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Oh, what a beautiful day. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, and it was chill 35 degrees outside…not bad considering last year was rain.
Three halls at Makuhari Messe housed this years TAS, and it seemed that there were more specialty companies there this year than I remembered from last year.Although I was running solo this year as none of the NICO members could make it, I did meet up with a friend a little later in the day.
Some of the vehicles on hand for this years show included the Top Secret 300 km/h V35 Skyline with the twin turbo V8 sitting under the hood.Option magazine’s Fairlady, Yashio Factory’s Fairlady and also thier S15 Silvia.Other mentionable cars were a 4 door Toyota MR2, a CA powered Toyota Starlet, Twin supercharged Lexux, and an R32 GT-R that not only had both turbos, but a centrifugal supercharger bolted up to it, theoreticallymaking it tri-charged.
Red Bull was even on hand in the smoking area with an old panel wagon set up as a mobile DJ station, showing highlights from the past years X-games.Yours truley had a couple cans just to get my tired ass moving again after being on my feet going from booth to booth for the first few hours.
And, before some of you ask, yes, the “Race Queens” were out in full force.This year some of the vendors had some real decent looking girls.Suzki, Mistubishi, Honda and Nissan had,by far, the best looking girls in my own opinion…as if that means anything anyway.Some of the big vendors like Greddy, HKS and Tein had some nice ones too.
Honda has several nice looking cars on hand, include the Dominator concept car.Although it hasn’t changed since the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show, it’s still an impressive looking car.Mugen was even on hand displaying a nicely tuned S2K.
Mitsubishi also had it’s Concept X car there, the one that could very well become the next Lancer Evolution.Other noteworthy cars on hand for Mitsubishi was the newly redesignd Concept X…albeit in 1/2 scale.It seems that they have designed a car for kids now…lol.
Nissan, Autech and Nismo had all thier current lineup on display.
The Autech side was it’s usual with the El Grand, Cube, Serena and the new Otti, all except the Otti available in Rider trim or Axis trim.
Nismo had a couple of impressive cars on display.The Fairlady Z Version NISMO, Motul Autech Z, Fairlady Z Version NISMO Type 380RS competition, Tiida S-Tune concept, Fairlady Z S-Tune and the El Grand S-Tune.
Nissan itself was debuting a couple of new concepts for the near future.The Skyline Aero Concept, the Skyline Interior Concept, the Micra C+C (Convertible) and the new 2007 model Fairlady Z.
There were even a few celebrities on hand as there was last year.Ken Nomura was there again, this time siding with Ogura Clutch company.Many other D1 drivers where there with thier respective sponsors.
Well, I will leave you to the pictures.Enjoy seeing some of what I saw.
Visit: 2007 Tokyo Auto Salon Image Gallery
Author: Neal Hartman is a NICOclub Skyline Forum Moderator