A “Japanophile” is just a person who really loves Japan. In this episode, it likely means the host is really into Japanese culture and maybe Japanese cars too.
The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a small crossover that also has a truck-like cargo bed. It’s meant to be useful for carrying things while still feeling like a normal car. People mention it because it’s a noticeable, practical design.
Porsches refers to Porsche vehicles, which is the central theme of the discussion. The segment ties “Type Seven” to Porsche coverage, reinforcing that the events and community are Porsche-focused.
They’re describing something that works like a magazine, but it’s built around Instagram posts. Instead of only a website or print, the content is organized and shared through social media.
They’re talking about early big car-related creators on Instagram. It’s basically how people started sharing car culture online before it was everywhere.
A Porsche 356 is an old classic Porsche from the early days. People often build hot rods using its body style because it looks cool and has a big enthusiast following.
A hot rod is a custom car—usually an older body—built to look aggressive and drive fun, sometimes with newer parts. Here they’re talking about what kinds of hot-rod styles show up in Japan.
JDM means “Japanese Domestic Market.” People use it to talk about Japanese cars and parts, and in this conversation it’s shorthand for a style that’s very bold and heavily modified.
Golden hour is the time of day when the sun makes everything look really nice—usually near sunrise or sunset. Car shows sometimes schedule around it so photos come out better.
It means buying something suddenly, without thinking it through first. With cars, that can be risky because repairs and maintenance can take a lot of time and money.
An O2 sensor is a sensor that checks what’s coming out of the exhaust. The car uses that info to adjust the fuel mixture. If it’s not working right, the car can burn fuel inefficiently and fail emissions checks.
Fake patina is when someone makes a car look old on purpose. People argue about it because it can be cool-looking, but it can also be misleading about how the car really is.
In car culture, a rally usually means an organized driving event—often with a route, checkpoints, and a schedule—rather than a closed-track race. “All cars welcome” suggests it’s inclusive and focused on participation and driving together.
The MG Midget is a tiny British sports car. For events like rallies, owners often modify it—like removing extra stuff and adding race-friendly parts—so it can handle rougher driving.
LIVE
Where am I? And where are you?
Can you imagine his head being inside his little head?
Egocidal vehiculum.
There's no doubt. Correts are fast.
What about the people that put their fingers over the license plate?
Keiichi Tuchiya.
Those cars have such a cute little face, you know?
It's like a little salamander or something, you know?
I'm riding dirty right now.
Offtherecord.com.
Fight those tickets.
If you don't win, you don't pay.
All you have to do is download the app,
snap a photo of your ticket, answer a few questions,
get matched to an experienced lawyer,
and you won't pay for the ticket.
Enter code awesome to get a nice discount.
Welcome to Driving Well Awesome.
My name's Warren.
I'm Lane.
And we are without art.
That's right.
We're artless.
Artless.
I can't even do, I can't paint.
I can't draw.
I'm artless.
Artless.
It's like being shirtless.
What was that?
Was there a NBA player named Moe Harkless?
Quite artless.
And then there was, wasn't there a show?
Arliss.
Arliss?
Arliss was a show.
It was a show?
Yes.
You're really old, dude.
Television show.
You're onk, bro.
I'm a chop dunk.
1996, seven seasons on HBO.
What?
Oh.
Comedy.
He was like a sports agent or something.
I can't remember now.
I don't know.
Maybe I'm onk.
Yeah, dude, you're so onk.
Actually, you are pretty onk.
Have you seen, sorry I got a lot of the snack boys or whatever?
No.
That skit?
No, I haven't.
I was, I've been helping coach Andrew's Little League team
and one of the other coaches was on first base, first base coach.
And this kid made it to first base and they were talking about him stealing,
which is very common at this age.
And the first base coach says, yeah, man, you can do it.
Like I don't think the catcher has a good arm to throw out at second.
He goes, on God.
Oh, shut up.
On God.
I just thought, no cap.
Dude, it's fun.
It's fun times.
Did you wash his mouth out with soap?
No, no, no.
I just helped him eat his ring pop and nerds and all the other crap
these kids are eating, you know?
Same thing we ate.
I know, right?
Yeah, no, it's interesting.
It's interesting to see these kids.
But no, no chop dogs.
Just Arles is what you're looking for.
Arles.
Yeah, get back in there.
Or Artless, Arts in Hawaii.
That's right.
That's right.
And you got back from Japan while you were getting back,
like right as we recorded the last episode,
but we haven't heard your tales and I know obviously there's quite a bit
of content online.
Unfortunately, Art's not here to talk about Japan
because he's a real Japanophile.
I don't know.
At this point, you've gone as many times as he has almost.
No, he's been like, he'll probably say like 33 times.
I know, I know, but I'll say this.
You've gone more times in the last decade than he has.
The truth, the truth.
On God.
On God, dude, no cap.
So it looked like quite a time.
It looked like a nice, nice time out there in the old Tokyo.
Dude, it was pretty cool, dude.
I mean, this is one of, this was, if you guys went with me,
this would have been the time to go, I think.
Yeah, I know.
You know, or one of those, like, on God.
Absolutely.
On God, it's a lot of bucket list.
It's a yeah, there's like, it was, it was cool, dude.
I mean, it's funny, like, so I went out there, I mean,
I wrote a little piece for about the little trip for DWA.
That's right.
Drivenwellawesome.com, check out Lane's blog post.
Yeah, I've been writing a few little blogs lately.
I try, like, it's like, try to do quick little things.
It's like so hard to do those things, but yeah,
it's like, I don't want to spend too much time
because it does take up a lot of bandwidth.
So, and then, like, this one, I didn't even put a link
to my Flickr.
I need to put a link to the Flickr
because I only put, I only put some pictures,
but I just remember that right now.
But yeah, Clark called me and he was like,
hey, you guys should go, you know, some,
some of you guys should come out to look.
So I'm like, oh, I didn't even think, you know, like, it's fun.
You don't even think about that as like a possibility,
like, I don't know, Japan's, whatever.
So I was like, oh, that's cool.
Yeah, maybe I should.
I'm like, give me a week or whatever.
And then two days later, I was like, all right, I'm coming.
And I bought a ticket.
And then I decided, you know, I would like,
it's pretty easy.
