Owner since the era of AT rarity

The current prevalence of AT vehicles in Japan is said to be 98%. Mr. Iwamoto, who owns a 1973 Honda Life, is said to be one of the rarest AT cars in existence. We asked him about the episodes with his Life, which he has owned for 35 years even though it has suffered countless problems.

Insists event participation in own car

It was 1988 when Mr. Iwamoto bought a 1973 Honda “Life” as a cheap used car. Over the next 35 years, he experienced both sweet and sour experiences, and as a result, he became able to perform basic repairs and maintenance on his own, even though he was an amateur when it came to cars.

“Before this, I was driving a 1973 Life, but I had to scrap it due to a self-inflicted accident. When I was looking for the next car to drive, I found this AT car. It wasn’t an old car at the time, just a battered second-hand car. The only cost was bartering for a bottle of Sake.”

Mr. Iwamoto’s style of participating in events is basically to drive himself wherever he goes. In the past, he used to leave his car behind because it was too far away, but he realized that it was no fun without his car. If he brings in a loaded vehicle, he doesn’t want to be bound by restrictions such as the return time of the borrowed vehicle. The conclusion he came to was to drive himself.

First gear on the Shuto Expressway incident

This car is now called an old car, but back then, 35 years ago, it was just an ordinary cheap used car. Therefore, it has experienced various troubles.

“The most memorable trouble was when I had transmission trouble and could only use first gear. And it was in the Aoyama Tunnel of the Shuto Expressway. One of the gears for the failsafe (a system set up to operate on the safe side in the event of some kind of failure) was made of resin, and it was shaved off, so we couldn’t shift gears.”

On this occasion, the trouble occurred on the way back from Kyoto, when he was unexpectedly just a short distance from Ibaraki. He managed to get to the first exit and immediately took the public road. He then found a coin-operated parking space and parked. He took the train back to his home in Ibaraki, got the replacement parts, and took the train again to his car, which was waiting for him in Tokyo. He then carried out the replacement repair at that coin-operated parking.

Mr. Iwamoto told us that he initially overhauled the engine himself out of necessity, but that he now finds it enjoyable to do so. He also handles various customizations for long-distance self-driving, and has acquired such skill that he now helps his fellow lifers with repairs under the trade name SPI (Special Parts Iwamoto).

translated by DeepL