What will the Japanese tuning scene come up with this year? It’s not easy to evolve and push the boundaries, let alone come up with all new styles. But, somehow, Japan never disappoints, as this first short walk around Tokyo Auto Salon’s setup day will show.
For 2020, everyone has a new toy to play with. The A90 Supra is a car we’re going to see modified in many different ways over the coming years, but the standout build at TAS for me is 326 Power’s demo machine, which boasts what must be the first proper onikyan fitment applied to the model.
Second has to be the SuperGT GT500 A90 racer, the perfect expression of function for this all-new chassis. In fact, Toyota has quite a few Supras on its stand, and we’ll look at those in more detail in the coming days as part of a bigger A90 post. I just didn’t want to post pictures of cars sitting in messy, yet-to-be-finished booths.
Don’t expect anything too wild though. Most Japanese tuners have only had their A90s for a couple of months, so the vast majority of new Supras on display are modified in a simple manner with the first JDM bolt-on parts for the chassis.
But for every aesthetically oriented build, there is one that focuses solely on fine tuning the handling and overall balance of performance, cue the Kansai Service A90.
The honor of wildest street-oriented Supra build goes to Varis, which has gone wide.
The guys were hard at work on their stand late last night finishing off the car, and I’m sure it’s going to look awesome with these one-off 18×13-inch RAYS Volk Racing GT090 race wheels bolted on at all four corners. These are actual SuperGT rims that were custom-made by RAYS for Varis with a 5-lug hub, and run massive 335/30R18 Toyo Proxes R888R semi-slicks front and rear.
And how about the Supra’s evil BMW-branded stepbrother? I did come across some pretty hot-looking versions, including this one from CMP Tech Japan.
Kato-san at Liberty Walk has a few new cars to show off today. Ron and I had a proper look at them yesterday, and we’ll be sure to share them once they’re unveiled – you won’t be disappointed.
For now, we can show you Liberty Walk’s NSX. Maybe we can persuade Blake to go for this conversion with his car…
It looks like RE Amemiya has dug out some cars from its past to show at TAS this year. Remember the red Lotus Europa-based concept that Amemiya-san built back in 2013? This is that car, reimagined for 2020.
But the first-gen RX-7 next to it was the real star of the display. You have to love the retro RE Amemiya pink and blue color combo.
Roberta always seems to dig out the rarest cars in Japan to promote their air cups, but this year they have really outdone themselves with a Jaguar XJ15 and a CLK GTR.
In the coming days, Ron is going to check out some of the crazy builds from NATS (Nihon Automobile College). As each year passes, the students always seem to get better and better at what they do, and that’s creating wild custom conversions based on affordable base cars.
And talking about pushing the envelope, check out what 326 Power has done with a Toyota 86. I don’t think the picture above does the width of this thing any justice at all, it’s incredibly fat.
There was a lot of interest in Todoroki Jidousha’s Levin – built in collaboration with Work Wheels – which is running the new Pandem aero conversion for the model.
I found Kei Miura on sticker duty around the back.
Out of all of Miura’s creations, I’d probably have to choose either the original 6666 Customs S13 kit or the Pandem version you see here as my all-time favorites.
I first saw this Lexus RC around a year ago at the Powervehicles stables up in Ebisu. Back then it was nothing more than a bare white shell, slowly being stitch-welded and having the mother of all roll-cages fabricated inside. Fast forward 12 months and here it is taking centerstage at the RAYS booth, completed and ready to attack the 2020 Formula D Japan series that kicks off in May.
The Lexus wears the full Kazama aero conversion for the RC which introduces a serious dose of aggression, and runs 57CR wheels from RAYS’ Gram Lights catalog.
Andy Gray has always put a lot of attention to detail in his pro drift car builds, but this thing is on another level. The driveline consists of a 2JZ running a Tomei Powered 3.6L stroker and GCG-Garrett G42 turbo, sending power to the rear wheels via a G-Force transmission.
TAS 2020 won’t disappoint – it never has and probably never will. Stay tuned for lots more from the world’s craziest tuning show.
Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: speedhunters_dino
dino@speedhunters.com