Like it's not like Japan's such a big city, too.
You could always find a hotel or a combination.
So sorry, Tokyo is so big.
Well, Japan's so big, too.
Yeah, but Tokyo is so big that you could there's always
accommodations.
There's always like, it's not like it's not like going to
some nothing town where you're like, oh, no, it's like Carmel.
It's like Car Week where you're like, oh, fuck, I'm going to be
fucked and have to stay like 50 miles away.
And it's going to be super expensive
because there's this car show there.
And there's traffic everywhere and all that stuff.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's like the city is not impacted by anything that happens in
so true in Tokyo, unless maybe the if the Olympics happen, I'm
sure it'd be in our World Cup or something.
Yeah. Yeah.
But like it takes like the most insane, you know, once every four years.
Yeah.
It would have to be like the craziest thing because it's such a big city.
And yeah, biggest city in the world by size and people.
Um, so, um, yeah, I went out there for, you know, I went out there for
Luft Tokyo, which was the first Luft in Japan.
And, um, I mean, that was the general purpose, but also because Clark
was doing this, um, uh, drive like rally to Magara Gawa circuit,
um, with type seven and for those kind of, for those that don't know,
Clark runs round cat racing.
You can find them on Instagram.
Check it out.
Good friend of ours who has lived in Santa Cruz for a long time and, um,
he runs the round cat rally, uh, round cat racing rallies in Japan that
I've done two of them now.
Um, so yeah, he, he kind of planned the, this, this rally to Magara Gawa circuit.
Um, he's kind of like the representative for type seven in Japan now, I guess.
And what is type seven?
Just a magazine that covers Porsches or is it related to Porsche?
It is, and it is related to Porsche.
Okay.
Remember we had Ted Gushu on our podcast.
I do, but like seven years ago or eight years ago, we went to
Moreno's with them and everything, but I don't remember.
I just don't know the connections.
Like some of these like Luft, for example, I, there's rumors that
Porsche owns part of it, but I don't really know.
Like, yeah, I don't know.
I don't know what that is, but like, but, uh, type seven was definitely
like, you know, Ted kind of started it, but it was with Porsches assistant, you
know, blessing, I believe, yeah, with their blessing, um, got it.
And it's like a magazine.
It's, it's an Instagram magazine, essentially.
And then they produce these like, like, I guess yearly kind of like
photo books, okay, um, and some other stuff.
And then now Ted has a, um, a publishing company called ERG media.
And where is he based out of?
Is he in like Switzerland or something?
So he is, yeah, I think he's actually, I want to say he's like Switzerland
or Italy now.
It's funny because he was like one of the first, like bigger influencers
on Instagram when it came to not only Porsche, but more like the, you know,
alphas, he was petrilicious.
So he was early, that's right.
That's right.
But his Instagram account specifically was very much like lifestyles
of the rich and famous sort of, you know, a lot of like ski chalets and all
that stuff.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And he was like the representative for that town in Switzerland.
Remember?
Yeah.
He still might be for, uh, Maritz.
He's like the, he's like the Clark of Europe.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And there's buddies, right?
And now they're working together.
So, um, yeah.
So he was planning this.
So the Mark McGarregala thing kind of like put me over the edge.
So I went over there, that's like bucket list stuff, right?
And that's like a bucket list thing, right?
Having the opportunity, it's this private racetrack carved into a mountain,
billion plus dollar private racetrack.
Um, and when you go up to this thing, like all this fast forward to going to it,
it is like, and I said this in the little article, it's like, uh, my first
impression was like, and you're, and this is Jurassic Park.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like, it is like that, dude.
You're like these huge walls, like the fence, the way the fences are feels
like Jurassic Park.
You're like, where's the dinosaurs?
And it's kind of into a forest mountain, dude.
It is like, yeah, it's wild, dude.
Like it's the most like, like you're like, why would you build a track here?
And it's like very brutalist concrete, uh, architecture, right?
Which lends to that like imposing feel.
Dude, also you can go to Magarra Gava at some point in your life, maybe it's
private, but is it going to be a Luft rally with like nine, six twos and
dude, three nine, six twos.
And yeah, it, it's insane, right?
And what like, and then driven around the track by like Pat Long and, and then
you're hanging out there and it's like all, you know, all the, the homies,
like, you know, yeah, Jeff's ward and Pat Long and that's so killer.
So they, I mean, we're, we're skipping way ahead here, but did those guys
all take part in the rally, the drive to Magarra Gava?
They did.
Oh, that's so cool.
They were all part of it, dude.
And then, uh, Jay Ward was there with Clark.
Yes.
I was with Clark in the end one.
Okay.
So we kind of like beeline there.
So we actually didn't take the, we actually didn't do the rally.
You had to get there to be ready.
Yeah.
We just kind of got there.
So I didn't do the route, but I heard the route was really cool.
Nice.
Um, good roads and everything.
Everyone was kind of soaked on it.
Um, and a lot of those people, even the people from Japan, like Dino, you know,
speed hunters, you know, who we've had on the podcast before arts friends with them.
Um, he was super stoked on it.
He drove his RWB 964, that yellow one that I posted a picture of it on the track.
Um, he was super stoked on the route and he had never driven those roads before.
Even though you'd been up in that a lot.
Yeah, that's great.
So, um, yeah, it was cool, dude.
Um, but it was pretty amazing.
Like, you know, I was at when I got to the track, um, where I was on the side of
the track, taking pictures, then I walk up and Larry was there and Larry is like,
Lane, and we're checking out this garage.
He's like, dude, did you see this?
We're checking out this garage.
There's like a Diablo at, you know, some Diablo in this garage.
And then there's like, I forget what cars were up front.
And he's like, dude, look at that.
Like this dream garage right here.
And it's like this and where they have these apartments there.
Yeah.
They have these apartments that you can like kind of own insane on the track.
And then, but you have to have them accessible for people that are part of
the club to rent as well or something.
It's like an Airbnb that you can own and live in once in a while.
But then yeah, but you can keep your cars there and, uh, there's this amazing one.
He's like, dude, how insane is, you know, it was just Larry and I, like,
how insane is this place?
And we're just like, dude, it's carbon from, and then he like got me on
video, just talking about how crazy it was.
And we're just like freaking out on how fucking crazy this place is.
