.
Alright, I honestly thought that this would be the last post from TAS I would put out, but it looks like that’s not the case. I’ll be making it a series of 5 for full coverage; one more to go. Anyway, runner up for best model would be from Gontaya. I really don’t have anything to say about this one…click past the break for more TAS goodness.
.
This crazy Toyota van, and the model above, were on display at the LED ごんた屋 booth. LED Gontaya is giant distributor of LED parts for automotive and other various purposes. I like the black Volks on the mustard yellow body. This thing was decked out in lights; including some programmed motion display in the headlights. I’m not sure, but the guy in the top right of the pic might be the president of the company.
.
.
The Air Force + FD from Auto-Labo. Auto-Labo is a Japanese used, tuning car dealership/shop. This thing was absolutely awesome looking. The matte black aero on the white was a great contrast, and increased the toughness of the car ten times over.
.
.
The carbon diffuser was awesome. I like how it curves up towards the top. The down-turned exhaust is a fav of mine as well. I think I liked this FD more than the PanSpeed ones!
.
.
This might have been the only FC at the show. It was done up in typical street drift style. I usually don’t like convertible FC’s, but this one still looked pretty good.
.
.
A pair of Bride’s complimented the drift/street style interior. You can see that this car is actually for sale.
.
.
Scissor doors! D-Max kit looks pretty good.
.
.
UP Garage had their D1 spec turbocharged AE86 on display for all to drool at.
.
.
The interior of this thing is all business. I was kind of surprised at the size of steering wheel they use; seems a little big. I like the little car that’s drawn on cardboard that’s attached to the passenger door. I wonder what that’s all about?
.
.
A shot from the other side of the UP Garage booth.
.
.
The Top Secret booth was right across from UP Garage. We had the opportunity to meet with Smokey Nagata for a little bit after he was interviewed by some film crew. Addy, the kid on the right, is who I went to TAS with; he is a Nissan prodigy, it was his first time in Japan and Smokey is his hero.
.
.
Along with the CR-Z and R35 Top Secret had on display, they also brought out a set of each engine that the cars were running. This R35 engine…
.
.
…as well as this L-series that was equipped with their developmental turbo kit. I love how tuning companies target the CR-Z as if it wasn’t a hybrid at all.
.
.
The welds on this R35 exhaust are awesome. I love the coloring of the titanium. I cringed when I saw the price though. I guess if you have a brand new GT-R, you’ll have the money to drop on high end parts like this though.
.
.
As you might expect, the RE雨宮 booth was interesting to say the least. They had quite a few FD’s on display, as well as their new time attack RX-8.
.
.
I can’t say that I am a fan of the majority of the cars that RE produces, but I will give them respect. Aesthetically, some of their cars a little too over the top for me.
.
.
I should have gotten a full shot of the RX-8 that was next to this freshly built FD, but it managed to elude me. You can see it on their website though. I actually ran into Amasan while I was wandering around the booth. I’ll be the first to say…he really does look a little like Anpanman!
.
.
Jun’s display consisted of two R35’s and a plethora of internal engine components.
.
.
They also had this built RB on display that looked like it would produce more power than anyone could ever use. The custom manifolds were soooo sexy…
.
.
One booth I really ended up enjoying was the Top Fuel one. The past few years they have been dedicating themselves to tuning truly compact vehicles; like this Suzuki Swift. They had many parts for sale and on display.
.
.
From there we went over to check out this impossibly cool, widebody S15 built by Lightning. It was stunning to say the least. It was fairly similar to Suzuki-san’s Scorch Racing S15; it was even running the same type of rear wing/trunk configuration.
.
.
A little peek at what’s going on in the front. The gold on the RE30’s match the blue perfectly. Not sure how I feel about the one windshield wiper deal…
.
.
Blitz seems to have dedicated themselves almost fully to AWD chassis. I was pretty excited to see that they had already begun on the new STi platform. I’m so glad Subaru decided to bring back the sedan style WRX. Not that I didn’t like the 5-door, but the WRX should be a sedan.
.
.
They also had a lot of sweet parts on display. I’ll publish the last generic coverage from the Salon tomorrow. I’ll still have some features from the show, and a Super GT special, but v.5 will be the last of the booth and display shots. Hope you’ve enjoyed it up to this point.
.