In this deep dive, we uncover the incredible story of this S13 180sx, the origins of Mitsuru Haruguchi, 326 Power and a shop called Car Planner Zone.
After 18 years, I finally own my dream 180SX! Built by Zone and Designed by 326 Power in Japan, this car survived Europe and returned to Ireland. Now, it’s time to share its wild history!
After 18 years of chasing this 326 Power RPS13 180SX from the peak of the JDM import boom to today, it’s finally mine. This Auto Salon demo car has spent almost 15 years in Ireland, surviving the highs and lows of the import scene and the recession. Let’s look closer at what a high-end JDM import looks like after two decades on Irish soil.
I’ve split the Final bout photos into two posts because there are many. I enjoy photos, and this blog has become a place for pictures and little writing, which is good as my images are better than how I construct a sentence. I will start here on Friday evening when we arrive at USAir in Shawano. Being Irish, the first thing I have to comment on is the weather; that perfect midwest summer sun was working wonders for anything I pointed the camera at. I wish we got more of those golden hour days in Ireland; regardless, please enjoy the selection of photos from the first night we got to FinalBout, as I feel some of these photos will be a good inspiration for others on how to approach a chassis, a lot of these guys have it figured out. It was great to see this stuff all packed into one venue.
Ireland is packed with sheds; when you think you’ve seen or heard about it all, something comes down the wire, and you must check it out. Paul Stryker and family have been in the scene for years, and Paul himself is a big Nissan guy. He asked us to look at the family collection some time ago, and it didn’t disappoint. The chicken sheds on the land were filled with cool cars like this Ex Uras R34 skyline, which survived the Ireland import boom in the 2010s.
We organise cars and coffee, check out an ITB Altezza and do some rings in a 4A-GE Daihatsu
Another incredible shed tour, a hidden stash of Nissan Silvia parts and much more.
If my younger self could see me now! That young freckly fucker obsessing over Gran Turismo 2, sitting in his room listening to that smooth jazz menu music, looking at cars he had never heard of in the used car garage. Here I am, many years later, still chasing the dream, still into the same stuff I was back then! I think my younger self would be buzzing to see the space I have in the shed with sound friends, a few rusty Japanese shit heaps, a few bikes, skateboards and silly bits pushing on into my 30s. It’s not much, but I try not to take it for granted, best to enjoy the ride. This night made me incredibly happy.
We had come up with an ambitious plan, hit D1 early in the morning and then drive five hours to Sports land Yamanashi and potentially meet up with Alexi from Noriyaro and our mate Andrew from Ireland. We heard about a night drift event at Yamanashi and were told not to miss it.
I remember seeing photographs of this S-chassis online many moons ago and couldn’t believe this car was coming to Ireland. I had a chance to see it only once at our local race track, Mondello many years ago and then it seemed to vanish off of the face of the earth.
Our friend Jimmy tracks down an RPS13/180SX which he has tried to own for nearly fifteen years.
We head to the hills and check out a few hidden gems, a stunning Sileighty, and an angry JZX100 Cresta.
After what would only be an unforgettable night at Daikoku, we rolled the dice and chanced our luck. It was late, we had been kicked out of Daikoku and there was one place left on the list I wanted to tick off before we went home.
After our visit to RWB we pushed on further into the outskirts of Tokyo. One shop which was not too far from RWB is called G Corporation, another on the must-see list for a long time, we had to go. I’ve always been a huge fan of their S-Chassis kits and outlandish paint work.
Koguchi power was a such an unplanned part of this journey. I was briefly trying to find this place but was completely overwhelmed by our Japanese markers on google maps and gave up.