Just like, it is, it's kind of like, it's kind of beyond belief.
I think you're right.
I think I'm trying to think of comparables and we have them in the United States,
but they're way more racetrack ad luxury.
This is like from the get go.
They just made it so Japanese and minimal and yeah, nothing is like, even like,
when you think about like the most, those luxury racetracks, like, yeah,
they may be luxury, all this stuff, but nothing is like carved into a mountain
like that.
No, no, no, no, nothing is like, even if it's built on a mountain,
it's not like carved into it.
It's not like, dude, the pits, you're like, I walked into the pits and I was
like, Oh, this is cool.
It's like this cool area.
It feels like a spa.
Yeah, absolutely.
All the pictures and it has a slatted ceiling and you're like, and there's
a fucking pool overlooking the like, it's like, it's crazy.
You know, the there's like a, I think it is the pits or like a paddock area
where you drive indoors and it's like, all that is, that's, that's that road.
That whole scene right there for photos and just yeah, insane.
If you're, if you're a car enthusiast and you ever have any
interest in like this type of thing, I think that has to be the pinnacle.
I mean, there's other tracks that are probably more, you know, exclusive and,
and maybe like more technical for like good, you know, like fast, like a
better race, yeah, high track or whatever, but yeah, but, you know,
arguably that things like cooler than this, right?
And I mean, who else could do this other than the Japanese?
I mean, maybe like some crazy black forest German thing or I don't know,
but this is, yeah, it sounds amazing.
It sounds so cool.
It's also one of those things like it's, it's not only like, you know,
a lot of these people are jaded too.
Like, like the Larry, of course, the world, the Jeff Swartz and they were
all like, yeah, Larry's been to Brunei, like all over Dubai, all over the
world to see the most insane car collections and they got Jeff Swart,
like he's traveled the world.
How long has I raced every track in the world, you know, and they
were all blown away by it.
Like, you know, they're just being like, they were just dudes on this trip.
For sure.
They're hanging out and they're like blown away.
Like, you know, they were just there for fun.
They're not there like being paid or anything like that.
Was the, uh, was the owner or what have you of the track around or like,
no, I don't think so.
Um, yeah, cause it is kind of, so I don't really know how that
ownership group works, but it is kind of owned by the Korn's group.
So whoever owns the Korn's group, which is dude, they invented corn.
Yeah, exactly.
All of it chips.
Yeah.
I love corn.
Yeah.
Korn, yes, who knew a lot of good, good stuff came out of corn, corn syrup.
Yeah, but, um, yeah, the Korn's group is that they, they're the dealership
groups that does like singer and Porsche and Bentley and everything in
Japan.
I see.
It's like, it's a, and they're the ones that we did the tour in, in a Napa,
the Clark and I did that tour for.
When you get up to like big dealership, uh, company, uh, situations,
there's a lot of money involved.
We know quite a few of these, uh, in the States that have, uh, gone on to do
big things just from owning like, you know, 90 dealerships.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So they were, they had singers on display, a couple of singers.
And then, uh, Gunther works brought like a car from China out there that was
also at look, you know, um, and these cars were also at look, um, the singers,
uh, the Gunther works did crash.
Okay.
Well, at the track, that doesn't seem to be public knowledge.
It's pretty DL, but, you know, yeah, that's what you get on the drag.
Well, awesome podcast.
Uh, did you, did you get to hang with Zort at all?
I, any chats, yeah, kind of he's a very, he's a very hard nut to crack.
I agree.
Yeah.
The guy is, he's, he's a one word guy, dude.
Yeah.
He's not verbose art would, uh, have a hard time chatting.
Yeah.
Uh, yeah, I'm like, how's it going?
Good Patrick's always cool.
The one I talked to him.
I mean, oh Pat and I hung like hard.
Yeah.
He seems like just one of the dudes.
Yeah.
So I guess I can kind of run through the trip a little bit.
Like, so the first night I flew in solo, um, on whatever night it was Thursday,
I guess it was, I flew out Wednesday, got in on a Thursday.
It's a whole time melt thing.
You get in like three days later than you fly out and it's like, it's a whole
fucked situation.
Um, so I got in basically like, uh, Thursday afternoon went straight to my,
my hotel in downtown Shibuya, which was pretty rad.
It's like a Google hotel.
It was on, um, it was on our homies list of places to stay.
Um, good Google hotel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's like a Google, um, kind of like lab thing there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, so, and it's, it has a really nice restaurant inside of it.
It has, it's super hipster dude.
It has like vinyl listening stations on every floor.
It's like, it's great though.
Like I love a good hipster hotel here, right?
Like that's kind of what you're comfortable, comfortable lounges and just simple.
Yeah.
Excellent, dude.
Great little tiny rooms, but everything you need.
Um, and it was like right there next, it was like almost attached to the, um,
train station, so awesome location.
So I got there and it was almost, it was really close to the Izakaya that we
were meeting at for, there was a type seven party the first night.
So I, it was like an eight minute walk to the, the type seven party.
Um, so I walked to this type seven party and, um, it's like down this, this
like set of six stairs, looks like you're entering the back door of a kitchen.
I'm kind of like, is that it?
You know, uh, you walk down there and there's like a bar and then there's
like some tatani mat area off to the right and stuff.
Um, I got there a little early cause Clark and Kaz were already there and Ted
was already there and stuff, Ted Gushi and stuff.
Um, so got there and kind of like took a seat at the bar and just, you know,
grabbed a drink and, um, beers and beers and, um, sake were free.
And then they were just putting food out on the, on the table and it was a
good food and, uh, this bar was, um, penis themed.
Oh, that's right.
Which is kind of what you're after.
Are you personally, that's what I was looking for.
Yeah.
When you travel, you, you've started.
Don't you have a blog about all the penis stuff around the world?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's called, yeah, it's called searching for cock lanes, Wang or whatever.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
Uh, so that's cool.
So that's night one.
You're right into penis, penis bar.
So, but, uh, at that bar.
So, um, I was just like kind of in this corner and, uh, that was kind of a
fun night, like all of a sudden I get a rub, you know, like I'm sitting there
and I was talking to, I was talking to John, a friend, John, and I get some
rubbing on my shoulder.
I turned around, it's Larry Chen, you know, like stuff like that.
