Here’s a neat little video of Shaun’s new KHR31 Skyline being driven through the streets of Nagoya to the dropoff point at the container yard, where it will be sent on its merry way to NZ. This clip was thrown together by my friend Nik who took Ewan’s original 1GB (45 minute) file, edited it down to 9 mins via Premiere and then chucked it onto Youtube for better accessibility.

A couple of surprises: Nagoya isn’t as heavily built up or crowded as you’d think, the pavements are strangely devoid of pedestrians (lots of bicycles though) and 100 octane petrol isn’t actually that expensive. Ewan’s running commentary is a nice touch for any aspiring tourists, myself included.

The wonders of modern tech… would you believe this was filmed entirely on an iPhone?

The original full-length Shockwave file is here.

Not long to go before the container leaves (you catch a glimpse of it right at the end of the vid). A word of thanks to Scott from Ellery Freight for liaising with Ewan and getting all this sorted for a very sharp price. If this mission goes well it’s a distinct possibility that more containers will arrive after this one at more frequent intervals.

What car meet in Japan would be complete with the crew that carries on the bosozoku style?  None.  None is the answer to that question.  As such, here’s a smattering of those mentioned that attended the Nagoya show.  Enjoy their aesthetically offensive, racing car inspired awesomeness.

Nissan Skyline Japan (C210)

Toyota Soarer (MZ10)

I have a Soarer Ass (well it's not suprising with all those holes)

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Thanks go out to Ewan (www.hayatonka.com) for many, many things.  This time though it’s for taking a good whack of photos whilst he’s out and about at various events or otherwise.  In this instance he took the recently acquired KHR31 GTS-X that he attained on behalf of Shaun (Mettler) after this atrocity to the Nagoya Classic Car Show, the results as you will see momentarily are beyond awesome.  As you’ll see from the small share of photos this time around, the focus is on the larger Japanese sedans that were present.

Mitsubishi Debonair - Pure Class

Nissan Gloria (A30) - Stacklamp Wonderment

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Whilst researching the possibility of another job, I have been spending some time looking up vans on YAJ (Yahoo! Auctions Japan) simply because the price in Japan, transport, bought and landed via Ewan @ HayaTonka.com is a lot cheaper than attempting to buy one locally from the car yards.  Another thing I’ve noticed during the search is that Toyota Hiaces command quite the premium and a newer, lower mileage Nissan Caravan can be had for sometimes half the price.  However, that’s enough modern jibber-jabber.  It’s safe to say that if the courier companies allowed the use of older vehicles (2005 is the cut-off) then I would most definitely roll one of these instead;

Nissan Caravan

Nissan HOMY

Toyota Hiace

Toyota Hiace

Sadly, this is not a viable option.  That being said, with the purchase price and initial setup cost of the Courier venture, it’s likely to be outside my reach at the moment regardless, so no options are viable.  I guess I’ll keep looking and dreaming.  One day…

-Michael

There’s something incredibly captivating about the stance of this KDR30, almost like a tiger ready to pounce.

I can almost forgive the uglyfront in this regard.

maybe it’s just the angle, or the tightly cropped focus, or even the way the front wheels are turned… but whatever the reason, it just exudes this aggressively cool aura!

photo courtesy of minkara