By now I think that most Speedhunters readers are aware of Japan’s – for lack of a better word – “awesome” car culture. Regular followers will also know that Japan’s love for the automobile spreads far beyond just its own domestic vehicles. From ultra-rare European exotics to hot rods and customs that could rival the [...]
There’s an old adage that goes a little something like “(insert noun here), can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em” and for most petrol heads, this holds very true when it comes to our project cars. At times we’ll spend every last dollar we own, take our bodies and minds to the ragged edge, [...]
I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to tell you that the overwhelming trend of Tokyo Auto Salon 2013 was the FR-S/GT86/BRZ. Those of you that read Dino’s post from earlier in the week will remember that there were an unheard of ninety-one of these cars on display at TAS, more than any other [...]
It was about three months ago, on my last trip down to the Kansai area of Japan, that I realized I was standing in front of THE car of 2013. As Ueta-san of BenSopra ran the plans he had for his 180SX-based project by me, it quickly became obvious that there wasn’t going to be [...]
It’s time to dedicate a bit of time to the true tuner cars that were dotted around the vastness that was the Tokyo Auto Salon this year. Performance is the name of the game here and if there is a bit of style thrown in for good measure you can rest assured it’s all driven [...]
This white R35 GT-R is probably one of the most easily recognized Japanese demo cars of 2012, a car that over the years has been displayed at Tokyo Auto Salon through its, very ambitious, development process. This was supposed to become Ken Nomura’s next D1 Grand Prix drift machine, a beast capable of unleashing a [...]
This is first detailed look of a car that everyone has pretty much already seen. Such is the power of the internet, where news spreads as it happens and is old a day later. Except there is nothing old about the ride you see here. This is the freshest and at the same time one [...]
It was an easy pick to go with this crazy military-themed S14 zenki from Hayashi Auto Service to start off this spotlight-o-rama from Slammed Society. This wild ride has really made the rounds on the interweb and was one of the most popular cars at the event. Aside from the slammed stance the car sports [...]
I’m going to move swiftly along with another look at some of the cars of Slammed Society Japan, and trust me there is so much to see I could post images from the show for the rest of October! While Japanese cars obviously make up the majority of the vehicles present, there are always some [...]
Wheels, wheels, wheels. We all love them, we all have our favorites and ones we lust over. At the HachiRock Festa this weekend, on top of the cars themselves, there was a superb selection of wheels to drool over. So I thought that as an interim post to the regular coverage it would be cool [...]
The F40 is a car that has over the last 25 years held its head high against the constant flow of supercars that countless manufacturers have released. It may no longer be the fastest or the most technologically advanced, but its simple formula of putting the driver at the center of its performance has cemented [...]
I consider myself a very realistic person; I keep my feet on the ground at all times and get on with the job at hand. I also consider myself a very lucky individual in that I am actually able to have a job that allows me to indulge in my unrelenting passion for cars. Since [...]
Time to head back to Central Circuit now and continue on with the coverage of Hellaflush Kansai. I’ll start off with two of the most talked about cars of this year, first up the Super Made Aristo which we have already featured, and the street-spec BenSopra demo car. Ueda-san, the man behind the all-new tuning [...]
This final selection of images will bring the Tokyo Auto Salon coverage to an end. Looking back at it, this year's show was a great reminder of why we all love the Japanese turning culture so much. Its diversity and continuous evolution has fueled it for decades and it seems to have picked up even [...]
I originally spotted Rafael Duarte's awesome looking '72 Ford Maverick out of Florida when it was posted on the Enkei Wheels Facebook page. I have to say the RPF1 is much like the TE37 in that it looks good on just about anything, including this tough little Ford. -Mike Garrett
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