Here are 50 photos of wildly modified bōsōzoku-style rides from Japan (via alljapanexpress, Speedhunters, Sunny Speed Style, Inokoshientotsu).
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Cutkillavince
Amazing :D
[]kevon45uk
Do they do parallel parking in Japan?
[]Charo
oO
[]Jonathan
I feel like I just looked at Hot Wheels' "Bad Ideas" file.
[]StingStungMe
You are not alone.
[]JJ
Love the Democratic Party of Japan (民主党) racer in pic 19/20!
[]Lupin
Must have some children, because he likes the åã©ã‚‚手当-Law so much ;-)
[]Jason
All that extreme body work, and yet many of them have the oil cooler just slapped on the front bumper with loose hoses dangling about. Why?
[]Bubbly
I was thinking the same thing. Of all the pieces of the engine they could show off, they make sure to hide everything but that. I thought it might have been for a turbo though... (you'd need some more power for all that extra weight) In most cases, they even exit the grille in an inconvenient place to ensure a lot of hose running around. If you're such a fan of hoses, why not just relocate the radiator in unique ways? Incomprehensible...
[]Meat
Could be an air/water IC...
[]peeshweesh
its a style, oilcoolers, some actually look good. and they are very efficient right there
[]Bis
It's just the thing over there. They do it on purpose, its been pretty big for a while now.
[]Morphradite
Agree. Second cruise through and I'm beginning to get a feel for it. I'm still going to cruise down to Hot August Nights tonight for a shot of the real thing.
[]J
the saddest part is that the engines aren't tweaked out to match the exterior style. form over function rules over there, it seems.
[]tim
these are some of the ugliest cars i have ever seen.
[]MonteM
These would fit right in with the Houston Art Cars . . . well, maybe not.
[]jabe
Why is it that the japanese always have the weirdest taste in the world?
[]Thommy
THEY think they have not... (but it's only them)
[]Cesar
Que de boludeces !!!
[]Hash_Man
I need to get some Sukeban gang members in the back of one of those vans with a roll of duct-tape, a bottle of jim beam, and a little blue pill.
[]John
Some of these cars are just flat out beautiful!! They take my breath away. These are not just cars, they are sculptures.
[]K
Agree.
[]ss
they are amazing, they are what every kid dreamed of driving growing up! an over the top race car
[]XTN
Gotta catch 'em all!
[]Nate
Those modifications are so grotesquely impractical, especially the extremely common "spatula" front. What will adding an imbalanced 3-foot long bumper to the front your car accomplish? That thing will fall off after about 5 good bumps.
[]Meat
"Air splitter", check it out bro! :D
[]johansezbyteme
Big diff between an air splitter and these monstrosities...bro.
[]Dan
Bad acid trip cars. I thought American hot rods and choppers were weird, but these cars are really strange.
[]William Brown
Whatever drugs these guys are on...I definitely don't don't want any. The idea of a car made to look like the results of gratuitous crossbreeding between spatulas, toasters and soda straws draws vivid images of a bad trip. Hell, I did enough of those in the 60s, but I never built anything like that.
And the vans. I can't tell if they're meant to look like a sailing ship from hell or an interstellar garbage scow.
No. I really don't want any of what they're on. Maybe it's that poisonous rockfish stuff they eat. If it doesn't kill ya, it might send ya over the event horizon and ya end up buildin stuff like that.
Makes rat rods (like mine) look like the product of a sane mind (it ain't.)
To paraphrase an old joke, maybe it's like eating Chinese/oriental food: when ya make one wacko mod to the car...an hour ya feel like making another...and the death spiral goes down in flames.
[]S Clark
so agree with this comment. Some of the cars with the front end platforms looked like pooper scoopers for the streets!!! LOL
[]Alex
Is Japan completely flat? Do they not have inclines? How about declines of some sort?
[]Then how the fuck do they get around in cars with chassis that are damn well near gouging into the concrete?
Nakore
I love the Chisato Moritaka "spaceship" (#24).
[]dan
just quickly, theyre based off old school japanese race cars (google image search "tomica skyline") delibratly hanging external oil coolers just like the 1970s race cars, i was at fuji speedway last week and all the restored cars have exposed coolers and piping.
theres a hugh history and if you google you can find world wide clubs paying respect to these creations.
my opinion = 10/10
[]BS
Is there a biography for Hugh?
[]Respect? Pah!
CD
I think all the cars look great! And for the people asking how they drive the cars on the street, its pretty obvious that they don't. The cars are meant to be flashy and outrageous, and so no person who has spent thousands of dollars to modify their car would think of driving their prized possession on the street. For one reason, the car and accessories might get dirty and another reason is all the expensive stuff might get stolen!
My only question is what is the purpose of the flat "spatula" modification on the front of some of the cars? I know that spoilers put extra weight on the back and body kits help keep air under the car (or something like that) but I don't understand what is gained from adding extra length to the front........
[]That being said, I still like them!
SiPac
"I know that spoilers put extra weight on the back ". Yeah its got nothing to do with aerodynamics, spoilers are just giant paperweights for the back of ya car aint they ?? You dumb fuck, get with it, and atleast learn the basics.
[]And yeah most of these hearty cunts do drive their sweet rides on the streets, what respect is there to gain from owning a show pony.....
You abviously have never gotten out n shown ya style, a "spatula" front end is a temporary addition until you smash it and replace it, sacrafices..
CD
I never said that I know everything about cars, but at least I know how to spell, you dumb piece of shit
[]BS
Snicker.
