Guest Coverage: 2013 Tokyo Auto Salon

Jan 14, 2013

By now I’m sure many of you have already been inundated with Tokyo Auto Salon coverage from various other online media sources as it seems like everyone was at TAS this year checking out the latest and greatest Japan has to offer.

Everyone except myself of course, but thanks to the great people over at Nextmod I’ve got some excellent TAS coverage to share here.

Peter sent over a ton of photos (all of which can be found here) and for this post I’ve tried to select cars you are less likely to have seen 1000 times over. Of course there a few popular examples I just couldn’t resit posting again.

Because Japan?

TAS is known for producing things over the top or completely out there and here are a few of those builds…

rx_what — I’m not quite sure but I think this is (or was) an RX-8

creep_the_creeper — Creeping the creeper?

Not sure the Camaro is best choice of off-roading vehicles

what_2 — The body work does look supremely done, albeit quite outlandish

what_3 — I am man enough to admit this freaks me out just a little bit

Randoms

Couple cars I couldn’t fit into the silos I created below but are pretty awesome none the less.

woop_woop — Looks of the beast to match the sound of the beast?

RE_Amemiya_Europa — RE Amemiya Europa which you can find more photos of here, pretty cool to see one at TAS

porsche_endless — Team Taisan Endless Porsche 997

Prius from Ruf that matched their FR-S further down in this post

datsun_fair_lady_1 — This just may be the car of the show for me, still looking for more info on it, but I like what I see so far

datsun_fair_lady_2 — What’s beside it doesn’t look bad either

Nissan

Subaru

Exotics

liberty_walk — Liberty Walk and their Lamborghinis

ferrari — Roberuta makes children of the 80’s dreams come true evidently

Honda

honda_s2000_model — Top Fuel s2000 attracting police attention

Mazdas

mazda_3 — Quite unexpected to see a Mazda 3 at TAS

mazda_mad_mike_2 — Quad rotor ridiculousness

Mitsubishi

mitsu_evo_1 — Really like this Evo and I’m usually not a huge fan of canards…

mitsu_evo_2 — …or diffusers for that matter

Lexus

lexus_3 — I was just talking to a friend about LV interiors and their disappearance the other day. I guess they are actually alive and well.

lexus_wald_2 — Very impressive LS460 from Job Design

lexus_wald — It would be interesting to know how much wider than stock those rear quarters are

Skylines

There is always a decent number of Skylines at TAS events and judging from the photos this year is keeping with tradition.

nissan_red_gtr — …they seem to work the best like these two

nissan_jun_gtr — JUN’s very bright GTR wearing the incredibly expensive Ben Sopra kit

nissan_kansai_gtr — Kensai R35 for those who prefer something a little more restrained

nissan_ab_flung_gtrs — Abflug kits are generally pretty far out there, and this R35 one fits their existing catalog well

nissan_varis_rear — Varis R35.. wonder if Peter from Nextmod got any ideas

BRZ/86/FR-S

Like SEMA the BRZ/86/FR-S was the hot car of TAS 2013 and according to Speedhunters there were no less than 91 examples at the show.

Unlike SEMA however the ones at TAS varied quite a bit from one another which makes things a lot less repetitive.

toybaru_race — Track prepared example of the BR-Z

toybaru_enkei — Clean RB example of the FR-S in the Enkei both

toybaru_auto_produce — Auto Produce version looking like an STI

toybaru_blitz — Blitz covered their version in chrome vinyl. Not sure if I like the bumper on this yet.

toybaru_gram_1 — Rays example is pretty wild, again not sure about the bumper or the blue lights but I like Gram Lights 57 Extreme wheels

toybaru_gram_2 — From the rear the center exit is a nice touch and the tails are interesting

toybaru_rb — This particular one is aggressive as all hell

I think a wing would help balance out this bumper but the more I stare at it the less important it seems

toybaru_vip_modular — I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot more of this one pops up soon

toybaru_vip_modular_2 — Those VIP Modulars look huge under there

Ben Sopra 180sx

This s-chassis brought out by Ben Sopra is easily one of the most visually and mechanically insane cars of TAS 2013. A 280sx with the VR38 from and R35 plopped under the hood this car puts down a monsterous 1100hp.

It’s also going to try and go 400 km/h in Nardo Italy in the not so distant future.

bensopra_1 — I imagine a lot of drool was to be found in the engine bay at closing Sunday

bensopra_2 — I’m sure I am not the only person who thought vr38 and the GT-R were inseparable

bensopra_3 — Looks are as wild as the mechanical

Huge thanks once again to Peter and Nextmod for contributing the photos and you can check out the entire Nextmod gallery of Toykyo Auto Salon coverage on their Facebook fan page.

2 COMMENTS

Gillbert Jan 16, 2013 At 10:14 pm

Man everything is either insanely awesome or terrible. Am I the only one who HATES the bumperless rear of the 380?

DaveT Jan 17, 2013 At 9:08 am

Gill it will look a lot better with one on for sure. Depending how they work around that wing.

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