An Irish Corolla KE70 van with a shed-built V8 swap—something that really shouldn’t exist, but somehow does.
Final Bout at Nikko Circuit, with AE86s, KE70s and some of the best style drifting around. The scene is still very much alive, here are some photos from the day.
The Mitto Natto AE86, one of the most famous 86s to ever exist, we get a close up of it at a famous 86 shop Ukiya Shokai
A look around a K12 NISMO March Cup car, saved from being scrapped. Here are some photos from it and our trip to First Joyce.
Tokyo during Auto Salon week is a different place at night. We ended up at a few underground meets and crossed paths with some kaido racers, something you don’t really expect until you see it for yourself. Here are some snaps from this encounter.
We find the remains of Yatabe, Japan’s lost high-speed Test track.
This is a photo of the absolute madness I ended up handing over cash last year. I had seen the post on Facebook for a job lot of old Japanese radios, and I knew id love to own them. Why I’m not sure, I love old head units. If you are a viewer of the youtube channel, you’ve probably seen the episode by now where we call up to MR X, and I come home with a tray full of gauges and about 30 head units, some of them still had mini discs, tapes and CDs in them.
A few shots from a random weekend messing about at the shed, sometimes I have to remind myself to take some photos as there is always something interesting going down.
Jumping over 4A-GE’s and the Trueno wiring begins. There is plenty of immature action in this episode, with some interesting information about AE86 production numbers.
A Hidden shed Tour! We take a look at a freshly built AE86 Levin and a shed full of Japanese classics.
I’m very fortunate to work in a place that imports parts from Japan. It’s as much a blessing as it is a curse. Most of our monthly wages never really leave JDM Distro but working here has enabled me to source some of the best parts for my AE86 build over the last few years.
Being able to drop parts at the depot in Japan was once in a lifetime stuff. Here was a Goodline 86 hood, which I had listed after for many, many years. We barely snugged it into the back of the Alphard and drove halfway across Japan to drop it off just outside of Tokyo.
YES! Parts and magazines Arrive at JDM Distro from our Japan in a Van trip, making it one of the best days ever at work.
Here are some photos from the time we drove down to Group D. Group D is the brainchild of Darren McNamara, a well-known legend in the Drift scene. Darren has been tinkering with Corollas for a long time, and he developed a rear coil-over suspension for the AE86 with a company from the UK called AVO. You have probably seen the vlog episode from this day, with the old legend and his lovely little starlet. I had a mega backlog of photos from older episodes that I will throw up on the site every Friday. Enjoy the images of the day below.
We are very fortunate to have people like MR X in the car community. For years, he has been supplying the AE86 community with much sought after parts. He has been breaking Corollas for parts for well over ten years, and it is a necessary evil, sometimes it’s sad to see cool cars he has killed, but most of the time, every last piece of that car ends helping another.
We go AE86 parts hunting at MR X’s stash to find the missing bits for the Trueno build. We also get a quick look at MR X’s private collection.