You're like, I didn't know, you know, and then I, I look and then I like,
all of a sudden, like I get a pat on my shoulder.
It's Pat Long.
So I was hanging it with like Pat and you know, so that whole night I was
kind of just hanging with like Larry Pat and then John, the whole, like that,
that was my little corner because you kind of couldn't move the whole night.
So I mean, on top of that, like, what are you going to do?
Like go mingle with the town folk?
Like, I know, I mean, I was talking to, I'm talking to some of our people too.
But, um, yeah, yeah, it was a, it was a, it was a really fun night.
Um, and then the next day was a little floating.
So we did, I did the, I was able to get into the lift, the load in kind of
check that out and that was pretty awesome.
I mean, you guys talked about in the last pod, um, but, uh, you guys saw
those red, like trucks, car carriers are unbelievable.
Did you hear my idea about like just having that in a warehouse open with
your cars, like stored that way?
How sick, no, I didn't, I didn't hear, but like in the corner, there's
just one of those trucks all like perfect.
Gullwing doors open and like your nine, six, two, and like, you know, nine,
six, so good, though, the way they present is so awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And like from the back, they look so sick with those Gullwing doors open.
That's so rad.
They're like, yeah, they're so cool, dude.
So yeah, I did that.
And then, um, Simon and Ali came in and forgot that they were there.
And, um, we had a, we had an Airbnb together.
So when, when met them, actually we met them in Ginza, which was like the,
the show was actually in Ginza, like right in downtown Ginza.
So it was pretty rad.
So I met up with them and then we went back to the RMEB, which was in Ibiza.
Um, a boot, a Bezu, a Bezu, a Bezu, which is like next to, uh, it's
kind of adjacent to Shibuya.
Nice.
Um, Rad, they have a photography museum there, which I wasn't able to check out,
but that's what it's kind of known for.
Rad, little fucking, Rad, little area, dude, how many, how many happening?
All these areas until you're kind of rad.
So cool.
This place is like really happening and a little upscale and like killer bars,
dude, um, popped into a really cool bar, um, with this like wall of vinyl, um,
had a coverage, it's fun.
Funny, the cover charges there.
They're like, they're like $3.
Yeah.
Um, if they do have a cover charge, but, um, cause everything's so cheap in Japan,
but, um, really cool.
And they had like all these, like they had all these things with like containers
and you like with nuts and all these different things you can put like on the
table to munch on and stuff, which was really cool.
Um, really good drinks and stuff went to another little like blues bar.
It was just rad, Rad, little neighborhood.
That's cool.
Um, and of course there's like a 7-Eleven Lawson's like right next door.
There was, um, there was a meat garden next door to our house.
Oh, that was interesting.
Didn't, didn't get to check that out.
A meat garden.
Yeah.
It was called meat garden.
Wow.
So that was pretty cool.
But yeah, then the show the next day and, uh, as we, I was at the show for two hours,
um, which was cool and the show was great and ran into a bunch of people I hadn't
seen in forever, like saw so many people from California.
It was crazy.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm not shocked by that, but it's great to see, like, I mean,
Liff still, especially when it's going to a brand new place that's never done
before it's going to draw a crowd.
Um, getting to the show, um, and the obviously like, you know, people listening,
I've seen it on Instagram and everywhere, the, this actual location was really,
really cool.
Um, yeah, that did a fantastic job.
I was wondering though the car type, um, it felt very skewed towards the
Radwood era and that kind of vibe or were there just not as many pictures posted
of three 56s and speedsters and like you go to Liff and so Cal and it's like 50,
50, you know, or like, or six, it's like 75% pre nine 11.
Yeah.
I think you're probably right, dude.
I think there was a lot less early nine 11s and a lot less to be sixes.
Like there was definitely a handful of each, but only a handful.
Right.
That's, that's what I, that's the impression I got, but I just didn't know
if I was seeing it from like the DWA Radwood lens of like accounts I follow
or, you know, whatever.
No, I think you're, I think, no, I think, and I think there was only 200 cars.
Okay.
Um, and I think there was only two nine 14s.
I didn't even see them.
So there you go.
Um, two nine 14s.
I mean, yeah, right.
Okay.
Yeah, that makes, that makes more sense.
There was probably only two 356 speedsters.
Wow.
Um, Japan also has its own style too.
Like I like, I would say like California, you're definitely getting better cars
or just more variety, more variety and like an overall.
Yeah.
Just more variety.
Right.
Um, there they have a distinct like kind of car, I would say.
And does the 356 hot rod exist in Japan?
Is that something?
Is there a culture there for that?
Because that's a very California thing.
There is because they like to emulate California.
Right.
But I think they take everything.
Sorry.
I was just going to say it takes some builders and shops to like push that along
that style and maybe they don't quite exist there.
I don't know.
I'm trying to think of, I really saw any like real 356 hot rods or even like long
hoods, right?
Like I saw some, there was definitely some, a couple long, long hood hot rods.
There, there wasn't, there wasn't a lot though.
It was more like the nine.
And it was more like G body 993, a lot of nine, six, fours and a lot of those
like like hot rod it and you know, like Japan kind of goes over the top.
Like they take their GM, like the way they do JDM it's kind of like that.
They kind of throw a lot of stuff at the wall.
Right.
So they kind of do a little, a little, it's not necessarily like our style.
Do you think a lot of cars were shipped from elsewhere or those mainly
Japanese cars, like the nine, six, twos and stuff to those come from?
There was definitely a, I think a lot of stuff came from, there was definitely a
lot of stuff from China.
Okay.
Other parts of Asia.
Yeah.
Other parts of Asia.
I do think stuff was shipped from other parts of Japan as well.
Definitely.
You know, definitely stuff was from all over Japan, but I'm not sure about like
rest of world if stuff was like there from Germany or stuff like that.
Right.
But, and yeah, they don't know where the nine, like the nine, six, twos were from
Japan, I believe all of them were from Japan, I think.
Got it.
Um, but yeah, there was definitely some cool, like those highlight cars are
really sick, like nine, oh four, um, those, those three, nine, six twos.
There was a nine, 35.
Yep.
Um, some cool stuff like that.
There was the roofs.
Oh, that Volkswagen van again.
That Volkswagen van again, which is a roof car, which was all how did I not
know about that?
