Neat post........I have shipped to stuff via ePay over to Japan and they pay CRAZY money for the part and for the shipping.......I have had a few guys email me some pix of what they were working on and it amazes me how they work on cars in a garage that will barely fit the vehicle........Who was the HAMBer from back in the day that had a Model A with a Old's or Nailhead motor in it. I think that he worked for Burnout magazine. Chris The HAMBer was "Nori".......what ever happened to him?
Their MiniTruckin scene is off the wall just like their hotrod scene i used to subscribe to mini truckin for a few years and every so often they would run some of the japanese vehicles in the mag and their stuff was killer often tomes they would have a minitruck with their rods.So my hats are off to those guys lots and lots of talent there.
I love all the things those guys are doing in Japan regarding cars and Kulture. Everytime I see coverage of their "Custom Hill" carshow here on the HAMB, I break out in the sweats. Our Japanese brothers sure do put their creative twists on rod & custom building, painting, and art. Joel
Boy,are some of the newbies in for a shock,when they find the search function and,discover the past show coverage,from Japan. Thanks Ryan, for "Spreading the Gospel of Traditional Hot Rodding, Worldwide".
Toyota 18-RGE (with the cross flow Alloy twincam yamaha head), early '80's. From memory a older USA member here on the HAMB built that car, and sold it..... I think that alot of the Japanese rodders are more 'open minded' to hot rodding potential, which, in turn, is illustrated to some of the crazy creative stuff they come up with....props to them for their dedication and passionate enthusiasm, certainly inspirational. Cheers, Drewfus
for anyone interested in the Japan scene check out this photo blog: www.sparetime.jp mainly choppers and bobbers but there's heaps of wild customs and rod's in there too. hours of looking and tons of inspiration.
Even when you flip though a new mag and it has some Jap rods or customs in it, they seem to just pop out at you, they just do it so well! I really get excited about anything those guys do reguarding rods and customs. Keep it up guys!
Nice blog Ryan. I have so much I could say, now that I live here. But I'll just add this: Japanese have been into hot rodding for many years, even before the war. There have been so many well documented Japanese American hot rod clubs, racers, engine tuners, etc. and I have always been enthralled by that. I just learned not long ago from my dad that an old family friend (Japanese) of ours first got to know my dad from his hot rod club in Seattle in the mid 50's. I told my dad I was proud that his club allowed a "Jap" in his club, just 10 years after the war. Post war emotions were still running high, but he shrugged it off saying he had a cool car! For a really interesting read on Japanese salt flat racers, check out TRJ #35 (Nissei Racers). The premise for that article fascinates me and I have always thought it would be a great topic for a movie.
The bucket with the 18 RG was built by my friend Richard here in San Diego. He is a member of the Lifters Car Club and is threatening to build another one with the spare Toyota engine in his stash. But first he has to get his Chevy wagon going!! It was and is a great little rod. Damn! The Hello Kitty toaster Rocks!
This article is giving me hope that were finally maturing out of this "Theres only one right way to do this! Or else youre a phony "Poser"!" Or "hey that guys tryin to capitalize on "Our" lifestyle!" Mentality thats dominated this Hot Rod/Kustom Car thing we do for the last 20 years or so! Cool!
Amen Brother! We could all learn something from the Japanese guys. Even though this culture originated in the US, we should be proud that it's emulated by so many around the world.
here is a custom built by a Japanese guy named Dice....he built it state side and currently lives in Kentucky..he has a good eye for style i have seen the car in person it is amazing.
Exactly my thoughts too! Some people,just need to look through the member list of the HAMB, it's a "Global Community". Amazing where some HAMBer's reside.
that 54 was built by Cholo's Custom. http://cholos.xxxxxxxx.jp/ And yes, they DO get it, ESPECIALLY when it comes to bikes. The baddest Suzuki I ever seen
Was at the Classic Adelaide 08 tent in November where the Sporting Car Club of S.A. had amongst other cars on display a Toyota 2000. The japanese car culture has got it 4 a long time. I'm with RobSchwager on wanting to get these cats on the H.A.M.B. We need to translate..
not trying to go off topic or mess up your thread, but i'm doing the same thing here with one of their cars, one of the more under appreciated one from the mid eighties,if this is too off topic you can delete it. i've always liked their mechanical stuff, changing this from a very complex electro mechanical carburator system which s unfixable, to a setup with dual 1972 hitachi SU type carbs. it works both ways. sorry the firewall and so on is so dirty, have a lot of mockup to do, then everything comes out and the engine compartment gets cleaned and painted. none of the parts in here were bought from a store or catalog, started with a set of very dirty SU's and the manifold, thats it. even the valve cover is from a different car. I'm a machinist so i make evrything myself, no CNC or anything like that,just very old manual machines. like i said if this is too off topic go ahaed and delete this post. I would love to talk to some of these japanese customizers to compare notes, they are customizing our cars there and i'm customizing their car here. they are probably just used to americans doing nothing but putting big wings and big mufflers on their cars.
The Jalopy Journal
