The Stars of Star Road – Fatlace™ Since 1999

With the growing ease of comfort and the way of living a fast paced life, it is now a rare opportunity to meet people who put their passions first before anything else. Nowadays, building a car has all the shortcuts or the similar formula. For this entry, I will be focusing on a shop that exhibits how the Japanese put their heart and soul in what they do. Welcome to Star Road.

July 13, 2015 – The morning after Offset Kings Fuji, we had our itinerary set to visit one of Japan’s notable kyusha shops known as Star Road. Located in the Kita-Koiwa area, the humble shop is situated in a peaceful neighborhood.

We actually had a hard time finding the place and got lost for almost 3 hours. However, upon seeing this, a smile of fulfillment filled our faces. I was a bit tensed as it was my first time to get up-close with a Kenmeri, one of my all time favorite cars. It also gave me a harder time between choosing my ultimate Japanese Kyusha dream, a C10 or a C110.

I never dreamed about owning a classic GT-R. In fact, the 2000GT’s were my thing because of my plan on resto-modding one. The big problem is, there are no proof that a 2-door 70’s Skyline exist in the Philippines. That is the primary reason why seeing this car sealed the icing on the cake of my perfect trip to Japan.

It happens to be owned by Shoji Inoue, the founder of Star Road. The Kenmeri’s presence is amazing, looks and feels like a true Japanese muscle car.

Shoji Inoue, is the main-man behind the shop for more than 20 years. He is all around with the cars inside his shop as he fabricates, tunes the engine and does the bodywork. He is very meticulous to detail specially when resto-modding. No short-cuts.

He takes time to build a car as some may take years in the shop.

This Z is on another level, it is one of the demo cars of the shop. I’ve seen photos of this during Tokyo Auto Salon, seeing it in the flesh was different – hearing the engine is a different story. The 3.2L L28 engine with a figure close to 380whp. Crazy numbers for a 30-year old naturally aspirated engine!

These wheels are their collaboration Work Wheels Japan, the Glow Star. These are 3-piece wheels available in very aggressive specs.

I only encountered 2 classic Skyline’s before this trip – One in Thailand and one last year during Offset Kings Japan 2014.

Customer owned 4-door GC10.

Inoue-San taking it part by part.

There were two cars under his magical touch at that moment. 7-8 cars were in his garage waiting for its turn.

One of the famous demo cars missing the wide body-kit. I wonder what’s next?

Hello Von and Roxanne! Look closely at the stickers, as these shops are the known names in the kyusha scene.

A Hakosuka which was present during OKJP 2015, saving up a full story on that!

G Nose! Mark’s favorite at the shop.

I was only able to take 2-3 photos per car primarily because of too much excitement and my desire to closely inspect some of the cars. Vince and Mark came in earlier as they took some of the cars around.