What I don't know.
What, where is that?
Where is that?
I also barely found anything about it online.
Yeah.
I don't really know.
Like I don't really understand that car at all.
I don't either.
And there's other, obviously they had the Porsche one that, you know, the B 32 or
whatever it's called.
And then there's been some German tuners that have done a similar idea, but
I've never seen a roof version of this.
So, no, it was so awesome.
Yeah.
I'll lead posted a picture of it too.
I was like, dang, that's like, um, unbelievable.
Kind of all time.
Kind of all time.
I was sick.
Yeah.
Checks all.
So sick, dude.
Um, yeah, but, um, I spent very, I feel like I've spent very little time with
the show.
I should have gone back later to get like better photos because it was kind of
bright and blown out when I was there.
Um, so I feel like, are we talking like a regular lift size crowd?
Was this like still sort of a thousands of people?
It was busy.
Yeah.
And it was a ticket to get in, right?
Uh, what's that general admission had to pay to get in?
Yeah.
Okay.
And it was cheaper than, than a California show.
Okay.
Um, because I think in Japan, things are just cheaper.
Sure.
So I think general admission was something like $20.
Um, so quite a bit cheaper.
I think here it's probably 50 or more or a hundred maybe or something.
Um, and there was the same thing where it's in waves.
So there's like an early ticket and the late ticket.
So it started later.
It was a later show because I think they wanted like that golden hour thing,
which I wasn't there for golden hour.
So I didn't get, that's why the pictures kind of suck.
Um, but, uh, it, it opened at 10 for early 12 for late.
Okay.
And then it went until like seven or something.
Oh, wow.
Got it.
I got there at like eight by 10 30.
And then they lucked out with weather.
I saw it was a beautiful day.
It was beautiful and it was cold the whole week I was there and it was actually
like barely like I took my like flannel off or, you know, whatever I was wearing
when I was at the show, yeah.
Um, it was like the one time that I, it wasn't that cold, right?
Um, but yeah, it was, and I think it was it, I think it exceeded all expectations.
Is that, uh, Skyway or whatever it's called the, the highway where it was on,
I know it's slated for being changed.
It's going to be a skywalk like the one and they do, and they did in New York.
Highline.
Yeah.
Highline.
Okay.
So potentially, I wonder if it'll be available for things like this again, or
if they're going to transform it so much that you wouldn't be able to hold an
event like this.
Supposedly, yeah, that's a great question that, and, and, uh, I think that's kind
of up in the air, like it maybe could be still, but you know, that's a big question
mark, I think, because it is, it is going to be like a walkway.
Oh, one big thing, no food or anything else.
Oh, I saw some tents on, on the walkway, but I didn't know if that was food.
So that was, that was all like merch tents.
So you just go back down and find a place to eat and come back up.
You went, you went to, you went to Ginza just on the, yeah, weird.
And it was like in the most populated area in Ginza.
So it was like right above all, like, like literally like the most expensive
shopping area in all of Japan.
Right.
Um, but, uh, yeah, I guess they weren't permitted to have it or something.
And at the type seven booth where Clark was, um, they were actually serving coffee,
but they weren't technically serving coffee, uh, espresso shots.
They were, uh, giving, they were testing the machine.
Uh, this sounds like such a Japanese loophole.
Yeah.
You know, like, no, clearly we're just, they were giving, they were giving,
yeah, they were doing this test of the machine.
So, um, that was the only thing they had going there.
And then they had a merch, the merch line was like insane.
It was like an airport line where like zigzag back and forth.
That's just standard Porsche event stuff.
That's crazy.
And then I think they had, but I think they had, you know, like at, um,
Luft LA, they know better and they have like, um, they have like,
like six cash registers or whatever.
Yep.
And this, I think they had one or something because I didn't,
I think they didn't expect it to be this, like have this good over reception.
Right.
I could see that.
Well, um, and I think in the last week, it like really sold out.
Like the tickets really sold fast.
Yeah.
So they just weren't quite prepared.
Yeah.
From what, from talking to Pat about it, it was like kind of like, yeah.
That's how it kind of went down.
Well, it sounds like they need to have another one.
They need to do it again.
Yeah.
Maybe.
Yeah.
The question mark is like, where are they?
Where would it be?
But God, there's so many choices, so many options.
I mean, they can kind of sky's the limit for them.
But I think the next one from what, from talking to them, it'll be an air water.
Okay.
And I think that opens up a little more because they don't have to be as curated with location.
Yeah, but yeah.
They could be a little more like, they don't have to be like,
they don't have to pick that like quite as epic as a location.
Yeah.
No.
Now you're talking about like big convention center type stuff, but still have a little more,
still have cool backdrops and, you know, industrial error and water.
And there's a lot of water, cool stuff there, which is what the drive was the next day.
They allowed everything.
And there was also other cars on that drive too.
But yeah, I saw a couple mainly, mainly porches.
So yeah, I think, I think the next one will be, you know, an air water show.
And I think that'll be an even bigger event because yeah, there's just more of that stuff in Japan too.
Yep.
Yep.
It'd be cool for round cut to do, gosh, I don't know, a rally before or after
some event like that, where everyone would come out and do, to get to take advantage of both,
right?
Like you're coming to Japan, like let's do kind of two for one.
It'd be cool for DWA to do a rally.
I mean, dude, that's like dream.
I'm down.
Well, that's awesome.
Dude, I know probably more stuff will come up as we talk about it.
We do have a couple of questions.
If you're down to rip, rip through.
Uh, nine.
All right.
Time Warp Machine says, is there a support group for people who impulse buy cheap German cars
and accumulate them, attempt to fix them and then get overwhelmed because they have a lot
on their plate, multiple projects at once, then proceed to question their sanity a couple
of times a week, asking for a friend.
Thank you.
There's no support group.
Actually, you're listening to it right now.
I'm driving awesome.
I have, I have two German cars and I don't have time to work on them.
So I don't know, you know, Lane, you got one.
You've, you've done well.
I've done well, dude.
You're, you're just chilling on one and you have a good support system for this.
I'm reformed.
I know.
Do you ever look at cars anymore?
Are you like ever kind of like see something you're like, even if it's cheap,
some come across your plate and you're like alpha style.
No, not really.
