A Tour of Tec-Arts, The Ultimate AE86 Corolla Shop in the Heart of Japan

Tec-Arts Japan is one of those places most of us only saw - and probably will only ever see - in the gritty old VHS tapes (Option2, Best Motoring) or some random 140p pixelated video hosted on a Geocities site. Building legendary Toyotas for both grip and drift, including a Corolla fit for a king - the Drift King himself, Keiichi Tsuchiya, Tec-Arts is one of those shops that’s almost too good to be real. Until you go there.
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[@LarryChenPhoto]

Make your walls epic! Support AutoFocus and purchase a large wall Photo Print today: www.etsy.com/shop/larrychenphoto

[@josephandreuccetti7270]

Please more of this! Show us our dreams we read about in mags and best motoring!! These places are amazing!

[@donvo5413]

Its crazy how Japan's shops are all clutter messes. But the coolest clutter messes in the world

[@noir-kx8ku]

A cluttered shop means that they either do a phenomenal job and are always busy or they're going under! LOL Try snooping around your local small-business shops, you'd be surprised.

[@RRtradestar]

It's an organized mess. It's like their own language only those workers can understand.

[@BySixa]

the shops are like their wiring lol. I've never had a modified Japanese car with good wiring, but what they lack in wiring skill they make up for in some incredible mechanics

[@jordigerards]

Do not let hert get here he will loot the shop of literally everything

[@ae86hachi]

I wish I had deep pockets. I'd be on the first available flight.

[@ZackNakazora1]

Are those my wheel spacers? Lol

[@SlightlyM3ntal]

If hert stepped foot in this building things would just start breaking around him.

[@leathalinterjection7274]

That's exactly why we need him there..we need a loot and pillage series🤔

[@jasonmartinez7362]

You can't loot that place, as much as someone might like to. They'd be disrespecting legends by doing so. Fun fact: I got my cars body kit from Tec-Art's ❤

[@nicktool3256]

Things that are a series of tubes: 1. The internet 2. Coilovers

[@picax8398]

Asot lol

[@franciscolugar3010]

As some of these shops don't realize the impact they've had on world car culture, I don't think you guys at Hoonigan and you Larry specificallly realize the impact you are having on people who live in countries where car culture stays in dreams. I cannot thank you enough for bringing this to us, you are our Best Motoring and Option.

[@martsmarts]

I love “outdated” tech/tuned cars... they have nothing to lose or prove. They just put modern tech/tuned cars to shame when they get beaten.

[@TheDailyDriver]

Also shows you the skill of a good driver. =)

[@noir-kx8ku]

It's fucking ART!

[@brianhahnejong]

Just FYI, Keiichi AE86 originally commission by TRD before rebuild by Tec Art themself circa 2011 or 2012. So its not really Tec Art origin.

[@andrewcowden9704]

Came here to say this. After Sakurai-san passed 2008 Tec Arts took over the street car and Car Factory Ai took over the N2 car.

[@eddiegonz__]

Thank your for saying this as well, I was watching this and hoping someone else brought that up

[@Nozarashi86]

Yup. You guys beat me to it. Sakurai-san needs more credit, despite the amazing work Kamata-san has done.

[@ahjackhere]

I like CarFactory 86 too...

[@tycobandit]

Yeah, I remember reading that it was a gift from Toyota/TRD to keiichi tsuchiya, and the car originally came out of Toyota’s Japanese heritage collection before being built by TRD.

[@Speedstar235]

"The key chain has a... string bean pod." Me: *flashes back to every time Max and Nobu kept referring to Keiichi's 86 as a bean (MAME).*

[@Talasas]

I remember this, can you a explain a little more?

[@heinrichr]

Makes sense now!!

[@naseemtuanpituk830]

@@Talasas max and nobu were making fun of keichi’s ae86 as a bean (mame) , remember they were like ae86 is an old car ,basically making fun of Keiichi’s favorite car

[@bluesrike]

@@Talasas The more obvious bit: the carbon fiber hood on Tsuchiya-san's 86 has a bit of green in the weave and it reminds them of a bean. That's why they call it the "Super Mame" sometimes.