[]Bugmenot
Kit Kat!
Terry
All those custom cars and not ONE hot chick? Really?!!
Dare I say it... "you're not doing it right".
[]Numberwang
You weren't looking hard enough, distracted by the cars.
[]johansezbyteme
No, he was right.
[]Ms Pheenix
This blew my mind...these are like bright neon bubbles of race cars that I would love to see in real life!
[]Jesse
WOW. Pussy. Wagons.
[]Anonymous
The front-end is to deliberately cause the car to pivot on tight turns... it makes it easier to g-turn (drive the car sideways to turn)... it causes the back of the car to swing... and the front remains stationary. This is usually something that happens normally at really high speeds... but most of these cars are stock so they do nto have enough horse power at the tires to cause it naturally... so they play with the cars balances... which is relatively easy to do since many of the cars are front wheel drive... or single drive wheel rear wheel drive vehicles.
[]anon
r u high... most of these cars are rwd
[]Johnny G
What the fuuugh was all that??? So many odd contraptions...the oil coolers, the far out flaring and fins and all that exhaust piping...don't they weld in elbows anymore? 90 or 2 45 degree cuts in the pipe....mmmmmmm smooth flow baby smooooooooth !!!!oldodger...kbye
[]BOB
I F*CKING WANT ONE.
[]Primo_Toy
This style represents the owner's disregard of other peoples taste. It is kind of an anti-establishment movement if you will. It has grown into a culture, and I personally love some of these creations.
Also the front mount oil cooler is a throw-back to the 70's racers. the old race cars had these thrown on to help with cooling because the engines were so tweaked.
I plan on building a mild boso car one day, such a cool style.
[]JJ72
Best analysis so far.
Sadly they do care about other people's taste or else they wouldn't share the same theme. But at least it takes balls to have a bad taste and be proud of it.
[]Tunska
If you were thinking something like "WTF?!? what's the point in that?!" while watching those pics, then I bet that people who build those cars just achieved their goal. :)
[]Nasser Manouchehri
we are preparing an article for SPIEGEL ONLINE about your Bosozoku-style rides. We would like to illustrate the article with some (free of charge) press photos of the Bosozoku-style Cars. Could you kindly send us some press photos via email?
[]Many thanks in advance!
G-type
For the people complaining about the impractical kits:
Read up on your history of Bosozoku and you'll understand, quite clearly, the purpose of all of those modifications. Not to mention why many seem cheaply made.
The point of being flashy and obnoxious is just that. A western "badass" is typically a stoic, damaged, silent type. In Japan, often you get a loud, obnoxious, carefree jackass who is just not to be fucked with. It's kind of a "Here I am, come and get me" ideal mixed with ques from Super Silhouette. The Bosozoku were those badass gang members that are just not to be fucked with. By anyone. And that point was pushed as hard as possible, and then some.
To be into Boso, I think one has to be a more relaxed human being in general. I usually tell people to look at the car, breath deeply, and say "Fuck it". Because when it comes down to it, it's really not that serious. Just have fun, enjoy yourself. Enjoy the pleasure of just not caring, in a world that thinks no one cares enough.
[]Meee!
I think the best commenter here was 'anonymous'!
Thank you whoever you are,you've just basically explained it.
The 'spatula' mods, whilst looking impractical, are for doughnutting and drifting at low speeds, so, awesome I guess...
Wouldn't have been practical on my Chevvy '79 Camaro though would it!
Aaand I still don't think I'll be desecrating my Skyline with any of this shit! XD
Source: A 17 yr old chick who happens to like cars :) F*ck sexism! ;D
[]Nick
ricers: could be..
[]works of art: maybe..
fun to look at: most definitely.
killersmith92
I'm gonna try to make a Bosozoku style truck out of my '96 Ford Ranger 2wd. Anybody got any suggestions?
[]comptonman4
Kill yourself?
[]gzuckier
Well, this is the nation that gave us Godziooa; and Rodan; and Ghidra; and Mothra; so these cars make sense.
[]mhuzr
True style, not to everyones taste... Having fun with it too, makes a lot of our 'style' in the west look snooty and conservative by comparison. I wonder if they make aero kits for T4s....
[]Toaster Pop
Japanese people are THE most creative folks on the planet. Can't wait to go to Japan!
[]Kapajacka
I remember being a 12 years old and at an scca event @ YAKOTA AFB and wanting to see them run but never seen them get on the corse, then i heard them start up and man! So now im 38 and just got a 81 Celica gt hachi... Im all in but not as agressive as the Boso guys! 14'' Watanabes -20 off sets and slam it with and catless 3 to 5'' tip sticking upward. Performance mods at that! to say the least most of the cars on this page were full tilt but i took some of the nice stuff and thought it was a kool flashback! Styles and creativity runs deep in japan.
[]vanillagorilla
Do they have $3 bills in japan too? No thanks, ill walk....But what do you expect. On a Japanese weirdness scale I give it a 3.5/10. I heard they have vending machines with used panties in them. Now that's a 10/10
[]Matt
One of the wildest car customization on the planet! Japan FTW!
[]crystalpocket
Seriously.
Read what Bosozoku is on wikipedia or something.
Its a throwback to kamikaze pilots whom didn't get to fly in battle.
They came home and made bosozoku motorcycles and terrorized the streets.
The cars came from their children. Which is sweet because the next generation kept the style but made it safe.
Its about respect.
[]