It's just, is it time time?
It's time.
It's interest.
It's kind of everything.
I know it's like, yeah, thinking about like registration and smog.
It's like everything.
Oh, there's a little update for the listeners.
It's M3 smog time again.
Oh, no, dude.
Doesn't it feel like we just talked about this?
Oh my God, dude.
This is not good.
I got the notice last week and it's, I don't know.
What happened last time?
I don't even know how it ended.
I found a small shop that would actually work with the car a little bit and got it to pass.
He thinks that the new O2 sensor that's in the car is not great.
So I think the idea was to throw an O2 sensor at it
just because and then try again.
We'll see thoughts and prayers with flying colors last summer.
No, it barely passed with everything new.
New cats, injectors, you know, O2 sensors and all of these cars known for that.
I don't think so.
I don't freaking think so.
I don't know what's going on.
I have no idea.
Anyways, time warp.
I don't know.
I think that's a hard one, dude.
I think it's a personality thing.
You just have to like, I think you need to go to a counselor or something.
Yeah.
And also just get stuff that you can enjoy.
I think you need to get another hobby.
Maybe get another hobby and then that'll like make,
that's what I think I end up doing is I get into other stuff that like fulfills that kind of like void.
What's your newest thing?
I always get into different things, but it's like,
if I'm really into like shooting at the time, like photography,
then it kind of like takes over.
Yeah.
What about penis bars?
Oh, penis bars are huge, dude.
Wait, can I just talk about that for a while a little bit?
Not a while, but let me go back to that penis bar.
So this, I think the Japanese are so, you know, Japanese are so like
buttoned down and reserved and like they follow every rule and like very.
Yes.
And then this is their way of like breaking loose and being like,
oh, we have a wild side, right?
And it's like that's their way and it's like this bar.
There was like people just draw cocks all over the wall with like balls and stuff.
It's so and then like the guys where all the guys that work there were bandanas that say
fuck off all repeated all over them like these.
Is that weird?
And then like there's little fish like hanging that are shaped like
penises.
Yeah.
You documented it pretty well.
I felt like you see where it's written on the wall.
It says like jerking off in nanokine.
Why not?
There's something or masturbating.
Well, you know, these people are so oppressed at work and that's what I'm saying.
They're very like in life in general.
It's so like structured and polite that they have to have some release.
And I mean, that's why like all the freaking, you know, anime porn and I
like their, their red light districts are very much a thing.
And I don't know.
There's, there's certain there's a release going on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's what I think.
Yeah.
It's in some ways that's that's probably it's probably like the most.
What's the word I'm looking for?
Not therapeutic, but it seems like a very normal thing.
But that place is very good.
And if you're in the area, it's very cool, dude.
It's a rad spot.
So if anyone go to my, go to my feed and if you're in Shibuya, check out the spot.
Other brother beer DM me and they're like, oh, they like, you know, they knew this.
Oh, they did.
Like, yeah.
You know, really full circle would be if the izakaya was grilling up some penis of some animal.
Oh, dude, I did go to like a restaurant and I like, it was like beef tongue,
like raw beef tongue stuff.
Yeah.
I'm not into that stuff, dude, but I ate it.
I did beef tongue, uh, nigiri or yeah, it was nigiri and it was just like chewy and
not a good piece of meat.
Yeah.
That's what that was.
So this place was like,
is expensive.
Nice restaurant.
Like very nice.
Like sit like over 200 a plate.
Like a person kind of thing.
And, um, they present all the meats are going to be eating that night.
It was like a course meal and this big piece of tongue and they're like, feel the tongue
and then it has all this meats.
Tongues are weird looking.
And, uh, oh, great.
And, um, oh, great.
And then all like half the meat we had with Sushimi style like was raw.
Like try tips like raw stuff.
And then when it was cooked, it was like barely seared.
Some of it was cooked, but, um, you know, it was, some of it was pretty good and like
they had some good stuff, but, um, I don't know.
It's just kind of like not my style, but I, I powered through and ate most of the stuff.
Ali was like a little bitch.
Really?
Yeah.
And Simon was pretty good.
Ali claims to be this fucking gore gourmet eater and knowing all this shit.
That's just better.
Simon was better than me.
I was like in the middle.
Ali was worse than me.
At one point I was like, oh, the tongue is like really, uh, it's like pretty tender,
but it's bouncy.
And he's like, that does not make me want to eat it.
That's a good descriptor bouncy food.
Speaking of restaurants.
Michelin PS five star restaurant says thoughts on fake patina.
Is it stolen valor?
Fake patina sucks ass.
That's my thought.
It has no place in any part of anything.
Like zero success.
That's yours.
Okay.
Sucks ass.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, the only way you could even conceivably have fake patina quote unquote is during
doing a very detailed restoration of a super important car to match the patina,
which like Tim McNair does on his restorations, like he will like, you know,
do like little rock chips around the fender line, you know,
fender liners or stuff to make it look.
Correct.
You know, and that's, that is patina, right?
You're, you're fake.
Yeah.
Or if you're replacing a bolt and, uh, it's like, you, you don't want a shiny
bolt on some like old car or something like that.
Exactly.
You know, you would mess, you know, you make it look exactly right.
Put some grease on it.
That is the only time fake patina should be in, on any car.
Otherwise it's an absolute garbage factory.
I completely agree.
SV expert says, so with car week talking about charging $200 a park on ocean avenue,
is car week dead?
Do you think it will have any actual effect?
Makes me not want to go.
And I don't cause problems.
Lol.
Are you really laughing?
Are we?
Are we not dead?
That, that like ocean avenue is not car week, but that sucks.
Well, stupidest, short, most short-sighted thing.
Exactly.
Like idea I've ever heard of.
This is not, uh, first of all, this is not set in stone.
They're still talking about it.
You have to realize that the majority of business owners on ocean avenue and in
Carmel in general love car week.
They make like probably four months of their annual, uh, income is probably from
three days in August.
So, uh, yeah, their whole nut is all on that.
Like everything they make is on vacation, like on all of it, you know, yeah.
Restaurants and rentals and galleries and, uh, clothing and all this stuff.
Right.
So they will not want this to happen.
There's going to be pushback there.
And again, we're talking about the like, you know, it's the homeowners.
