Few things in life are worth waking up at 5:00am for, but the night before, when my friend suggested we take the trip from Tsukuba to the Daikoku Parking Area in Yokohama in the morning, I said yes before he could finish his question.
Despite rarely driving on the Shuto-Kō highway, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu and nostalgia from hundreds of hours spent virtually driving it.
As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by the unmistakable Lamborghini Countach. It seemed like a rare opportunity to have a close look at an icon. But when we looked at the wheels, we noticed the Porsche callipers, which revealed an interesting fact about this car. It turned out to be a Porsche 986 in disguise, which made it as interesting as a real Countach. The project is so well done that if not for the brakes and the boxer engine, we wouldn’t have realised it was a replica.
Being based in Tsukuba, I’m used to seeing RWB builds that are raced at Idlers events, but it’s always refreshing to see clean examples.
It’s crazy to think that the Ford Model A is about to turn 100. Another head-turning American classic was this Camaro SS.
The Caterham 7 is a model that’s surprisingly popular in Japan. And you can always count on a lineup of Trueno and Levin AE86s at Daikoku PA.
I’m always blown away by the size of the brake callipers on the 488 Pista. The 360 Challenge sounded insane, as did this straight-piped Lamborghini Aventador. With a bit of throttle, it was thunderous.
The Alpine A110, both classic and new, is the only French model I’m attracted to.
It’s quite interesting to see an R33 and an E36 parked side by side, as they’re Japanese and German interpretations of the same concept.
For me, the highlight of the day was this crazy sounding Mk4 Toyota Supra. I had to ask the owner how much horsepower it had; it only made sense when he said 950hp.
This dangerous-looking C5 Corvette came all the way from Osaka, with a spare wheel on the passenger seat. It had a supercharger that bumped the power to 550hp.
Itasha culture was represented by this Fairlady Z.
By noon, I had accumulated 500 photos. It’s always difficult to leave a place like Daikoku PA; the fomo is very real.
Daikoku is definitely Top 5 best car places in the world. Like a chill parking lot where you can see all kinds of cars from supercars to muscle cars. It’s hard to beat!