On the Rides of TAS 2015:
This year's Tokyo Auto Salon was held from the 9th to 11th of January. Unlike the biennial Tokyo Motor Show, which is all about showcasing the newest technological developments (translated: how to make driving, quiet, boring, safe and slow), the Auto Salon is all about modified cars; that could mean sticking a V8 into a prius (it was done… and I want to drive it), or it might mean bolting fenders to a lambo because Lamborghinis are boring stock (;p). All the best custom madness from one of the most custom-crazy places on earth was on display.
This year saw a marked increase in non-Japanese cars on the show floor, especially from the bigger houses - it doesn’t help that Japanese automakers seem fundamentally opposed producing any new cool cars that moneyed folk would want to buy. With the exception of the 86 and the GT-R, the majority of Japanese tuned vehicles were the same mid-nineties to early-naughties classics.
It also reflects the state of the tuner market because, increasingly, the only Japanese people who mod are the overly wealthy who buy sports cars to stroll along Tokyo’s Aoyama-dori showing off how well they exploited Abenomics. Or, there are the increasingly poor car enthusiasts who scrape their continually decreasing (thanks to Abenomics) part-timer wages to spend on the 25 year old JDM because parts are plentiful and dirt cheap (and they don’t break).
The funny thing is, out of all the cars on show, the only car I desperately wanted to take home was the Car Guys/Vertex Nissan Silvia S15... Okay maybe the Roberuta Ferrari F40 too.
Editor Reno Interjects:
Ferrari F40 all the way. No debate. Also, I made Nayalan use the phrase “Big-Ass Gallery” in the title, and I stand by the decision.
Ferrari F40 all the way. No debate. Also, I made Nayalan use the phrase “Big-Ass Gallery” in the title, and I stand by the decision.
Picture galleries are all on AkihabaraNews.com go lookie!
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