It is the homeowners, but it's, we're talking about like the 2% of people who
travel to Carmel to attend this event are a problem.
All the 98% are great and it's, it's super fun.
So I don't think this is really going to happen.
And even if it does car week's not dead, it's just a little blip.
Don't worry about it.
Matt shuers says, you suddenly have to do a hard reset of your entire garage with a
hard $100,000, $100,000 budget based on current 2026 market values.
Number of cars is totally up to you.
What cars are you picking?
So Lane, if you're back into your, uh, you don't want a lot of cars, you have 100k.
I mean, your car is fits this.
Like, I mean, you have some room left over, but, uh, not much.
And that's a car you really like.
Or would you try to get something even a little bit more special, uh,
but a similar 9-11 type?
Yeah, that's a good question.
Type car.
Yeah, I'd probably get, it's hard because I do like going, I do like going on like,
I feel like I'd want like an older one maybe, but I do like how capable my car is.
And I do like going on road trips and maybe that would be hindered by an older one.
Oh yeah.
Maybe something like I had, but like, I think a hundred grand, I could find a really cool color
and you know, something maybe a little more special.
Yeah, I don't think I'd do much different though.
Yeah, similar.
I do think it's like a sweet spot of, of like,
old and new and being able to usable and stuff like that.
Yeah, I agree with that.
My hard reset would be to paint the van again and keep it.
And then I would get a very, very nice 500 SL Euro in a great color combo.
Those are about 50,000 or so.
So let's say I'm at, I have 25 left over and then I would get a Volkswagen
GTI 337.
Oh yeah.
The nicest one I could find.
So I'd have something new to go on rallies with.
I'd have something old to go on rallies with and toodle.
And I'd get the van again back up to a snuff.
I feel like, I feel like there's another, I feel like I could probably squeeze another
car in there, but I don't know what that is.
You for sure could.
I mean, how about like a little toodle around truck?
I know like a truck.
What do I need a truck?
I don't need a truck.
Everyone needs a truck.
It's kind of nicest cruise.
I sell you a scratch that like, I would like to scratch that convertible itch again, but
you never used it.
I know, dude.
What itch are you scratching?
It's because of the two door.
Oh, you want a four door convertible?
Or I'm sorry, not a four door because it's a two seater.
Two seater.
Okay.
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
Yeah.
So like an E 30 or an E 30 cab, like an M tech would be cool.
Or like, yeah.
Yeah.
Right now I'm only thinking of BMW for some reason, but yeah, no, I could see that.
I could definitely see that.
Something.
Yeah.
Something.
What's the one that Matt's building?
He's doing a 300 CE or no, it's a, it's a E class cab that he's making an E 55 out of.
Oh, who?
Oh, Matt Farah.
Farah?
Oh, he's got some.
Oh, he's got the CMS build it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it's Hannah, his wife's family's car that they inherited and he's making it into an AMG
convertible, which they never made.
Four seat.
That's what I was thinking of it because it's not an SL.
So auto kennel says, are you guys going to do a fall rally this year?
Yeah.
Yeah, dude.
Come on.
Hell yeah.
Are you actually going to go on one of our rallies?
I know auto kennel, dude, just stop signing up for so many rallies before you know when ours is.
And we won't, we won't know it was ours until like all the rad with stuff is settled probably, but
yes, the plan is to do a fall rally and that will be a all cars welcome.
Bobby Reed with the cars says, I asked chat GPT, which rad era TV character each of you were.
It said that Lane is sunny Crockett from Miami vice.
Warren is Thomas Magnum and art is MacGyver.
Do you agree with this assessment?
And if not, what red era TV character are you?
Man, I never thought of this.
I don't see how could Lane be sunny Crockett?
Like you're, you're wearing linen and driving of Testarosa.
Like that's, I think you should be MacGyver and art should be sunny.
Yeah, that's more, that's more appropriate.
I'm going to stick with Magnum.
I think that's perfect.
I don't need to change it at all.
Thank you so much.
Also, I'd like that Bobby Reed is asking chat GPT the important shit.
I love it.
That's like using chat to be like the correct way.
I know it really should just be used for bullshit like this.
All right, John Z.
I want to be, I always wanted to be Zach Morris.
So can I be Zach Morris?
Yes.
When did, when did the save by the bell start?
Is that eighties?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's eighties.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cause all these are like very eighties and then I thought that started.
It had to be right.
I thought it was like 90.
Oh shit.
Maybe you're right.
Dude.
Oh man.
Now you're saying that.
No, I'm like, oh, you might be right.
I don't know if it's eighties, but anyways, it does.
He says rat era.
So we're good.
We're good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I like that.
Who else is in the list?
Erkel, get that be art?
Maybe?
No.
Okay.
Uh, John Z 650 says saw Hyundai Ioniq six with the following vanity plate.
89 89.
Thank you, sir.
We're right, we're right in there.
Um, saw an Ioniq six with the following vanity vanity plate.
Iconic six, which is I C O N I Q six black and yellow.
Of course.
Thumbs down on that.
What actual iconic car would you put this plate on?
Iconic six six.
Oh, BMW, uh, M six.
Yes.
How could it be anything else?
Yeah.
That's it.
You know, is there anything else?
Is there any six?
That's like, uh, I guess like a six cylinder.
What's a good, oh, that's the best six cylinder.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Like a Dino.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Um, that'd be cool.
Could be a Dino.
What about a, uh, Mazda six?
Huh?
Huh?
I don't know if Iconic is maybe they're cool, but, uh, blue flame,
maybe a early Corvette.
It's M six dude.
It's gotta be the M six.
Yeah.
Any BMW really has a straight six is pretty iconic too.
I mean, you know, I could put it in my car.
The Q doesn't help and black and yellow is not good on any car.
Unless it's a 60s muscle car.
Okay.
Uh, automotive omnivore.
Last question.
Um, in memorial to Radwater Icon, Carlos Chuck Norris.
What's your favorite Chuck Norris related vehicle?
God, I didn't even know there were any.
The dots, the Dotson King Cabby raced in the mint 400 is tempting,
but ultimately I'm going GMC extended cab step side from the early seasons of
Walker, Texas Ranger.
So you've given us two trucks.
Um, dude, I feel like he had a ram charger or something.
Didn't.
Oh, interesting.
