I can’t remember what day it was but I do remember Alex, Park, Noogz, Matt and I ended up at Up Garage sometime during our last trip; big surprise there right? Not really.
If you’ve follow this blog for the past, I don’t know, two years or so, you’d know that you’d be hard pressed to find a place in Japan I like to spend time at more than Up Garage (maybe Uniqlo). You’d also know that the Up Garage in Machida is neighbors with the tuning and used car sale shop Fly Rat. Specializing in older 80’s and 90’s cars, Fly Rat produces some really cool stuff, and if you’re lucky enough (not you per say, but someone in Japan), they’ll have it for sale in their lot as well.
Anyway, while Alex and the others looked around the store (I had been there just the other day buying wheels so wasn’t too interested), I meandered towards Fly Rat to see if I could find anything cool.
I saw this Corolla sitting in between a few Kei cars towards the garage. It had a pretty cool, ‘homemade’ circuit feel to it that I really enjoyed. It didn’t take long for the owner to notice a strange foreigner taking pictures of his car, and he made his way over to Park and I.
He was very nice and excited I was taking interest in his car; I’m sure he put a lot of time into it. I asked him if he could open the hood and he gladly obliged. I’d be lying if I had said I was surprised at what I saw under the bonnet, because I had an inclination there would be a built 4AGE underneath anyway. I really liked the color of the ITB stacks though; kind of a light blue/faded teal color.
A closer look at the engine setup.
The interior was on a whole other level though. Not my cup of tea, but the owner certainly took to personalizing it quite well. 
The SSR Longchamps looked right at home on the older chassis, with sizing and offset to match the widened exterior.
Really liked what he did with the front fenders and sides. I need to find a way to incorporate something like this into my car. The tiny URAS decals were a nice addition.
Like most of my finds in Japan, this one was completely random. Goes to show it pays to always keep your eyes open in Japan.