Tokyo Auto Salon 2013

It’s early Monday morning in Japan and this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon has officially come to an end. Here’s a sampling of all the rest of the cars present at Makuhari Messe.

As always Nissan had a very big presence at this year’s show. While the GT-R remains the king, Silvas and Skylines have not been forgotten.

TAS needs more builds like this fantastic 180SX from SPIRIT Rei.

It’s hard to go wrong with a white R32 on Advans. Funny enough it’s the simple builds that stand out most at TAS.

Phoenix’s Power had the GT-R well represented at the show including this lime green example on BBS LMs.

Next door to Phoenix’s Power was Top Secret. They also showed up with a few different GT-Rs as well as their Rocket Bunny kitted 86.

This year could be the biggest ever turnout for imports, both European and American at TAS. Ferrari had a large presence as did Porsche and BMW amongst others.

The Ferrari F40 was given a very nice display this year. The Japanese have always been obsessed with European cars and as exotics get older and become cheaper, we’re going to see a lot more tuners working with them.

Despite strong showings from Nissan and Toyota, Mitsubishi didn’t fare as well in 2013. The Evo X is now 5 years old and it’s beginning to show. It’s disappointing to see a car which once littered the show floor at TAS, suffer the same fate as its Subaru rival. With Mitsuibshi moving towards EV production, the CZ4A may be the last of the great tuner cars from the brand.

Varis continues to dominate the market. I’m disappointed that Voltex never created their own Evo X wide body kit to compete.

Unsurprisingly, Toyotas dominated the show in 2013. The 86 is the new darling of the Japanese tuning industry, massively overshadowing its sibling the BRZ.

A JZX100 with strange lights inside of the wheels. This was a trend seen on a number of cars at TAS.

Original Runduce was present with their 86 demo car kitted in Varis aero. This car just looks so good and is probably my favorite 86.

After all these years, the Mazda RX-7 continues to be one of the very best looking Japanese cars.

Last but not least there’s Subaru. As with every year, I was disappointed in the turnout for Imprezas. While the STi fights to remain relevant, the tuning industry seems to be moving on. I blame Subaru for not giving the car the AYC and extra 30-50 horsepower it so deserves.

D Language came out with a very large booth featuring their STi, Evo and 86 demo cars.

Blitz was also on hand with a GVB STi showing off some of their latest electronics and performance parts, including this 6-pot brake kit.

Despite filing for bankruptcy in 2012, Zero/Sports was on hand with a GVB STi. They’re hardly the dominant force they once were at TAS.

I’ll end with this truly awesome looking wide body GVB STi from Varis. This kit has kind of gone under the radar with all the attention on the 86.

That about does it for TAS coverage on A Class. If anything else exciting comes my way, I’ll be sure to post it. Overall I’m disappointed by this year’s show. There’s a real lack of variety right now in the Japanese tuning industry. I suppose it’s been a long time coming. With major players like Honda, Mitsubishi and Mazda failing to produce exciting cars like they once did, the industry has been forced to rely on Nissan and Toyota. Subaru can be happy with their role in the 86 and their own BRZ but as the Impreza continues to get heavier and slower, we may see another great fall by the wayside. On the bright side, the amazing reception the 86 has gotten has shown other manufacturers what’s possible. Hopefully in the next few years we’ll see more of the affordable, fun cars the Japanese automotive industry so desperately needs.

Photos courtesy of GTNET.

Throwback Thursdays: Drift X30

There are plenty of JZX100 drift cars out there. We see them all the time, but it’s not so often you see an X30 in drift trim.

This particular Chaser alludes to it’s boso roots: massive over fenders, deep dish wheels and external oil cooler, check.

It really is a family affair.

Throwback Thursdays: X30 Chaser

Is there a more versatile car, than the Toyota sedan? It is as much beloved as it is loathed by so many. Here in the states, it would be nearly impossible, not to see a Camry out and about. Fortunately, we’re not talking about watered down, ex-pat Toyotas; we’re talking about quite possibly, the most important Toyota sedan of all, the Chaser.

The Toyota Chaser was introduced in 1977, as a competitor to the Nissan Skyline. It was an every man’s car, offering the Japanese an attainable, luxury sports sedan.

It came as both a coupe and a sedan, powered by economic 4 and 6-cylinder engines.

While the X30′s following may not be as prominent as the Celica 2000GT or the Hakosuka, it’s still a unique looking platform, with plenty of potential. The round headlamps fit the front end perfectly, as do the gaping grill and fender mirrors.  It’s a relatively simple looking car, almost generic from the certain angles. But while other Japanese cars of the time, were mimicking American muscle styling, the Chaser remained Japanese. Painted black, you could even call it a noble.

The long, sweeping body lines have been carried through the line, since the days of the X30.

While most will immediately recognize the Skyline, as the most important Japanese car, it’s hard not to include the Chaser, as part of the conversation. Especially from a tuning perspective, the car has done it all. It’s been a drifter, competed in time attack and circuit racing, even had a steady foot in the VIP scene, before there was a VIP scene. It was the original car that was “too big” to slide and that made it beloved by the drifters. There are few sites more pleasurable, in the sport, than seeing a massive, JZX100 going sideways.

So there you have it, the X30 Chaser. Cetainly not the most popular, but one of the most interesting and definitely a classic.

Weld

There’s a few shops in Japan that can turn a car’s engine bay into art. The shops that come to mind immediately are Top Secret, Sui Vax, and Weld. I first heard about Johnny Ito and Weld back in 2006 when they were trying to break into the US tuning market with their S14 time attack car. I started looking up their cars and seeing them in Japanese car magazines and I always really admired Weld’s craftsmanship.

Johnny Ito is truly an artist, he doesn’t just bolt on parts, he creates these cars from his imagination as functioning work’s of art. For me Weld is the king of engine bays. They started the whole “shaved and tucked” look in Japanese tuning as far as I’m concerned.

Everything has a purpose. If it doesn’t, it’s removed. Like the rest of Japanese culture, simplicity is beauty.

This is the engine bay of Weld’s red JZX100 which was specially built for the owner who’s in a wheelchair. That engine bay is just flawless.

Tire Smoke

I was going through some older pictures tonight and came across this one of Daigo Saito and his JZX100 at D1GP. Not one of my best attempts at photography but a fairly decent picture. I’m still trying to learn how to take good photos of cars in movement. There’s a great write-up by J. Martinez on Fatlace’s photo channel F/STOP about panning photography. It definitely answers some questions regarding camera settings. I’ll have to try have incorporate some of techniques discussed in the near future.