Japan - Superautobacs

Route246

Route246

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I was in Asia last month on business and managed to check out shops in Korea, China and Japan. I could not find anything decent in Korea (Seoul, Pusan) or China (Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang) but did manage to visit Superautobacs in Tokyo. They sell extensive Sonax, limited Griots and Meguiars and of course the major Japanese brands. Sonax, Griots and Meguiars were on endcaps so I didn't want to draw attention and take pics (discouraged if not forbidden) but I did manage to get some candid shots of the detailing row with Japanese branded products.

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they use to have one of these stores back many years ago in the orange county, california area (stanton) and i use to go check it out every couple of weeks and it was very cool to see items that aren't normally sold here in the states. unfortunately, they closed down...
 
Way cool photos! I know Gyeon is made in Korea. I am surprised there were no products showing there.
 
Kamakaz1961 said:
Way cool photos! I know Gyeon is made in Korea. I am surprised there were no products showing there.
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I didn't have transportation, time or language skills to get to a shop that sold detailing goods when I was in Korea. Nice cars are relatively new in China to the detailing market is very young and undeveloped, plus the Chinese don't take care of their cars the way that the Japanese and Koreans do. The rich Chinese who can afford cars just pay someone else to detail them. Plus I was working so the time to escape was limited, even though I know my way around pretty well.

In Japan the cars are always clean and washed. You will never see a dirty car there unless you go out to the countryside. Many of the Japanese waxes are loaded with fillers so the paint needs continuous applications of wax to hide the swirls.

I spent a half-day at Superautobacs. They have some real nice stuff. The Recaro boutique is extensive, the amount of mods they have for Toyotas, Nissans, Hondas and Subarus is extensive. Probably could have spent a whole day there. The service bays had some really nice cars including a McLaren, multiple GTRs of various vintages, a Lotus and a Ferrari. I didn't take pics because it is considered rude without the owner's permission.
 
That must’ve been very cool to be in the presence of Superautobacs! Would love to go there some day and visit the myriad of tuner shops throughout the county and hit up the Gunsai Togue!!

Your last post about taking photos of others cars without permission being rude is something I wish was part of American culture. It irritates me that people just snap pics and take videos of people’s cars and post them on various forms of solcial media. It’s happened to me in the past and to this day and I’ve never owned supercars but just run of the mill tuner and sports cars.

Thanks for the post though and I recognized that username and picture of yours right away from Gran Turismo
 
I'm just asking here but what's so disrespectful about taking pics of a car YOU really like? I mean you may never see it again. I know I've taken pics of an RS200 and Lancia Delta Intagrale EVO before because I couldn't believe what was right in front of me on a public street.

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Kamakaz1961 said:
Way cool photos! I know Gyeon is made in Korea. I am surprised there were no products showing there.
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If you go to France you might be surprised to find most bars don’t have any cognac available... Maybe it’s the same way over there with Gyeon? For all we know it’s considered the cheap stuff. Lol. J/k
 
Klasse Act, the reason I feel that way is only because I have grown up in the Honda/Acura scene. Multiple cars have been stolen from people I know over the years and certainly don’t live in a bad area. That’s where I’m coming from with it at least, I just get a little nervous/cautious when I see others do it I guess(as if maybe somebody is scoping the car out haha).

After reading my last post I can see I came off a bit over the top and totally understand what you’re saying. I know I’d love to grab a few pics myself and knowing my luck wouldn’t get my phone out of my pocket and in camera mode and focused on the car to get a pic or two haha.
 
Klasse Act said:
I'm just asking here but what's so disrespectful about taking pics of a car YOU really like? I mean you may never see it again. I know I've taken pics of an RS200 and Lancia Delta Intagrale EVO before because I couldn't believe what was right in front of me on a public street.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
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I stopped and took a picture of a car the other day in the parking lot of Wally World... However it wasn’t because the car was nice, but because it was so ugly and I couldn’t believe it was right in front of me and I felt like I’d never see it again. Lol.

I thought it was a new version of a Citroen Ami 6.. It turned out to be a Nissan.

4da96b3b27ccf3e4bfd8bae2f879f83b.jpg


On my way out I saw the owner inside starting the car, [older white lady] I just smiled and thought “what were you thinking when you bought that car, lady”? Lol.


