A MORE AMERICAN TAKE: THE STREET CAR NATS

A MORE AMERICAN TAKE: THE STREET CAR NATS

If you missed a certain American flair in the previous Spotlight-O-Rama from the Mooneyes Street Car Nationals, then this selection I’ve put together should balance things out quite nicely. What better way to get things pointing in the right direction than by taking a look at a couple of traditional hot rods – the rawest [...]

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SPOTLIGHTING CUSTOMS AT THE STREET CAR NATS

SPOTLIGHTING CUSTOMS AT THE STREET CAR NATS

Vintage USA tin and the Mooneyes Street Car Nationals might go hand-in-hand, but you won’t find one single American-made machine in this first Spotlight-O-Rama from the annual Tokyo event. I’m doing this to emphasize just how diversified Mooneyes events are in Japan, and – where you will at times – come across the most curious [...]

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CUSTOMS INVADE TOKYO: THE STREET CAR NATIONALS

CUSTOMS INVADE TOKYO: THE STREET CAR NATIONALS

No matter how many times I attend the Mooneyes Street Car Nationals, I never quite get over the visual impact the event creates on the streets of Tokyo’s Odaiba neighborhood. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t into customs or hot rods, the sight that these cars collectively create is simply breathtaking. Throw in an ever-expanding [...]

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TOYOTAFEST SPOTLIGHT-O-RAMA: SWAPS ‘N CLASSICS

TOYOTAFEST SPOTLIGHT-O-RAMA: SWAPS ‘N CLASSICS

When I set out last Saturday to round up some cars for a Spotlight-O-Rama post from Toyotafest, I wasn’t specifically looking for a selection of vintage cars. But as I made my way around the show, it just seemed that all the cars drawing my interest were from the 1980s and earlier. I guess the [...]

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TOYOTAFEST 2013: A FAMILY AFFAIR

TOYOTAFEST 2013: A FAMILY AFFAIR

As I mentioned in yesterday’s opening post from Toyotafest 2013, it seems almost like the debut of the Scion FR-S reignited a spark among Toyota enthusiasts in Southern California. It could just be a coincidence of course, but for whatever the reason, this year’s Toyotafest seemed bigger and better than ever. The feeling was evident [...]

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YOKOHAMA CRUISING WITH THE CHOP STICKS

YOKOHAMA CRUISING WITH THE CHOP STICKS

Don’t you just love it when things just work out without much planning? That’s what happened to me the other weekend, when, after covering the Nostalgic 2 Days event at the Pacifico Exhibition Center in Yokohama, I heard the Chop Sticks Car Club would be meeting up for one of their awesome cruises. So, after [...]

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DAIKOKU NIGHTS: MARCH 2ND AT THE PA

DAIKOKU NIGHTS: MARCH 2ND AT THE PA

You might have noticed I haven’t been heading down to many night meets at Daikoku PA lately. With the Police constantly closing off the rest stop way before gatherings have a chance to get too big, it has began to take a lot of the fun away from it all. The reason they have started [...]

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A STROLL THROUGH PROJECT CAR PARADISE

A STROLL THROUGH PROJECT CAR PARADISE

What is it that makes car swap meets so great? Is it the chance to find old and rare parts? The chance to discover a new project car? The old fashioned bargaining? Maybe it’s just the simple fact that everything you thing is for sale? Whatever the case, I absolutely love getting the chance to [...]

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WEKFEST HAWAII: CAR CULTURE SHENANIGANS

WEKFEST HAWAII: CAR CULTURE SHENANIGANS

On my recent trip to Hawaii I got a SPAM overdose, and I also got married. The officiant for the wedding was a good friend of mine, Jarod DeAnda, who you may know as the voice of Formula Drift. It just so happens that Wekfest was also in town, so before we came home to [...]

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ALL NIGHT LONG: M&L PARTY最高!

ALL NIGHT LONG: M&L PARTY最高!

In yesterday’s post I tried to give you guys a sense of the madness and sensory overload that was the 2013 M&L Party. Today I’d like to continue with some additional scenes and observations from this late night extravaganza on the Osaka harbor front. Because I had spent the entire day beforehand shooting at Osaka [...]

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M&L PARTY: THE WORLD’S CRAZIEST CAR MEET

M&L PARTY: THE WORLD’S CRAZIEST CAR MEET

For me, visiting Japan is an exercise in constant amazement. Wherever I go in the country, I’m greeted by incredibly passionate people doing incredible things with incredible cars. During the 35 days that I spent there on this most recent expedition, I was able to see an unprecedented array of Japanese car culture. Picking a [...]

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THE SHAKOTAN 510

THE SHAKOTAN 510

As you saw during my “Photo Attack” last week, the JCCA New Year Meeting is the mecca of vintage Japanese car culture. With so many amazing vehicles gathered in one place, picking favorites is nearly impossible. Even so, there were still a few cars which made a big impression on me, and one of them [...]

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TREASURE HUNT: THE JCCA SWAP MEET

TREASURE HUNT: THE JCCA SWAP MEET

When I posted about the 2013 JCCA New Year Meeting last week, my primary goal was to show just how overwhelming the event is. The show itself is fantastic, the parking lot is even better, and then there’s the swap meet and vendor area. As I was sorting through my photos from the show I [...]

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PURE #JOYOFMACHINE: JCCA PHOTO ATTACK

PURE #JOYOFMACHINE: JCCA PHOTO ATTACK

If you go by the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, the following post should be worth about 120,000 of them. With as much raw material as I gathered at Sunday’s JCCA New Year Meeting, I’ve been struggling with how I should approach posting about this massive event. After a bit [...]

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JCCA NEW YEAR MEETING: ENJOY KYUSHA LIFE

JCCA NEW YEAR MEETING: ENJOY KYUSHA LIFE

To me the absolute best thing about being a Speedhunter is not just being able to photograph and explore the world’s coolest cars, it’s being able to experience so many different types of car culture on a regular basis. It can be chatting with fun-loving drifters one moment, trying to fit in with the elite [...]

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