Dotson King Cabby raced in the mint 400.
I mean, how can you not go with that?
That thing sounds Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris just died.
RIP.
That's dude.
You weren't listening.
He says in a memorial to to Radwater area in memorial to Chuck Norris.
Um, yeah, extended cab step side.
No, I don't want any step side.
I'm sorry.
That's how they're so goofy looking.
Um, okay.
I'm looking right now.
It looks like he had a CUDA convertible.
It's pretty sick in purple or something.
Oh, you mean plum crazy?
Plum crazy.
He had a, he had a Dodge short bed near here.
He had a Mustang Cobra.
He had a Lincoln truck.
It looks like a Lincoln truck, like a black.
Yeah.
You know those things, those blackwoods or whatever.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
I see a Dodge truck.
The Dodge trucks kind of sick.
Oh yeah.
Dodge Ram Charger, 81 Ram Charger with like, with light lights on the roof.
That's kind of that's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
I'll be honest.
I am not, uh, I like Chuck Norris and I think he's a good, he was a good dude.
I just love the memes though.
I never watched Texas Walker Ranger.
I've never seen any of his movies.
What?
I mean, I, if I have, I can't remember any of you watch sidekicks.
Right.
That one with Jonathan, uh, you know, with the Karate.
Yeah.
You know what's that?
When you were as a kid, when you were a kid?
Maybe, but definitely not.
Wasn't like a movie.
I'd be like, oh, I'd love that.
Like I way, I way more love for Stephen Segal.
Yeah.
And John Claude Van Damme.
And Van Damme, right?
Yeah.
I never, I just, it's a blind spot.
And I want to apologize to the listeners for that.
It should be, I should be a little bit more in the Chuck Norris lore.
But I do Chuck Norris, like the little Chuck Norris when he cries,
the fucking whatever those things are.
Oh, those are all gold.
I mean, there was, I saw one or is obviously chat GBT,
but it's Chuck Norris giving a speech at his own funeral.
It's him in the coffin in the back, but he's on the lectern,
giving a little memorial.
That's a dude.
All right.
All right.
I like his ram charger.
It's super dope dude.
I'm going, was that on scene?
That's in King cab from mint 400.
Cool.
I'm going to try to do it.
It's dope.
It's like tan.
It's a cop car and it has really cool like cop lights on the roof.
Did you see the basher bar in the front?
Back in the Radwater, the NYPD had Fox body Mustangs.
Whoa.
They had confiscated them from some drug dealer or something
and then turn them into cop cars.
In in New York.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
Totally.
I had no clue.
And they're like, are they automatics?
I don't know.
There was only that feels weird.
Imagine driving around like New York City in a manual
transmission, Fox body Mustangs.
I know.
It's also they were painted that like New York PD baby blue
with white stripes and stuff.
So very weird.
I don't know why I thought of that.
But all right.
Anything else to cover before we get to trivia?
No, I think we're good.
All right, trivia question.
We have one here.
It's just you lane.
There's no art to back you up.
Where does the term pot hole come from?
We've all driven over them.
We've cursed their name.
I'm guessing because you would fill the hole with like dirt.
You got in a pot.
Ah, that's probably where I would go.
If I was asked this, that's probably what I would think too.
Or like you use pots to fill and then put in the holes like to.
Yeah, exactly.
So it wouldn't become another hole.
I'm guessing.
I guess I'm wrong though.
You're wrong.
You're dead wrong.
That's for sure.
But that's a good guess.
Well, it's where you'd hide your weed.
Yeah, dude.
420 bro.
No, here it is.
From one unverified source on the internet, I'm going to give you what they said.
Pottery makers in the 15th and 16th century England would take advantage of the ruts that
wagon and coach wheels were gouged into the roads.
Anxious for cheap source of raw materials for making clay pots,
the potters would dig into the deep ruts to reach clay deposits underneath.
Teamsters driving wagons and coaches over those roads knew who and what caused these
holes and referred to them as potholes.
Whoa.
So they were digging, digging potholes after the wagons had made a little bit of a goug in
the road to get.
Well, they couldn't just go like right off the road and just dig a hole.
These bastards to get clay and then the clay always knew pottery people.
And then the clay from the road would turn into pots.
That's why the holes are called pot holes, man.
Don't be like that, dude.
Don't be like that.
Come on, man.
You know where to get your clay.
Just go like five feet off the road and dig a hole.
By the way, you need a head start.
You need a little like five inch head start.
Don't put your weed in those holes either.
No, that's not a good place to keep your weed.
Don't do that.
It's going to get all wet and gross.
All right, get ran over.
That's right.
That's right.
All right, this podcast.
Thanks for joining us.
We'll see you at morning motors.
Yeah, coming up morning motors coming up morning motors coming up and yeah, rally
rallies coming up in a month.
Dude, the rally is coming up, dude.
It's all happening.
All things dude.
It's like literally a month away.
It is.
It is almost literally Isaac's.
Isaac's mg midgets going to be done for it.
Is that the plan?
No, it's like it's like in it.
Well, yeah, no, that'd be awesome.
I would love to see it out there.
It's like literally stripped down.
He has like fender flares bolted on.
Oh, sweet.
Sweet.
All right.
Well, stay tuned for that and more on the next episode of driving will awesome.
Oh, hey, yeah, great and review the podcast.
Oh, please write and review the podcast on itunes or wherever else you listen and
go give us a little give us some money on patreon.
Cost us money a host of stupid things.
You know what?
If you like where you on dot com forward slash driving, let's try it this way.
All right, Lane, if you if you enjoy the podcast, support us on patreon.
Yep.
And you know, bring a friend.
Okay.
See you next time.
Bye bye.
About this episode
Lane returns from Japan’s Luft Tokyo and talks through the trip’s highlights: the Luft show in Ginza, the Type 7 party, and the jaw-dropping Luft Tokyo car lineup skewing toward 964s/993s and Radwood-era vibes. The big centerpiece is a drive/rally to the Magarigawa circuit organized with RoundCat Racing and Type 7, plus hang time with Porsche-world names like Pat Long and Jeff Swartz. The rest is fast banter and Q&A: impulse-buy project-car sanity, penis-themed bars, fake patina takes, Car Week parking drama, and a pothole etymology trivia round.