[@FinishPlayer]

Now this is the kind of focus i like.

[@AfricNetwork_]

Its crazy some of these shops dont know how Dope and how loved they are around the world. I watch hundreds of hours apon hours of Tec-Arts AE86 and Drift Kings AE86. I miss my AE86 it was so light and so connected with me. I feel there is a feeling that in every time period you can get. Being more connected to a car, feeling the road through the steering wheel, knowing when the back is slipping out and how much throttle or brake you should apply, To me thats why older cars are so loved. Its the human experience applying skill and knowledge. We already know in a straight line any car old or new can be as fast as a new car, In the turns its possible to it just take more innovation, great driver, and knowledge of car and track as well as opponent. You can teach a old dog new tricks.

[@BySixa]

hi I know this is an old comment but would you recommend a trueno? I am thinking of importing one. i already have a jzx100 chaser and I feel this would compliment it so nicely

[@AfricNetwork_]

@@BySixa I would recommend 110% the fun of a small rwd light weight car will be reliable and fun to drive. You could even get one from the states as well. Get one asap don't wait you won't regret it especially when or if you fully build it or swap in a k20 itbs all motor

[@martinsteele3259]

I bought my 85 AE86 back in 1988... I fell in love with that car the min I drove it. I still have it, but it is def in need of more love! I will never get rid of my AE86! Awesome to see that companies like KW are engineering new parts for these classics!!!

[@todae8659]

My86 kzbin.info/www/bejne/imLcg4anhNVlm7c

[@ZackNakazora1]

There's something to be said for a shop that has passion. They don't focus on new chassis or the latest and greatest. They are committed to what they love. R31 house and even angel motorsports do that for us. I really really appreciate guys like this. And their love of a unique chassis. And keeping them alive... Maybe I should open a Mercedes 190e shop...

[@lordperezident]

You want to open a 190e shop?? What's your Insta. I have a 300CE. We can do a w124 and w201 shop lol

[@Wookieboner]

190e!!! ❤️

[@DubuTrash]

Thank you Larry and the Hoonigan team for the content that this channel has been uploading lately, they're real quality videos and you guys have been uploading them back to back its insane. Truely hard work and dedication being put in here

[@shadowboy813]

"Kind of outdated:" Understatement of the last 30 or so years. That said, 25 or so years ago, I used to have a 1985 Corolla SR5. Slow, but really fun to drive.

[@HASHIRAMA1000]

I live for japanese shops full of different legendary cars!!! 🙌🏼

[@yanuardhana6457]

After TRD, mame (DK ae86) developed by this guys many years ahead, and always evolution, run more than 8000++ redline, specialized A engin toyota and run NA. How cool Mr Kamata still tune car during he race it. Ahhh thx Larry bring us here 🙏🙏🙏

[@joealex65]

That's for sure the ultimate AE86 and it's owned by no other than the all mighty Drift King!

[@jerrybillings3039]

*Every once in a while, I go and watch the old Hot Version N2 battles, for old times sake.. The passion of those that have competed (Is the N2 race series even still being ran?) in the N2 races, just warms my soul honestly; and the dedication that they, have, to making the 86 go as fast as possible, is something I really admire.*

[@daniellloyd3521]

I am loving these last few videos.

[@Uglier.]

11:16 that perfect condition dash is such a flex

[@Soli_r]

WOW!! to see tsuchiya-san's personal car...man you guys are lucky!! Thank you so much for making this video, coz just like Mr.Chen, even I have spent many hours glued to the screen watching his videos of him tearing apart Gunsai circuit in this.

[@MyLifeAsLouis]

Got the change to see the purple AE86 during the Tokyo Auto Salon, it's freaking amazing. But Keichii's car has to be the holy grail of all AE86s.

