month. After fine-tuning frequency and location from 2022's meets, he settled on a location that he thought would be perfect for his mission.
"Different day, different location, and different time. This time it's every first Saturday of the month for spring and fall and now at Café 86, and this time around I got permission from Café 86 to have it in their location." Sison said. "First meet for 2023 was packed and only brought more people every time I had the meet. Good part about the location is having Cafe 86 where people can get drinks or something to eat during the meet. Every time during my meet, Café 86 would always be packed. People would message me letting me know how they like the new spot better than the old location which was in the corner of Green Valley Blvd and Warm Springs."
Compared to Los Angeles, the Las Vegas Japanese car scene is small, but in Sison's words, it's small-big. He said there's a good amount of people with JDM classics, but getting everyone together in one spot is nearly impossible. However, with the Spring and Fall meets being held once per month and at Cafe 86, the system proves to be working. These meets bring together that "small-big" community and brings business to Cafe 86 at the same time. Sison also said these meets allow people with the same cars to find one another to help each other with any questions they may have, serving as a networking opportunity for car enthusiasts.
Plans for the organization in 2024 are to keep the same schedule and collaborate with the Grand Sedan Society. In June, Sison collaborated with GSS for a meet that was focused on VIP-built cars. These sorts of Japanese vehicles emphasize luxury, big wheels, and low suspension. Sison loved the turnout for that event and wants to collaborate with that crowd more in 2024. Sison also wants to do a Trunk or Treat and Sincity JCCM cars and coffee on Sunday mornings. These events are popular with other organizations and community members as well and may be popular with the community Sison has built.
Lexus LS430, Honda S2000, and Lexus GS300. Photo by Ian Cruz
"I came up with Sincity JCCM Japanese Classic Car Meet to try to bring the JDM community together in one spot," Sison said.
