Chou A Class

So coming up this weekend, maybe, is the D1GP in Fukushima, the closest its going to get to Ibaraki. I'm so far north in Ibaraki I'm almost in Fukushima anyway. Even given that, though, it looks like I am looking at a 5-6 hour trip, one way, to get to the Ebisu circuit where the event is gonna be at. Not that it's actually that far away, its just that the trains are exactly the opposite here as they are in Tokyo. Sporadic service at best, with stations located next to pretty much nothing. I'll have to switch lines 2 or 3 times and spend almost as much time waiting in a station for a train to come as I will on the actual trains. All of which just reminds me of why I need a car.

But! Man, I did some searching around on Yahoo auctions, and it might not be that bad at all to get one. The main problem is that the cars here are so freakin cool. Why is that a problem? Because I can't take it with me. Once my time here is done so is my time with the RHD beast that I want so much. If I bring it to America, it would probably get crushed in some junkyard. So what do I do? Get so close to my dream of driving a Supra around the C1 inner, only to spend my time here in a Civic? Or worse yet, a little kei car? Or spend significantly more money and do something that I've always wanted, but know that I would have to give it up in the end?

I was looking at Soarers (Lexus SC) on Yahoo, and the price for most of them from '92-'97 was around 300,000 - 600,000 yen. Knock a couple zeros off to get dollars, and you might think that it sounds about right, maybe a little on the cheap side for a car that is at least 9 years old. Except for a couple things. First, they're Toyotas, so you know that they will run for like 150k miles easy. Second, not a single one had more than 90k on the odo! I guess that even though Ibaraki is inaka countryside, and people use their cars way more than in Tokyo, America is still way ahead of the game there. These cars would probably be twice as expensive in the states and have twice the mileage. Plus they wouldnt even be as cool as they are here! The SC300, the "sporty" coupe from Lexus, has the 2JZ-GE engine. Almost perfect yeah? Except that little "T" that's missing stands for the most important part, turbo. Here the best Soarer has the 1JZ-GTE engine. Slightly smaller displacement (2.5 vs 3.0 liters) compared to the 2JZ, but it has the twin turbo action and 280 hp (upper limit for Japanese cars, not always followed "officially"). It's not the Supra's TT but its related to it and its still a turbo.

So what I'm thinking, is I'm not buying a car, but an engine to take back to the states and put in an American car, bring a little of the dream back with me. I just get the added bonus of having a car attatched to it while I'm here. The 1JZ-GTE is pretty prevalent here, not only in the Soarer TT but also the Chaser Touring V (a pretty badass sedan, also a fav) and the Mk III Supra. Howeeeever (shikashi!) maybe I should also look at the Toyota Aristo (Lexus GS) because they put the real deal, the main event, the 2JZ-GTE, in that bad boy. Hmm... better go back to check the auctions...