[@SteenslandMedia]

Thank you Larry and team it’s so amazing being able to see these shops I’ll more then likely never have the opportunity to see. I appreciate the hard work and the amazing picture story telling!

[@suvcfdzvnue]

9:30 This 180SX is my friend car!!

[@clintondavid525]

I love this channel and Larry is so genuine. Keep up the good work!

[@Eduardo_Espinoza]

love how packed the shop looks with real history

[@flowremix]

Man. This is a wild trip. I'm sad it'll be over but look forward to the next project! Keep it up!

[@DayoftheJakeL]

Thanks Larry. Stuck at home but your videos are food for my soul!!

[@bear420allday3]

Thank you Larry for all the content that you have given us from Japan lately and you are an extremely fortunate american to be able to see and experience all of this in person

[@ae86hachi]

Absolute heaven!

[@Toyota4Life]

Corolla ♥️😍 This one of the best Japanese cars ever made especially these AE86 models

[@georgef1176]

Thanks for showing us all of this Larry!!!!

[@ChrisKsan]

I really, really enjoyed the texture of this video! Thank you very much Larry Chen sama!

[@djuell01]

I so wish I could get over there, hopefully someday in the near future. I think you guys timed that trip so well.

[@fixedandwelded]

Thank you Larry for putting my eyes in that LEGENDARY space.

[@OutOfOrderMai]

Love it! Appreciate the content showing us legendary footage

[@robertsunde7973]

This series makes me miss JP so much. Thank you for bringing it back.

[@adamdaley8090]

Awesome video bud. Love the 86's! Thank you so much.

[@D0mSupra]

I appreciate this so much, thank you for giving us such a perspective.

[@S-Kidz]

Larry you been killing it with these man!

[@averygibson3280]

Woah. Thank you so much Larry

[@R00567]

Love your videos bro, and the sound of revving the Drift King's car made me shed a tear

[@getrekt8245]

Thx hoonigan! Thx larry for the awesome contents!

[@adrianjay1972]

Great episode! Those shops are so awesome!

[@PhamVans]

Legendary.

[@NissanBroke]

"The Home Of The King"

[@diegogonzalez7279]

I get the feeling that this guy is showing us the guts of Japan & I apreciate bro !! Is a must privilege thank you such beautiful culture

[@noahhh111]

another great one, thanks larry

[@ej2civicb736]

Larry you are living the dream my friend glad to see you living your best life and taking us non talented broke people with yoi

[@synchole]

20:51 car stuffs, best hobby EVER

[@craigrchee]

Absolutely incredible!

[@Dhern1212]

This was totally awesome!! Literally everything you did here on this trip would be a dream trip for me!!

[@crunchythedave]

Larry's waist line stayed slimy and sticky this trip, hella jelly

[@nateramos4780]

Thank u for make these videos. It’s inspirational 🙏🏽

[@nismox6460]

Look forward to Larry Autofocus daily

[@lamontwolverton8959]

Well done Larry, what a thrill

[@Roller_ae86]

Mr. Kamata is the man! Thank you for everything.

[@piyiotisc]

Thank you Larry!

[@kentstark3104]

Thanks for this!! That Drift King's 86 is Truly awesome!!! 🤤🤤🤤

[@spingeneral]

yes i love seeing full interior drift cars i love full interior performance cars in general so much more credit

[@edi07ish]

i hope the next garage will be kei office, the DK garage himself

[@jhonmayate156]

ae86 is a iconic and rare cars of toyota japan i didn't expect there is so much more keeping, upgrading and restoring in japan... ae86alive❤️🫰🇯🇵

[@th3master]

just amazing

[@Sketdjo13]

Interesting video! Thanks for show that workshop and these cars!! 🤘

[@Villageidiotsworkshop]

Visiting that shop is bucket list stuff for me 😎

[@unknowndestinyfabrication3872]

To see the legends car in person has to be surreal. That car started it all for me. I had a coupe. That’s insane. Wow what a privilege.

