I WANT WHAT’S MINE’S: Workshop visit

January 27, 2010 2:41 pm Published by

In the week following the Tokyo Auto Salon, I worked as a driver, translator and phone-call-making guy for the Autosalon magazine guys as they toured and reported on a bunch of workshops and aftermarket parts factories.

The one that stands out most to me was the final one we visited: Mine’s.

Mine’s was just a really cool place to visit. I guess it’s the closest to what you’d “imagine” a Japanese tuning shop to be like if you’d never been to one before.

Since they knew that some foreign press were coming, and possibly because a large amount of their business now comes from overseas, they were all prepared for us. Company boss Niikura-san came out to greet us, cold cans of imported American soft drinks were sitting on the table, and a Hot Version video of their R-34 driving in Tsukuba Circuit tuning car race challenge was playing on a big-screen plasma TV. It won, of course.

The one on the left is the street version. The one on the right is the track version. Mark Pakula was taken for a ride in the track one. Lucky. You should have seen the grin on his face as they pulled out of the driveway.

You should have seen his grin when he came back!

A Mine’s R34 would definitely have a place in my dream garage.

This one, please.

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This post was written by Alexi

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