I don’t know what I would’ve said if she would’ve caught me taking a picture of it.. Knowing me I wouldn’t have been able to say anything but the truth and told her “oh I just had to take a picture because I’ve never seen a car this ugly in real life and I want to show it to some people”

I’m not a good liar, which in turn makes me brutally honest. I can’t help it. lol.
 
Klasse Act said:
I'm just asking here but what's so disrespectful about taking pics of a car YOU really like? I mean you may never see it again. I know I've taken pics of an RS200 and Lancia Delta Intagrale EVO before because I couldn't believe what was right in front of me on a public street.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
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Not a rude question at all. Japan has certain social norms and unwritten rules. It is, for the most part an extremely orderly, homogeneous society. One expectation is a reasonable amount of privacy and discretion which dates back to feudal times. It is common courtesy to ask permission to take pictures of people and private possessions on private property. If the car was parked on the street it would not be a problem at all. If it parked in a garage or on private property it is best to seek permission.
 
Eldorado2k said:
If you go to France you might be surprised to find most bars don’t have any cognac available... Maybe it’s the same way over there with Gyeon? For all we know it’s considered the cheap stuff. Lol. J/k
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Actually, when I was in Korea I didn't have time to check out any of the shops that have detailing supplies because I didn't have transportation and didn't want to deal with Korean taxi drivers that don't understand any English. They know enough to get you to a hotel or restaurant or the airport but not some detailing shop in the suburbs. It makes sense, those shops are accessible by car and not public transportation. The rent is cheaper and overhead is lower. That's the only reason.
 
Eldorado2k said:
I stopped and took a picture of a car the other day in the parking lot of Wally World... However it wasn’t because the car was nice, but because it was so ugly and I couldn’t believe it was right in front of me and I felt like I’d never see it again. Lol.

I thought it was a new version of a Citroen Ami 6.. It turned out to be a Nissan.

4da96b3b27ccf3e4bfd8bae2f879f83b.jpg


On my way out I saw the owner inside starting the car, [older white lady] I just smiled and thought “what were you thinking when you bought that car, lady”? Lol.


I don’t know what I would’ve said if she would’ve caught me taking a picture of it.. Knowing me I wouldn’t have been able to say anything but the truth and told her “oh I just had to take a picture because I’ve never seen a car this ugly in real life and I want to show it to some people”

I’m not a good liar, which in turn makes me brutally honest. I can’t help it. lol.
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Wait...you've never seen a Juke before?

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Klasse Act said:
Wait...you've never seen a Juke before?

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I'm sorry, this had me laughing and I thought the same thing. They've been in production since 2010! I even saw a NISMO version the other day. Now THAT is a rare car.

OK, back to a great discussion about the Asian detailing scene.
 
Klasse Act said:
Wait...you've never seen a Juke before?

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Not only had I never seen 1 before, I’ve never even heard of it. I know about the Nissan Leaf, but I didn’t know they made 1 even worse than that..
 
That’s so strange to not have seen a car made for all those years I even remember the commercials. I have seen multiple Nizmos around here


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MattPersman said:
That’s so strange to not have seen a car made for all those years I even remember the commercials. I have seen multiple Nizmos around here


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There’s a little Chevy I never knew about until I went on their website 1 day. I had to go check it again just now because I had forgot the name... Chevy Spark. I had never known about that car and never seen 1 on the road. While checking their site just now I noticed another vehicle I’ve never heard of, Chevy Sonic.
Like seriously, who buys those cars?
 
Eldorado2k said:
There’s a little Chevy I never knew about until I went on their website 1 day. I had to go check it again just now because I had forgot the name... Chevy Spark. I had never known about that car and never seen 1 on the road. While checking their site just now I noticed another vehicle I’ve never heard of, Chevy Sonic.
Like seriously, who buys those cars?
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I've never seen a Spark or Sonic that wasn't a rental car. In some cities the rental car fleets are full of those little, miserable, penalty boxes (I've driven a Sonic). I've also seen them as fleet vehicles for parts stores, pharmacies, medical supply places, Domino Pizza, etc.

Supposedly there was a turbo'd Sonic RS that wasn't a bad little performer. I've only seen a couple on the road, and not for a long time.
 
I believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 
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