The Tomei Expressway stretches from Nagoya to Tokyo, and recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. It’s a beautiful stretch of road, and when heading east you can see the flat outskirts give way to the tall buildings of the capital city. However, in this footage of a drive from the Kohoku Parking Area outside of Yokohama to the Shibuya line of the Shuto in 1987, a crew of kaido racers is spotted in the wild.
A line of Nissan Skylines, Glorias, and Cedrics, as well as the Toyota Mark II, Cresta, and Chaser triplets rev their engines as they exit the rest area and cruise onto the Tomei. What’s great about this video is that a bunch of unmodified versions of these same cars can be seen driving around as well. Along with everything from Subaru Leone wagons to S110 Silvias, it’s a feast for the eyes. Also notable is the preponderance of sedans, relatively few kei cars, and even fewer vans. Today, that ratio would be flipped, sadly.
One of my favorite styles of tuning. In 1999, my friend Mege-san sent me Champ Road and Holiday Auto. I was so fascinated by the wild builds!!!!
I didn’t know the style, but since translation was always off, just like everyone, i went with Bosozoku term. It wasn’t til later that a friend corrected me and said the Bosozoku is mainly for bikes. And those bikers transferred the style to cars.
In my 2003 trip to Japan, My friends took me to some of PA and we didn’t find any kaido racers, but we found Hiace vans.
Dress up Club Honey and they made me an honorary member.
https://www.f31club.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_3655.jpg
When I visit Japan, it is predominately visiting my F31 leopard friends. But then I always try to meet van friends and of course Kaido Racers.
Throughout they years, I would see some F31s built as Kaido racers. My goal was to see on in person (just personal milestones).
One of the Kaido Racers that would make these crazy cars posted his F31 Leopard. I asked him if I could see it for myself if I went to Nagasaki.
So in 2018, I made my way to Nagasaki. When I went there, he showed me his other cars.
https://www.f31club.com/2018/11/21/kyushu-mission-part-4-nagasakis-number-one-crazy-leopard/
But when he told me the leopard is 2hrs away in the mountains. I had plans for the evening and if you every traveled to Nagasaki by train, you know there is no Shinkansen and you have to take an Express train (from Hakata station) which is 2hrs each way.
2019, I went back to Nagasaki and we traveled to see the Leopard. Not not first visiting the secret base:
https://www.f31club.com/2019/07/02/wl-day-9-nagasaki-stage-1-secret-base/
Noguchi-san drove 2hrs into the mountains to show me the F31 leopard.
https://www.f31club.com/ourtravels/wl-day-9-the-drive-through-nagasaki-and-sasebo/
the milestone was met. https://www.f31club.com/2019/07/03/wl-day-9-nagasaki-stage-2-red-kaido-leopard/
When I asked about what the plan was for the car, he said, “crush” since it wouldn’t pass Shakken.
So I had to ask, “Will you give me parts?”
Noguchi-san, “Of course”
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Many of the cars and parts are disappearing, so it is amazing to finally see some of these cars and shops. Like everything old car related, a lot has dwindled, but it’s always cool to still see the cars and meet people!
Visit to Mizuno Works
https://www.f31club.com/2017/09/29/visit-to-mizuno-works-september-2017/
Visit to Barw’s Design
https://www.f31club.com/2018/11/13/kyushu-mission-part-2-barws-design/
Visit to Wing Works
https://www.f31club.com/2018/11/27/visit-to-wing-works/
Thank you for sharing all this stuff, you’ve had some awesome trips and met some awesome people!