Sweden. What comes to mind when it’s mentioned for you? Are there images of unspoiled nature and virgin forests dancing through your head? Or perhaps a glitzy disco song from Abba is playing? It could be that you think of the furniture mega-retailer IKEA, or the clothing giant H&M. You might have a more edgy [...]
Choosing cars to spotlight is tricky business, and at a show where most of the cars have already been in HOT ROD Magazine the difficulty increases exponentially. There were just so many good cars at the HOT ROD Homecoming that picking out the ones we wanted to show was tough. For that reason I started [...]
It’s a pleasant Sunday morning in Chiba, Japan. The Seven-Eleven store in Noda city is busy as usual with a steady stream of people heading inside to pick up some fresh onigiri, a can of coffee, a bento lunch or any one of the other fine items you’ll find in a Japanese conbini. Before entering [...]
In yesterday’s post I gave you guys a broad view of the Goodguys All-American Get Together in Northern California, and today I’d like to narrow in and focus on some of the specific cars that caught my interest at the show. As I mentioned in the first post, there was huge variety of cars that [...]
When it comes to automotive history in the Golden State, you probably think first of Southern California. After all, it’s considered the place where hot rodding, custom car building, and drag racing were born. As you look closer though, you’ll begin to see that Northern California’s contributions to these scenes are equally as important. In [...]
No matter what school of thought you may belong to, the kyusha scene in Japan has been steadily growing in popularity over the last few years. The vastness in which vintage cars are approached in Japan is as diverse and as varied as the culture itself, no matter how you tackle your own build, it will [...]
For all the great stuff I got to experience in Japan this time, one event I wasn’t able to make was the Hot Rod Razzle Dazzle in Yokohama. While I sit here and kick myself for not staying a few extra days and going for myself, my friend Hiroaki Kageyama from The KAGE Blog volunteered [...]
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 [...]
While 2013 marks the fifth time Speedhunters has covered Tokyo Auto Salon, this has been the first year we’ve done the show as a team effort. Not only has this allowed us to bring you more coverage from TAS, but it’s also been interesting to see the event through three different sets of eyes. As [...]
I think we’ve made it pretty clear that residents of Southern California are blessed with some of the most pleasant weather in the United States and also one of the most vibrant automotive scenes on earth. Nowhere is this more apparent than at the annual Mooneyes X-Mas Party. While a good part of the USA [...]
The Mooneyes X-Mas Party at Iriwindale Speedway. For custom car freaks and hot rodders in Southern California it’s become a December tradition as big as the Christmas holiday itself. For me it also marks my final Speedhunting expedition of the calendar year, and a fine way to wrap up a busy and exciting 2012. When [...]
Time to take a look at a final selection of cars from this year’s Mooneyes Hot Rod & Custom Show, an event that year after year not only continues to get better, but defines how seriously and passionately the Japanese take this scene. I’ve kept the best American rides I came across for this last [...]
I don’t know why, but all of a sudden I’ve been running into quite a lot of DeTomaso Panteras in Japan. It’s like they are on a little comeback and with examples like this popping up at the Mooneyes Hot Rod & Custom Show this past weekend, who in their right mind would complain! Aside [...]
I thought I’d start off this second post from this weekend’s Hot Rod & Custom Show with what has to be the most memorable car I saw there. I think it perfectly sums up what the custom car scene is all about in Japan, an obvious ability to not only emulate, interpret and evolve what [...]
The Mooneyes Hot Rod & Custom Show is probably one of the events I look forward to the most each year. I’m still very much an outsider to this scene, and it’s precisely this that attracts me to it even more. There is still that element of surprise to a lot of the cars that [...]
