Wekfest celebrates its fifth year in Japan with a show that attracts some of the top cars from the land of the rising sun. Outside of Japan, Wekfest has hit a big milestone of continued success, being one of the best car shows for the last decade in the U.S., arguably in the world.
Wekfest Japan held its annual meet at its venue of choice, Port Messe in Nagoya. Its central location makes Nagoya a great choice and attracts attendees from as far away as Kagoshima, a 13-hour drive away. Many cars in attendance make their debut at Wekfest with many builders putting in long hours just to enter. That is a testament to how popular the event has become.
With over 350 cars on display, it took the entire day, as each car offered plenty to take in. There were plenty of cars we recognized from previous years but there were also plenty of new cars making their Wekfest debuts. With so much on display, it was quite difficult to pick our favorites, but we managed to pick five standouts.
1. Looking RX-7
This car brought us down memory lane as we recalled the first time we saw this Mazda RX-7 at the 2007 Tokyo Auto Salon. It was later featured in Modified Magazine and was a source of inspiration for many with its mix of aggressive GT styling and VIP style wheels, brought together with a perfect candy red finish. Even after 12 years, it still holds its own and looks as stunning as when we first saw it.
2. Too Clean AE86
Masataka Ikeda is a regular participant of car shows around Japan and has built quite the reputation of producing the cleanest AE86s on the planet. He once again proved to be the best as his AE86 took home both the Engine Bay of the Festival and Corolla of the Festival awards. It just takes one look at Ikeda's engine bay to understand why he won but it will take some time to figure out how he managed to make it so clean.
3. Widest NSX
There were a handful of NSXs at this year's event, but one stood out for how wild it was. It was definitely one of the most aggressive NSXs we have come across outside of a race circuit. Appearing to be a mix of GT-style with some more modern design cues, such as the integrated LEDs in the front bumper, there is a lot about this NSX that has caught our interest, and we definitely need to dig deeper into this build.
4. RB Everything
Just as the LS platform is a common swap in the U.S., it seems that swapping RBs into just about anything has started to gain popularity in Japan. With a wide variety of RBs to choose from, Naoto Iida chose to go with an RB25DET for his 1971 Datsun 240Z. A color-matched valve-color and hood exiting waste-gate piping complete this swap nicely.
5. Classic Hakosuka
Although a GT-T and not an original GT-R, the restoration and finish of this Hakosuka received both the Nostalgic Car and Skyline of the Festival awards. Having driven 10 hours from his hometown of Fukuoka, Hidekazu Urabe's Skyline was definitely deserving of the accolades with its flawless finish, rear disk conversion and front GT-R facelift. It would be easy to mistake this for the real deal.
Wekfest has definitely changed the types of builds in Japan and we are looking forward to what will be on display next year.