Trial, Auto Select & Fujita Engineering
If you are over thirty, you’ll be well aware of Trial for their epic demo cars and long history with tuning. They have one of the largest shops in Japan and have been around for over thirty years. I was first acquainted with them in Max Power in both the magazine and their DVD Japan feature back in the day called “beast from the east”. Max Power was the most prominent UK tuning magazine in the early Millenium.
After seeing them in the magazines, their Celica appeared in Gran Turismo 2, and their Iconic logo was burned into my brain forever. Their premises are gigantic for Japanese standards, and they have a complete one-stop-shop building and tuning cars, with a stunning storefront packed with the latest parts. They are also the Japanese distributor for Recaro. This place is epic, a must-visit if you are in the Osaka area.
It’s not often you see a view like this.
A modern tuning dream house.
They even promote a tuning package for the new Hiace. How cool is that!
Look at all those Recaros.
It’s unusual to see such massive premises, as most shops in Japan are pretty small. I wondered how Trail was doing these days as you don’t see as much from the brand anymore. It was fantastic to see the place is still booming with an incredible collection of cars out front. From what we can gather, they also do shaken inspections on modified cars which is nice. Shaken is the annual examination in japan for roadworthiness.
This 35 was interesting.
So was this Chaser coupe. The car park had an array of fascinating machinery.
It was like something from a movie watching all these cool cars getting work done.
This Rally inspired Celica caught our eye straight away.
Along with this wild-looking Evo 6.
The Voltex aero is nuts, I’m surprised this car has a license plate.
We spent a good ten minutes drooling over this.
The Trail GTR was something else!
This Chaser was perfect. Chrome CR Kais against white, you cant go wrong.
This GTR was in for a wheel change.
They were spraying a mist to cool the workers, it made for an interesting photo here.
You don’t see these MRS’s too often these days. Always liked them in yellow.
Another shot of the Celica, how cool is this thing?
This Hyundai Coupe, or whatever it’s called in japan completely caught us off guard.
It was great to see this BCNR33 outside, looking like something straight out of 2002.
One of the Trial doors was opening up to reveal an R34 GTR being tuned on the dyno.
This has to be one of the best logos.
The GTR looked like it hadn’t moved in quite some time.
How about another angle of this insanely aggressive Evo. Imagine this rolling down the streets. I wish it had the rear wing that it most likely runs when it’s out and about. I’m sure this car has an interesting back story.
To see Trial in real life was something else; yet again, another bucket list shop ticked off the list was indeed the stuff of dreams. Only for this footage, you’d have a hard time remembering what there was; from what we had seen that morning, our brains were already at capacity; Trial was the icing on the cake, a legendary shop that’s still in business.
Right down the street from Trial is a much smaller, more humble-looking setup, the legendary Auto Select. Auto Select has built some of the wildest cars over the years and are considered legends amongst the Japanese tuning scene. Some of you might be familiar with their yellow RX7, and more importantly, their R34 GTR with the shark livery up the side, another childhood dream machine that I couldn’t believe was right in front of us.
The customer base here always looks for the best of the best. Seeing Trial and Auto select in the same hour was one of the most overwhelming situations.
The yellow Shark graphic R34 GTR was lurking in the back. What a car!
We, unfortunately, didn’t get to look around at Auto Select, but just catching a glimpse of that 34 was good enough.
After a quick look at Auto Select, we headed out towards Fujita Engineering, otherwise known as Feed. You might be familiar with their gunmetal RX7, which dominates the Gunai togue in Hot Version, a car that casually greeted us at a convenience store.
Panic photos as I jumped out of the van.
I thought id never see this car again.
I think we spooked the owner as we frantically tried to film the car at the store; little did they know we would be calling over today to say hello in a couple of minutes.
I couldn’t stop taking photos of it parked at this shop. I was under the impression this was the last time we would see this thing.
Check this timeless FC sitting on Watanabes.
Oh, man!
Like everything else we had seen throughout the day, Feed was like something out of a fantasy, out on the outskirts of Osaka, surrounded by rice fields, is one of the most famous rotary tuners in Japan.
The evening lighting was perfect, this looked like a snap from an Option magazine.
Some of the greatest rx7s in the world casually spread out around the front of the shop. The shopfront is bold; it looked like a classic 90’s tuning shop with its logo and a few more prominent brands to match.
After some time, they warmed up to us. It was business hours, so we asked could we shoot some photos and take a look around, and they were ok with it.
The first two cars that grab your attention are both versions of the Fujita FD, the gunmetal with carbon on the more street tuned example; what can I say? I think this is the most incredible looking FD I had ever seen. I couldn’t stop taking photos and video.
The owner was a little apprehensive with us; again, we just rocked up, Flip wanted to buy an oil cap, and it was a great excuse to check the place out.
Another spot I’m just glad we have on camera as there was so much to take in, I barely remember any of it. Inside they had fitted an rx8 engine to a new Roadster; this place was rotary heaven and a perfect end to our tuning shop adventure as the sunset. Such a peaceful setting with one of the most iconic tuners in Osaka. What a completely surreal experience, one il never forget
At each of these shops, thankfully, there’s a vending machine to keep us hydrated. I think I lose about 80% of my water content through nervous sweating. When we show up to any tuning shop, palms and entire body almost does this nervous flush as I can’t comprehend the views.
You spend countless hours looking at this stuff over the years on Youtube and various DVDs. When you get the chance to see it in real life, for me, it’s almost too much. It’s bizarre.