[@jonwebb9261]

What a dream trip you guys have been on! Extremely jealous

[@recheveste31]

12:36 - THE LEGENDARY MAN RIGHT THERE !

[@andymua]

Glad one of KW warehouse is local to me and one of our vendors! One of my car is running on their ST suspensions! Awesome content

[@viper2148]

I remember checking out a 1986 3-dr Corolla in Okinawa when I was stationed there. It was a display right-hand steering set up for overseas car sales. I had no idea what it was at the time, but it must have been an SR5 AE86. I thought it was so cool. I'd loved to have bought one.

[@lastlevelfirsttry1320]

Beautiful 86’ heaven

[@chinaman69.1]

Best shop tour yet

[@trenth8526]

You have a great texture larry chen

[@lordperezident]

That a true

[@kignkidonz8892]

seen this video 4-5 times and i see new stuff all the time. like that fish in the intro :D

[@fktyt2898]

3:50 so the "MAME" meme lives on :))

[@franciscorogeliodavila1462]

El mejor video, un sueño cumplido al menos conocer tec arts por medio de tu video ♥️

[@MrRourk]

Lotta tofu getting delivered!

[@Cosmeamg]

Gracias Larry por mostrarnos estas obras de arte #TecArts

[@heinrichr]

Seeing Keichi's AE86 personally is a dream

[@danielspencer1973]

Great work Larry!

[@ChinChun413]

I love Cars like these.

[@lendaryreviews]

🤯😲🤯le93nds for sure👍👍👍thumps up bro.

[@c2rautomotive]

I never went to Japan...but i think when i do i wont coming back lol damm i love DK adn ae86´s...its a honor to live to see this guys building and driving this pieces of art!

[@glennraymundo7941]

I mean who dislikes these videos? Thank you for the content, reeeeal good stuff.👌🏾

[@ajskustom]

Larry Chen LOVE this video man awesome job Every time i see one of your videos i get that feeling IDC what its about i have to click it ,Some day i would like to hear what you think about Japanese Dodge vans at a DAJIBAN meet up.

[@alohaempire5810]

My goodness this is so good

[@LuisGomez-su7kf]

Awesome video Larry!

[@albrustmeyer753]

Great job Thank you 🙏🙏😍

[@corollaae8645]

Nooooo!!, THANK YOU FOR SHOWING ME THIS!!!!!😁😁😁😱😱😱😱😱

[@3ffynephrine615]

Car Shop Glow!!!

[@TheDailyDriver]

LARRY F'n CHEN!!! so legend

[@xvadripzx]

Awesome

[@nowheelgap]

“I love the texture of the shop” lol

[@Talasas]

An absolutely legendary tuning shop.

[@patrickz7908]

The greatest trip to Japan, maybe ever

[@turbomac5195]

One of those is here in England the 3rd one on track and trust me way more spectacular then a super car to me 👍🏾

[@maxwellaguilar1]

Sooo epic!!

[@LastAphelion]

"OOOOOO YESSSSS So I don't know what I'm looking at, do you know what-?" Love you Larry XD

[@j.k.v2050]

