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 [...]
Vanning. It swept the USA during the 1970s in an explosion of side pipes, murals, and velvet interiors before it disappeared just as fast as it began. For a long time after, custom vans were looked at as embarrassing pieces of the past rather than nostalgic classics. That is changing though. During the last several [...]
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've spotlighted some pretty exotic machinery from my time in Monterey, but here's something a little different. I came across this customized Volkswagen Type 147 at the Concours d'LeMons and thought you guys might get a kick out of this rare VW. The Type 147 was produced for use by the German Postal Service, and [...]
As I mentioned during my Grand National Coverage last week, there were a few customized vans that popped up around the show. There was one van, however, that stood above them all. In fact, this ridiculously cool hauler was my personal favorite vehicle of the entire show. Meet Van Go. Owned by Coby Gewertz, Van [...]
Have you guys enjoyed haulers and sedans month? I for one sure have, and as we wrap it up I wanted to do a quick post celebrating one of my favorite people haulers of all time – the third and fourth gen JDM-spec Honda Odyssey. Even in stock form, the sleek, low slung lines of [...]
Technically this isn't quite a car spotlight but checking under the available categories it would appear we don't have a van spotlight so car spotlight it is ! Actually, it's not too far off a car despite it's rather generous proportions. Originally built as Supervan 2 in 1984, the van is actually based on a [...]
Well, the streets of the Long Beach waterfront have ceased to be a racing circuit and are now to back to being just…..streets. It's been a great couple of weeks in the LBC, and I want to wrap up my Grand Prix of Long Beach of coverage with some final photos and observations from both [...]
It's been some time since a hot looking Japanese van has been posted here, no? Here's a very tasty looking dark green Odyssey found in the vast Minkara archive. Oh Honda, if you could just import the J-Odyssey to the USA, that'd be swell. -Mike Garrett
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How many of us were taken through the streets of childhood in a minivan? I was, and I hated it, I couldn’t dare be seen in it. At the tender age of six my family bought a 1993 Mazda MPV and used it for everything from towing the boat to shuttling our stuff across the [...]
Here's another bit of printed treasure that I picked up during my recent stay in Japan, and another magazine title that fits well with this month's theme – Style Wagon. Since I bought my own van earlier this spring, I've been keeping an extra close eye on this magazine along with some of the other [...]
I spotted this decked out pop-top VW bus and trailer combo at a local Volkswagen gathering here in Central California last month and thought some of you guys might enjoy seeing this interesting creation. Although these old buses make a Toyota Prius look like a Ferrari when it comes to performance, I think stuff like [...]
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I suppose it's not too surprising that there are some nicely done VW Tourans to be found in van-crazed Japan. A bit cooler than the much larger Chrysler-built VW Routan that we get here in the USA isn't it? Found on Minkara -Mike Garrett
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If you've been reading Speedhunters for a while, then you might remember that I did a short story about Toyota's "Megaweb" in Odaiba last year. In case you haven't heard of it, Megaweb is a huge showroom where you can check out the latest Toyota models and even test drive them around a special course [...]
