Certain people have good taste. Taste in food, architecture, art, fashion, whatever it may be. I met this guy Ash in the UK a while back only because he has good taste in cars. I would not have met him if he wasn’t in love with ’80s classic Japanese cars. That’s a fact. With that in mind I realise I’m happy to come across so many amazing people while I’m on a trip for this website and I believe some good friendships have come out of certain moments. This makes me very happy.
So this Ash kid. Friendly geezer. The one you’re not scared of even if he hold a knife to your throat because you simply know he does not know how to handle those kinds of situations. That’s a good thing by the way! Ash used to be a Sailor in the British Royal Navy. I believe you’re a good person when you’ve serverd your country in any way.
Let’s get to the good taste part. I walked by a pretty good looking Toyota Soarer at the Japanese Performance show and I knew that I wanted to spend some quality time with this car. I don’t know what it was but it just stood out among the many amazing cars present at the show.
Given the fact that I’ve never been turned down when I offered someone a free shoot and some exposure, I was positive Ash would not turn me down either. I sent him a message on Facebook and just a short period after there was this big smiling face behind me and we started talking about his car.
We all remember that time when we’re looking for a car of new project right? You spend hours on car websites looking for that pearl you’ve been looking for so long. Ash wanted an S14a at first but he could not resist the Soarer when he came across this one. Love at first sight?
Ash was on deployment for 9 months when he saw the Soarer online but he knew he needed to go after it so luckily his good mate Aaron Palmer was able to go take a look, testdrive it and see if the car would be a good fit for Ash. I believe that there must be a good base of trust between these two guys because Ash trusted on Aaron’s judgement to buy the Toyota as soon as possible.
Ash didn’t waste any time on this and immediately decided to purchase the classic. With ash being on his deployment he obviously had mixed feelings because he wanted to see and feel the car and at the same time he wanted to start modifying the Soarer in to something the car scene hadn’t seen before. This was Ash’s way to break in to the show scene in the UK and beyond.
During his deployment he had a two week leave and flew from Cape Town South Afrika back to the UK. At the airport he had a group of mates waiting for him to take him directly to his new Soarer.
The first ride obviously brought the biggest smile on Ash his face and he was more than excited to get started with his plans for the Toyota.
Everywhere Ash went he would be guilty of breaking necks and he would soon become blind of the many cameraflashes. Unfortunately he only got to enjoy the car for about ten days before he had to return to the Royal Fleet.
Before he went back he dropped his car off at the good people of Mission Motorsport who also have a body shop. Ash had been talking to them about his plans with the Z20 and he left the car in their workshop for the remaining three months of his deployment.
They sent Ash many updates of the progress and how the Z20 would look like with the new custom purple paint job.
When Ash got home safe he finally could enjoy his pride and started visting various car shows. Who wouldn’t want his pride and joy to be showcased for the world, right?
I was really happy to have made the trip to the UK together with our editor and photographer Stijn. If I had decided not to make the trip I would’ve never come across this beautiful piece of steel from the eighties.
I know I’m pretty late with the publication of this article but we always try and save up some content for the Winter months to fill up our frontpage.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Ash for joining us for the photoshoot. You’re an ace! Also thanks to the good people of the Japanese Performance Show organisation. I sure hope we meet again this year!
-Rens Adams