Tanto Custom won the “King of Kei-car Meeting” with a fine dress-up

Mr. Takeo Wasaki, an owner of a Daihatsu LA600S Tanto Custom, is one of those who got hooked on the world of customization after participating in a dress-up car event. The owner, who knew nothing about cars until he bought his car, built a fully customized car and eventually won the overall championship at the “King of Kei-car Meeting”. We take a closer look at the history of this custom car, which he built with a passion for coolness that surpassed anyone else’s.

Custom spirit was ignited after attending the event

At first, the car was simply a custom car that could be used for events and commuting daily with an after-market body kit, air suspension, and lower suspension. However, as it entered dress-up car contests several times, the idea gradually changed and escalated to finding more originality.

He had always been reluctant to drive a car that would be similar to others, so when he saw cars with similar exterior kits installed at Dress-up contests or just around town, he began to think that a completely different approach would be needed to his original car.　Since he could not spend a large amount of cost, he decided to create an original body kit based on the parts already installed on the car.

Original modification added to aero kit parts in the market

The current Tanto Custom was put on the “spec!” aero kit, the front bumper, grill, side step, and rear bumper, but those are just base kits for the custom, to shape the edge and emphasize the body form. They are modified to be more three-dimensional images.

The front fenders are 5cm wider, hand-made by himself with FRP. The rear fenders are 5.5cm wide by cutting and pasting steel panels while taking the sliding door clearance.

The suspension uses an air suspension kit from the Air Force Japan, ride height is lowered to a sticky level. The wheel selection is also the point of high evaluation, contrasting with wide fenders and low downed silhouette.

The recent trend in dress-up wheels is to use stepped rims, but those rims inevitably make the wheels look not so large. Therefore, if you are looking for a more powerful wheel, the reverse rim, which has no step and the rim rises straight, will be more effective in making the wheel look bigger. Therefore, the reverse rim from the Kranze Elmar Klein Form which has a roll flange type is selected. front 8Jx17. Rear 8.5Jx17.

Mr. Takeo Wasaki thought his originality thought, the latest art for the custom is body color. Repainted with the color from the Lexus, named “Radiant Red Contrast Layering” basically Lexus LS, appearance is more gorgeous. He satisfied well but it is just a halfway point of his custom. The next phase would be the audio set, he prepared already the speakers and the amplifier of Rockford which would be arranged to show off custom.

The original custom way of art will strive more higher quality, even though it was given already the gold medal at the “King of Kei-car Meeting”.

“There are many things that I want to do, My original custom art is just a start, I’m still at the halfway point” commented himself.