Keeping Up With The Kato-Sans
Come On In

A trip to Liberty Walk is never a trip wasted, and no matter how many times we stop by the land of Wataru Kato, there’s always something new (and old) to see.

Whether it’s the juxtaposing sight of a widebody McLaren and an RX8, decades apart yet apparently separated at birth, or a gaggle of R35-inspired Kei cars, a Saleen S7 wearing some curious cardboard canards, or Kato-san’s own personal old-school shakotan collection, this is where Liberty Walk walks its walk.

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The over fender approach to styling, at least in how the main Japanese styling houses approach it nowadays, has its roots in the old-school Bosozoku aesthetics of the 1980s and 1990s. You can clearly see this in some of Kato-san’s designs for cars of that era. In fact, this is where he started – long before he was cutting up Italian supercars, like so many others, Kato modified his own old-school JDM metal in bozo fashion.

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Bosozoku style is heavily influenced by the circuit-racers of the time, albeit in a much more exaggerated form. The Liberty Walk Miura, RX3, Hakosuka and Fairlady kits, for example, all boast a very different style of overfender and kit to those found on more modern chassis, and it’s a style far closer to the roots of its inspiration.

The racers used wider fenders to fit bigger and wider wheels, with more substantial rubber for extra grip when racing. The Bosozoku took this pragmatic approach and turned it into a style to be used on the streets – more for presence and looks than for function. A lot of people act like the overfender trend is something new, when it’s really not.

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When brands such as Liberty Walk, Rocket Bunny, and RWB receive flak online for how they approach their designs, the ‘overfender hate’ seems misdirected to me. These brands didn’t invent the idea of taking a once-functional approach and turn it into a solely aesthetic decision, they merely helped to popularise it outside of that very niche community.

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Maybe it’s just because some people like to deviate from the status quo, some find the success of others a hard pill to swallow, or some just can’t appreciate that, to many, the styling of a car is just as important – if not more – than how it drives.

But if you can’t see what Kato-san has done with Liberty Walk in a relatively short space of time, as a businessman and as an influencer of styling, as even slightly admirable then I’m not sure what anyone can say to convince you.

Maybe people are just mad because he’s cutting up supercars? But why shouldn’t he? Let’s face it – most of the owners wanting the Liberty Walk treatment cars were never going to find themselves on a racetrack, or their cars driven at ten-tenths.

If you own a supercar and want the Liberty Walk approach, then the chances are you own that car for a myriad of reasons and quite far down this priorities list is out-and-out performance.

Digression aside, in a short space of time, Liberty Walk has gone from a relatively-unknown-outside-of-Japan tuning house to an international presence. It was 2009 when the first Liberty Walk Murcielago landed at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, but it wasn’t until three years later when we saw the fist ‘LB Works’ full widebody kit that’s synonymous with Kato-san’s vision today.

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The LB WORKS take on a 458 Italia followed, and then an R35 GT-R, and with each new iteration, the WORKS style seemed to find itself. This is more than just bolting on a set of overfenders and calling it a day – each model that goes under the knife at Liberty Walk seems to be given the aesthetic consideration that it deserves.

You might not like it, but there’s consideration in play – lips and diffusers flow into existing bodywork, overfenders curve or compliment angular OEM lines.

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Despite the international success of Liberty Walk, Kato-san (and his son, Hyuma) are still out-and-out enthusiasts at heart. There’s so much tucked away in the background that the huge gallery below is like an automotive game of Where’s Wally?

A walk around the LB empire in Nagoya is like a trip into the mind of someone that eats, sleeps and breathes car culture. That’s why I believe we should celebrate Liberty Walk, regardless of whether our tastes align or not.

Jordan Butters
Instagram: jordanbutters
jordan@speedhunters.com

Photography by Mark Riccioni
Instagram: mark_scenemedia
Twitter: markriccioni
mark@scene-media.com

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25 comments

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1

That saleen cardboard aero is on point

2

Everyone loves a bit of Cardboard Aided Design (CAD)!

3

My favorite car in the shop is that red Hakosuka GT-R. <3

4

Same here; what a timeless beauty it is. And what would I give to own one of these.......

5

How can they ever get any work done with so many distractions!

6

what are these little red cars? -416669 is the picture number.

7

Honda S660, with body kits to make them look like an NSX. I don't think they're sold outside of Japan.

8

I like the liberty walk style, and at the end of the day its just cars he's cutting up. Is there really a difference between putting wide arches on a civic and a lambo? other than the budget obviously. The cars look awesome slammed whether they are a hakusoka or a ferrari and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next

9

Lambo is produced in far fewer numbers, which I think is the main thing people get upset about in thinking long term preservation of 'rare' cars.

10

I wouldn't call it rare. The purist hate often has to do with the fact that these cars were handbuilt before Kato-San and crew cut into them. That is the difference between popping flares onto a Murcielago in comparison to a Civic.

On that note, the Civic's widebody could be called functional. The Lambo's....not so much.

Don't get me wrong, though, I'm no purist and I'm glad Kato-San has fun with his cars and doesn't take himself too seriously.

11

Mark Riccioni - awesome pictures!

12

A f***in' Saleen S7!

13

Can we get more on that g-nose widebody please. Much appreciated

14

This is definitely way better than Keeping Up With The Kardashians xD
Btw that S660 is undeniably cute and that S7 is awesome!
The bikes here are great as well!

15

I've always been like, a fair weather LB fan? I like the idea (and coming from the same sort of classic J Tin probably helps, I love the whole works style). But they put out so many cars that it's impossible to like all of them, not a fan of their 350Z kit really or the BOSS kids. But I think that's fair, they're not aimed at me

Also holy goddamn shit there's an S7TT in Japan? How can that car possibly be made wider??? Hats way off to that guy

16

I want the rx3 soooo bad..... *_*

17

Cannot agree more Jordan. Cars have been about style for as long as cars have been about transport........

18

I'd be lying if i said I wouldn't feel like a boss driving ANY of those vehicles around.
The one I really want though...............the van.

19
Jay Soh Tsu Chung

I am actually still waiting for the day my vision becomes a reality. LOL!

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20
Jay Soh Tsu Chung

I am actually still waiting for my vision to become a reality. LOL!

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21

A Saleen S7 TT in Japan has to be beyond nutty. It's like 7ft wide!

22

I’d love to see how one of these kits comes together. Is it all done in CAD? Do they do the fibreglass moulds in house? Or maybe it’s the old school way with clay and some hand carving? The finished products are always great

23

Just enjoy car culture, don't think too much about it.

24

Love or hate what Kato San does people should appreciate the sheer passion he puts in every build he realize. Together with Magnus Walker he is definitely one of my "I hope I'll meet him one day" automotive gurus.

25

Going to be a contrarian here, but overfenders are overdone IMO. In 80% of applications they look like they're just slapped on with minimal effort. A proper widebody will look better than overfenders in most applications (exceptions being the S30 or 911 930).

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