shakotan

As promised: this week we feature the Celica XX in the Popular Bosozoku Cars. :)

We kick off with a subtle Kyusha styled example:

Kyusha styled Toyota Celica XX
The kouki Celica XX (facelifted second version) already featured fender flares on its own, but this car above has extended those flares extremely and added some sideskirts to it. Nice example of Kyusha style on the more modern cars if there were no fins on the hood and a large exhaust.

Shakotan styled Toyota Celica XX
This Shakotan styled Toyota Celica XX had it all: extremely lowered to the ground, deep dish wheels still fitting in the original fenders and a big pipe sticking out from under the rear bumper! Note that the wing on the hatch is the factory spec upper spoiler for some of the zenki Celica XX (pre-facelift) models.

Bosozoku styled Toyota Celica XX
Everything is boso on this Bosozoku styled Toyota Celica XX: big lip on the front, single windshield wiper, wacky color, racing mirrors, extremely wide fenders and some diy sideskirts to stand on while parading through town!

Funny enough I could not find any racing replicas through all pictures I have of Bosozoku styled Celcia XXs. Eventhough the Celica XX did not feature the Super Silhouette formula, there were a lot of them racing around the world back in the early 80s and definitely it must have inspired some people to make replicas of them, just like the Granchan styling were replicas of the old Super Silhouette racers.

Factory stock kouki Toyota Celica XX
The first generation Celica XX (pronounced as "double X") was a lengthened Celica A4 to fit the 2.6 liter 4M or the 2.0 liter 1M into the Celica. Basically the first generation Celica XX did not look much different from the normal Celica except it had a very long bonnet. Later spec Celica XX did receive the more powerful 2.8 liter 5M-E and IRS, which was top of the range.

The second generation Celica XX succeeded the first generation and featured a 2.0 liter 1M-T turbo as the basic engine, a naturally aspired 2.8 liter 5M-GE as the midrange with lots of torque and a high revving naturally aspired 2.0 liter 1G-GEU as top of the range. At the same time Toyota was also working together with Lotus on the MR2 and had a good idea: have Lotus do the suspension on the Supra and in exchange have Lotus reuse some of the parts for their own car lineup! (the Lotus Excel for instance shares the rims and gearbox)

Factory stock zenki Toyota Celica XX
As stated before: the major difference between the zenki and the kouki models were the extended fenders with the wellknown fender flares. This resulted in the second generation having smaller diameter rims: 14 inch instead of 15 inch!

After the second generation Celica XX it became renamed to Supra, which was the overseas name for the Celica XX, so it could be split from the newer FWD Celica range. The Supra (mk. III) remained the A platform and got the designation A7.

[I posted this article earlier today on Bosozokustyle.com]

Just imagine: what if Michiharu Kusunoki drew Initial D instead of Shakotan Boogie or Wangan Midnight?

Would Takumi and Bunta look like this?

I love the B?s?zoku looks of these two muggers and they look like they could be father and son. ;)

Or would we massively listen to Rockabilly instead of Eurobeat? I hope not!

And would Takumi have drifted an AE86 Trueno looking like this Shakotan Boogie Soarer?

Hopefully we will never know. ;)

Currently I'm at the AEU86 Meeting but because you may get bored I thought I'd share this manga I came accross this week: Arthur's Garage (Sakuhin Arthur).

The manga is about a garage owner called Arthur who sell used car and does a lot of shakotan cars. The manga started out underground but soon got published in Kodansha's Young Magazine. Initial D was originally published in Young Magazine as well, so that's a good start.

I love the sight of this:

Not many people know it, but my first name is officially Arthur. ;)

Can't wait to lay my hands upon one of the issues. :)
Anyone knows where to buy them or get scantranslations??

A while ago I posted about how to fit stretched tires on those lovely 9 inch wide rims like this one on the Carina Firevan:

Well, I found a video how to do it without explosions:

Pretty nifty!:)

Still, I think the fun factor of the explosion method a lot more appealing. ;)

Ever wondered how they fit stretched tires on those fat 9, 10, 11 or 12 inch rims? Ever wondered how those wheels on the B?s?zoku, Kyusha Kai and Shakotan cars are done? I did after seeing this picture of the Carina Firevan:

See for yourself here:

What happens is that the tire is only fitted on one side of the rim and the other side has a small (ahum) amount of space between the tire and the rim. The guy in the video applies brake cleaner on the rim (to ignite), just above and inside the tire. Then he lights it and the brake cleaner ignites and explodes inside the tire. This causes the air to expand and the tire to stretch. Due to the tire expanding it will tightly fit on the other side of the rim and you have a stretched tire. It is as simple as that! :)

Here you can see a better (and safer) how to:

(don't mind the bad choice in music...)

So, now you know how to make your car look Shakotan. ;)

And be careful... You don't want to end up like this:

I know I promised to give a follow up on the AE86 cupracer in the Car feature, but writing that piece takes a bit longer than I thought. I'll try to finish it later this week.