One of the reasons I enjoy visiting Hayashi at his shop, Auto House Solid, anytime I’m in Gunma is that there is always a large variety of tuning cars on hand. Hayashi services a wide range of customers so there is guaranteed to be something interesting in the shop.
From street tuned cars, to full Attack builds, Hayashi has accumulated a large client base at Auto House Solid no doubt due to his meticulous handling of his customers cars.
A couple weeks ago, I messaged Hayashi about heading over to the shop the last weekend I would be in Japan and he mentioned he had some free time on Sunday, and that he could get a few friends together for a little gathering that Sunday afternoon. The last time I had visited the shop was back in 2017, so I was looking forward to seeing everyone again; both new friends and old.
I took a bit of time to put together a small video of the visit – you can watch it here:
I had been staying at my friend Brian’s place in Tokorozawa that weekend, so the drive up to Gunma went by pretty quickly. When we arrived at the shop we were greeted right away by some familiar faces; Morita-san and Ito-san. You’ll remember both people from features on the site – Morita’s EVO 6 and Ito’s FC.
Both Yusuke and Katsumi were also there with their S2000’s. I was pretty excited to see Yusuke’s S2000 since Hayashi retrofitted the TCP Magic fender diffusers onto the AP1; it definitely makes for a unique look. We were also joined by Rei who drove out his R33, and Sasazawa-san who had his carbon 86 there for some maintenance.
Hayashi works so much, the shop has hours stated but truth be told he is almost always at the shop.
Ai and Brian having a chat.
Ito had this new fiberglass dash for the FC, he asked me to sign it. Sasazawa threw a decal on the front. Really hope I get to see Ito’s FC again later this year running with the full aero package installed. It would be great to photograph it again all these years later.
Yusuke’s newly processed S2000 with the TCP fender diffusers and some other custom bits made by Hayashi and Masao of Dogfight Japan Bodyworks.
We’re still working on getting these end plates back up on the site store.
Yusuke’s mildly tuned AP1 is mostly used for spirited runs in the Gunma hills, but you’ll catch him on track every so often. It is a prime example of the type of cars that come in and out of Hayashi’s shop. The Voltex front flares mix well with the processed TCP diffuser.
Some custom carbon canards round out the look on the rear diffuser.
The interior has been stripped of most necessities like radio, navi and carpet, but Yusuke leaves some comforts like the air conditioning and full dash.
Katsumi’s S2000 on NT-03’s and K1 Laboratory front bumper. This S2000 has the quintessential ‘touge’ look to it and looks like an absolute blast to drive.
A very clean engine bay with Mugen carbon air box.
You’ve seen Ito’s FC on here before a few times – it was parked in its usual spot in front of the shop. The car wasn’t currently running, but I took some photos of it anyway. It had some of the new aero parts still installed, but the majority were off and in storage.
The old AME Tracers that were on it last we shot it have been swapped for a set of white Advan GT’s. With the new aero processing, the wider 5 spoke looks a bit more appropriate.
Good to see Hayashi has some help now at the shop at least. An employee working on some fiberglass modification.
I was walking around the shop and saw this trashed R33 bumper, and realized it was from Igarashi’s GTR. I wonder what happened to it – looks like an accident on track maybe.
Gunma has that typically Japan countryside feel to it, especially in Tamamura City. Looks peaceful, and it is, but what you can’t see is the 40 degree heat.
Rei-chan stopped by a bit later in his R33 and brought ice cream for everyone – which was very refreshing given the temperature. This is his second R33, having crashed and totaled his first one in the mountains some time ago.
This was my first time meeting Sasazawa-san and seeing his mostly carbon 86. He told me that the car is used for snow drifting on Mt. Akagi. He even showed me some videos that Hayashi took from a chase car behind him drifting up the touge. There were some parts of the road where the snow was so thin that the tires were just slipping from hitting the frozen asphalt – he said that he prefers when there is a lot of snow. It looked really fun!
The entire car has been completely stripped bare and anything that could be replaced by carbon has; the roof, hood, doors, fenders, hatch and windows are all now as light as possible. A single Recaro seat sits in front of a stripped down dash that has only the defroster on a custom carbon panel.
The spare tire well has also been removed and replaced with a single sheet of carbon.
Hayashi’s GTR hasn’t changed at all since I saw it last – he says he is too busy to work on it. Seems to be a common theme with shop owners in Japan, which I suppose is a good thing? Hopefully he can find time to finish it eventually and enjoy it on track.
I took some extra car in photographing Morita’s CP9A – I wanted to really showcase the new color. He says that he changed the color from white to Midnight Purple because he couldn’t afford a R34, so this was the next best thing. I told him if he didn’t spend all his money on this car he probably could have afforded one. Nevertheless, it looks really good in this color.
Almost every panel on the Varis widebody has been modified in one way or another by either Hayashi or Masao. The shades and shadows that the new color produces accentuates every curve and louver much more than the white did.
You really get an idea of just how much wider the car is with this kit on.
A new front splitter was built by Masao and recently integrated into the front bumper, along with new side vents in the hood.
The Ame shark decal is pretty appropriate with this car.
Morita has one of our launch edition SPL steering wheels in suede with the dual color stitching. For those of you that have one of our new steering wheels on pre-order, they should be arriving at the Nagoya port on July 20th.
A good view of the new splitter and molded hood vents.
All of these vertical shots were processed in a resolution made for mobile phone backgrounds in case you wanted to use them.
A fun looking Daihatsu Copen. There are entire race series in Japan dedicated to these little builds.
Thanks for viewing – it was great to catch up with everyone and see the updates to their builds. Hoping to catch some of them later in the year during Attack season.