What’s car life like hours before Tokyo Auto Salon?  Take a sneak peak as I visit  （株）メイクオーバー or Makeover Co.,Ltd . 

Views from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku from Part 1 of Journey to Tokyo (2017). 

Just FYI, this post will be just about cars so skip on to the next post or just close this tab because it’s either mildly interesting or boring to some of you guys…

In this post, I’ll introduce a new series called ‘35mm Car Life,’ or what the automotive life is like in front of my 35mm lens.  Feel free to use the tag ‘#35mmcarlife’ if that’s what you shoot cars with on the daily.

Paul from MastermindNA has been helping out 24/7 with the new BN Sports kit.  Look how energetic he is… With all jokes aside, the new FD RX7 kit is probably the most ‘wild’ looking kit out there…

From the previous post, I gave some Japan travel tips to those who have never been to Tokyo, Japan before and/or to those who want to do something different the next time around.  In this post, Enrique and I got the opportunity to visit （株）メイクオーバー or Makeover Co., LTD thanks to Paul from MastermindNA while he helped out with the BN Sports build of the Mazda FD RX7 and Nissan R35 GTR for Tokyo Auto Salon 2017.  To be honest, I wasn’t sure if we had time to visit because the shop was 2 hrs away in Saitama-ken prefecture and had a bunch of meets to go to later that night.  I’m glad we decided to go because random people are not usually allowed to visit… so many thanks to Paul

Pro Tip:  If you visit a shop anywhere, give them a call in advance to schedule a meeting/visit.  It’s just common courtesy, because shop owners have clients that don’t like strangers posting private builds, projects, or things on the internet.

Our destination from the Tokyo Metropolitan Building… the train ride wasn’t too bad, until we had to walk 30 minutes from the station to the shop.

Walking from the station to the shop, we definitely knew this wasn’t a metropolitan area…

@sargy2 gives us his most JDM pose…

You’re definitely in a suburban/countryside area of Japan when you see huge turnips growing from the ground.

We’ve finally arrive to （株）メイクオーバー or Makeover Co., Ltd… I think it was a good 4 mile walk…

After catching up with Paul for a bit, we got permission to actually take photos/videos of the shop… 

Most if not all the cars I’ll be posting are or were competition/demo cars…

Check out this rusted out 4 door Corolla… it might look rough on the outside from behind…

Then you see this… wait wut? 

Of course there would be a boosted 16v 4age under the hood…

Because L.L. Cool J.  B)

One thing was apparent from Makeover Co.,Ltd’s shop yard…

They definitely love the AE86 chassis…

There were a bunch of AE86’s and parts lying around… 

On the other side of the shop, a couple of S-Chassis cars rested until they were called upon… usually for competition.

I forgot the details of this Crazy Run S13, but it appeared on Speedhunters before!

A few more S-chassis sitting around as donors like this Origin Labs S13…

Just a couple of Skylines stacked on top of each other… no big deal.

 

Random parts and valuable aero around the shop…

We finally make our way back into the shop.  There are a few students from a nearby school working at Makeover Co., Ltd. as interns.  They’re also putting in hours to get these cars ready for Tokyo Auto Salon 2017…

One of the TAS cars I wanted to see in person, the Mazda RX7 FD…

I also got to meet Motin, owner and managing director of BN Sports Co. Ltd.

Front bumper being prepped by a part time worker at Makeover Co., Ltd. 

Work Wheels Japan are the usual choice for BN Sports Co., Ltd. built cars.

BN Sports Co., Ltd also debuted a kit for the Nissan R35 GTR…

Clips, bolts, panels, and other miscellaneous parts removed to install the new aero.

A look at the front fenders of the BN Sports Co., Ltd. aero kit for the new GTR.

Time was running out and everyone was exhausted from lack of sleep, but they kept on working…

It was time for us to leave so I had to get some shots of us visiting…

 

Really special thanks to Paul from Mastermind NA for inviting and showing Enrique and I around the shop while you guys were busy.  Also thanks to Motin of BN Sports Co., Ltd and Etsuyoshi-san of Makeover Co., Ltd for allowing us to take photos/videos of the shop.

Thanks for checking out Journey to Tokyo (2017):  Part 2 – 35mm Car Life.  The next part will be about the annual RWB and SuperStreet Tokyo Fresh meet.

Danh Phan
http://www.danhphanphoto.wordpress.com
http://www.instagram.com/dtphan

Gear:
Nikon D750
Sigma 35mm f1.4