Turning Japanese

Cars

Cars from the Land of the Rising Sun of every era inspire devotion in a diaspora of automotive enthusiasts. Influx sought out a fistful of them.

jon_rodwell_1

“I look after between 38 and 50 Japanese cars
in various stages of repair. I can’t put my finger
on what it is about them that appeals to me. It’s
just something about their simplicity.”

Jon Rodwell: engineer and Japanese car
obsessive.












bob_1

“Ist generation Celicas were so advanced for their day. There’s
something about them that reminds me of American muscle cars
– but they’re much more efficient. These two are pretty perfect. If
its worth doing something, it’s worth doing well.”

Bob Clark: Toyota Celica 1 GT x 2












james

“I like the NSX because there’s no ego to
them. I thought about trading it in for a GT 911
but this is something much more unique.
It really is a utilitarian supercar.”

James Taylor: Honda NSX












kieran_bowler_1

“The Cube is so controversial. I get everything from amazing
love to absolute hatred from people. The cars just don’t fit into any
category that people here understand. That messes with their minds or something.”

Kieran Bowler: Nissan Cube ‘Rider’ Edition.













xr_landscape

“My dad wants this because he loves Japanese cars. He just
thinks they’re cool and you can’t buy this one here in England.”

Gabriel Coltrane Fordham: Honda Crossroads.












Photography by Robert Drake

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7 Responses to “Turning Japanese”

  1. Mark Walker

    Good stuff.

    2 out of the 3 bikes I have owned have been Japanese. I found the more I took them apart the more you could appreciate the quality of the design.

    I mean how about Honda never having had a VTEC system go wrong. Brilliance.

    Love the NSX and consider me on the like it camp for the Cube. Theres something funky about that car!

    Congratulations to Adrian Flux on their conversion to an online format. Im no huge environmentalist but hey a tree saved is a tree saved! Good choice on using WordPress – having used it in many applications its a decision you wont regret :).

  2. I’m getting on a bit now. No boy racer. But I have an old Classic Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon I imported myself. It is the lowest BHP car of the turbo Impreza JDM cars. The performance and handling are better than anything I have ever experienced before. I was a motor trader for 20 years and drove pretty much everything car wise. This is the only car I have never got bored with. It always gives that little bit more than you could reasonably expect from a road car. I’ve had it now for about 20 months. The fun is going to a whole new level with the mods I’m going to do. Above everything else it’s cheap and really practical. I am always trying to find fault with the standard setup. Brakes are inadequate for the incredible performance it gives but that is easy to rectify. So much never ending fun for so little money. What more could one want.

  3. lets not forget the vauxhall frontera or isuzu trooper both japanese designs shipped to the USA and UK for build again reliability and style.

    The frontera also comes in grey import as the Isuzu MU and Isuzu Wizzard,

  4. Sharron Peel

    I’ve been a big Ford fan for most of my driving life….RS2000, Mexico….but have dabbled with Jap cars in between…Celica, Almera SRi however, having owned my Mitsubishi FTO for just over a year now, I truly appreciate the beauty of Jap cars. For it’s age (1996) the styling and performance is not at all dated and it turns heads everywhere I go because not many people know what they are.

  5. Brian Hilton

    I had a Frontera V6 that was nothing but trouble, I eventually sold it and lost a lot of money; on the other hand the Suzuki Cappuccino I owned was a fantastic blast! it originally came into the UK as a personal import, and as well as being metallic green rather than a silver or red car, the only colours for the official imports, it had had the speed limiter removed which made overtaking much safer, wish I’d never sold it!

  6. That NSX is a beautiful example, and the owner is H O T! Can’t beat a V6 behind you left ear hand crafted by Honda…