While scanning the Tokyo Auto Salon for the rare stock(ish) carsstock(ish) cars last month we came across a beautiful Nissan Fairlady 280Z. It was displayed at the Wise Square booth and looked incredibly fresh. We were amazed to learn that it was a one owner car starring in a Japanese reality TV show.
“Rags to Riches: Treasure Mountain” is a Japanese TV show that finds neglected items in people’s homes and brings out their true value. It features a wide range of items — vintage clothing, toys, ceramics, and so forth — but there’s always an automotive segment in which a vintage car is restored. “There are still many old cars lying dormant all over the country!” the show proclaims. Treasure Mountain has been on since 2021, but oddly, seems to air whenever they feel like it, approximately once a year.
The car restoration part is similar to that of English car restoration reality shows, like “Wheeler Dealers.” The crew finds an old car, restores it, and puts the finished product up on Yahoo Auctions with a starting price of just four yen (about two-and-a-half cents USD). Then they hope that the winning bid is more than what it cost to restore it.
Past episodes have rescued a Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste, 510 Nissan Bluebird Coupé, Mazda Familia Rotary Coupé, R33 Skyline GT-R 4-door, and more. The 1982 Fairlady 280Z was a one owner car painted in the trademark Manhattan two-tone. It’d been sitting for 20 years, and required an overhaul of all the main areas, including fuel, brakes, wheels, body, and interior.
The video seems to show a lot more wrenching than a typical American “automotive” reality TV show does, but it’s not clear how much of the footage made it to the final edit of the show. In any case, it’s always entertaining to see experts at work. The result was shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon last month. The final sale price is so far unknown, but hopefully the crew will make their money back.
