We take my brother’s first car, A Toyota Vitz (Yaris), and overhaul it with rare parts he has collected over the last year.
The never-ending selection was such a great moment the day we brought the Goodline bumper down from the distro to the shed; I had bought both the hood and bumper from Rob in Osaka two years previous, and it was a mission to get both of them home. Once I got the bumper, I would probably end up hanging it on the wall as Rob had painted his car black, and the bumper was the last remaining part of the car’s original look. I can see myself getting another good line bumper to use for track use, driving on the road, and mixing it up with the OEM front bumper and early spec lip for times I want to switch the lookup.
It has been exactly one year today since I returned from Canada. Before I left, the car scene was in the bin, quite literally. Everyone around me was packing up and heading off all over the world to escape the gloom. The country was a shattered and although things aren’t back to 100% the entire country as a whole is in a much better shape than when many of us left.
A couple of months ago this little Vitz popped up for sale here in Ireland, at a first glance you could see the little cage peeking out through the back windows so we clicked on the ad to take a look. You just have to love the mystery surrounding many of the cars which made their way out of Japan. This is a classic example of that mystery, this quirkly little white Vitz, or Yaris as they are known here, generally seen outside of Japan as a proper commuting A to B machine has a much cooler story than meets the eye.
So it has to be openly said this was one of the best events the country had seen in a long time. The most important part was the amount of effort people put in the make it to the show.The recession was winning the battle and probably still is in many minds when it comes to cars. Things were looking very gloomy but I have to admit, heatwave and then Japfest brought a very positive vibe back into the scene.