AE86 Nostalgia At Winds Auto - Juiceboxforyou

Winds Auto has a long history with the AE86. The owners have been selling them, drifting them and making parts for the AE86 chassis for over 20 years. Winds is a husband and wife setup. Obata, the owner, is an ex D1 driver and former member of one of my favourite teams Guntama-R.

His wife Hiromi used to drive the pink AE86 in Formula D. They are well-established drivers, and it’s great to see they are still in business and still operating and actively drifting together to this day.

On the way, we spotted a few cool cars on the road, out in the outskirts. You still see exciting vehicles on the road, which is nice, especially in car hot spots like Kanagawa or Saitama.

Awesome to see some of their favourite memories up on the wall.

Having fun with google translate, we would be lost without it.

When we got to Winds, I couldn’t believe they still had the small office with the Winds auto on top, years of looking at that in magazines, and then following Obata and Hiromi throughout their drift career. I was trying to contain myself when they gave me the very last Winds Auto windshield banner as a gift; I had to get them to sign it. They seemed delighted that I even wanted the sticker or cared about their past.

The sticker coming off of the wall!

What a lovely moment. Obata was thrilled when I asked him about Guntama-R and a few other things from his past 86 life. His face lit up as he told me a few things from old friends from the team and where they are now.

It must be very unusual for these people to suddenly have Irish lads call into their world and ask them questions about the past. Such a humble, genuine couple that have been around the Japanese 86 scene for decades. This was a high point on the trip.

Out the back, Obata still had his SR20 powered D1 AE86 and gave us a look around their small shed and selection of cars. All these older drivers that were very famous once upon a time still gather a lot of traction online through people scanning and resharing old photos.

In the western car world, especially in circles like my friends, we all looked up to these people, and when you meet them, they are taken back by our interest in their past but flattered non the less.

There are many drivers like Obata San and Hiromi. Drivers who used to compete, living in the limelight of the drift world, have since passed the torch on. This love for the automobile, bringing us to places like this and meeting fascinating people, is one of the best parts of this passion; this was a moment ill cherish forever,

Hiromi has since sold her pink 86, and her husband Obata has built her an Altezza; both still enjoy drifting and can be seen at Nikko regularly. The fact they’ve been together for so long and still do this stuff together, that’s the ultimate couple if you ask me.

We exchanged some stickers.

We hung out for another hour, showing our shed back home, our love for the Japanese car culture, and all the projects we are building and how they have helped inspire us over the years. These are the reasons we were on this trip, to meet some of our favourite people and if we got to chat with any of them for a brief time, it was all worthwhile.

Some of the stock outback.

Winds were a big part of the AE86 drift scene back in the day in that area, the stickers were on everything, and it’s great to see them still chugging along doing what they love twenty or more years later.

I love their old office. They’ve had the same setup for well over twenty years.

Hiromi was delighted to show us her Altezza.

I was thrilled to see Obata San still had his D1 car.

Awesome moments, not sure what’s happening with my hand!

Memories we will take to the grave. You couldn’t meet nicer people, this is what we came to Japan for, and we found it.