This video brings back memory’s I owned 5 of them I owned 3 lift back gts and 2 non lift back out of the 5 I owned one that was a sr5 but the ones I loved was the lift back my last one I bought I bought in 1997 in Massachusetts now around that time it was getting hard to find a oem , that no one did no mods to it .. man I found a 1986 lift back no rust oem paint straight panels but what I loved about this one was it came from Canada meaning the cockpit speed mark (km/h) that was very rare to find I had a lot of friends that where older that had these cars and all the ones I owned I never seen that ..I found this car one day on my lunch break in those days I was painting cars for a living so I went back to the bodyshop and I grab the bodyshops repair plate and I bought this car for a thousand dollars in those years finding a rust free no dents GTS lift back and from Canada km/h was very very hard to find long story short I brought the car straight to the bodyshop and I paint the car over the weekend midnight blue when I brought it out into the sun I didn’t like the color so the next weekend I brought the car back in and painted the car a beautiful green that I mixed on the paint scale man if my old boss saw how much pearl I dumped in that gallon of paint we would of Ben really mad I took a ford green as a starting point and dump close too 2 bottles of pear into that gallon red pearl and bronze pear when that car came out into the natural light it was a wow factor o and it was painted with DuPont paint and I bagged that car in a way where door jams under the hood gas cap and lift back was all painted as well I spent two days without sleeping and after the car was painted I sanded and re clear coat waited a week to sand and buff that car look sick I never saw that green on a factory car but just recently I saw a green that looks pretty close to that paint I mixed back then in 1997 .the car that has that very close color is the new 2020 audi rs4 that green with all the black trims really looks close to that color I made back then I haven’t seen the Audi in person but from the pictures it’s dam close .so after I spent a grand on the car and all paint supplies was free and breaking two days of no sleep and one day in wet sanding and buffing .my next thing was pulling the motor out to rebuild it I had friends that where going to guide me threw the rebuild I ended up buying low compression pistons to put a turbo that’s how far I got because a lot of people that new me wanted that car in those days well I did a good ALSOME trade at the time but a stupid mistake now I ended up trading the car for a nice black two year old Acura v-tec it was black on black fully loaded and it was lowered with the camber kit install the Acura at the time was like new o and 3grand with the trade so it cost me 4 grand for a two year old Acura v-tec black leather and low miles I never liked front wheel drive cars but that car was nice for those days I ended up putting 18 inch grey 5 star rims made that car look sick for those days car was lowered all ready I bought the rims from a friend for 500 dollars and tires the kid needed money at the time ..I mean it was a no brainer to trade the car and more where I spent a thousand dollars on a car that I painted my self for a two year old Acura-V-tech 5 speed and all I did was put rims and a few more mods but fast forward everything and the Toyota Gts wins in my book ..i regret doing that now .so the Toyota from what I was told the motor ended up getting rebuild with mods I guess the owner put quiet a bit of money into it and he was testing the GTS and he wrap it into a tree total loss a beautiful GTS down the drain I guess he didn’t know how to drive that car ..I miss that car I see this video and I would love to find a GTS lift back and make that same green and clone it from my older one I have a picture of the GTS and the Acura as well both cars still look sick till today ..if anyone that reads this and they know this story they will no who I am because that color was not any green it changed color depending on the weather..if I can find out how I can put up the pictures here for people too see I’ll come back and put them up .. I always loved the Toyota Corolla GTS lift back 85 to 87 but I loved the last year 87 because the rear lights and front coner lights and the interior was nicer .i also had a lot of spare parts well that’s my memories with these cars I loved the sound and the high rev red line and the possy rear end ..with the technology we have now I can imagine what these cars are doing now ..I don’t see them around here anymore driving around as the people that owned them have them put away ..I wish Toyota went to the drawing board and remake a 1987 Toyota Corolla GTS hatch back rear wheel drive 6 speed look alike but new version but that you can still see the same body style I would sell my Audi and go straight and buy the Toyota and I bet many people would line up as well .the new Supra was a bummer with a bmw motor that’s dum Toyota was known for unbelievable engines they need to make a Supra with a Supra motor old school new school and a old school new school GTS both cars deserves a new generation but that they still have a somewhat look alike style like how the new muscle cars look a bit like the old ones Toyota needs to go to the drawing board and see what old Toyota are kept away and see this video for motor and looks ..and go back and draw and bring back the dead ...great video makes me jealous really because I no what it is to own these older cars 😂😂😂

[@jaykobseay8890]

Larry: sees engine bay of Keiichi Tsuchiya’s 86 - “Woooooooaaaaaahhhh” Also Larry: “So I don’t know what I’m looking at”

[@thehappinedas]

This video should be “pinned up in there” so everyone should see it eeeverytime!