June 8, 2019 was a pretty special day. It’s not everyday that you get to see an RWB Porsche, especially not in Alberta. However, being able to see one being built is a different experience entirely. Having been informed of the whole thing happening well in advance, I was able to come early before the start of Driven Edmonton and capture the creation of RWB Alberta #4, “Aoyuri” (Japanese for blue lily).

As mentioned in previous blog posts, Mark (of 780Tuners and Driven) had his 993 prepped at TT Automotive before having a live air suspension install at Driven Calgary in May. Then, it was stripped once again at TT Automotive, its interior and exterior parts sent off everywhere, and then more or less installed before being driven to the Grant MacEwan Underground Parkade for Nakai-san to work his magic.

Now, if you’re not familiar with Nakai or RWB, you’re probably a bit behind. What started as a small passion project/business in Chiba has now turned into a worldwide phenomenon. Nakai builds RWB Porsches: 964 or 993 widebody kits along with dialing in the suspension and big, wide wheels, among other largely aesthetic additions. You pay for the kit, you fly him over, shelter and feed him and he, over 2-3 days, builds your car. I first learned of RWB almost 7 years ago, through a Vimeo video by Luke Huxham. Check it out below:

Long story short: Chainsmoking badass Japanese man flies all over the world to build RWB Porsches for whoever wants (and can afford) them. Best part about it is Nakai lives and breathes cars. He still races his Porsches at Motegi during Idlers 12 hours races. It’s his passion and his entire life.

Moving on to the actual show, I was blessed with the opportunity to go a bit more behind the scenes and document up close the actual building of the car. I walked in at around 9:30am, had some coffee, and took a look around to see how the car was coming along.

Now the plan was for Terence to pick up Nakai from his hotel at 10:00am. A few LINE messages and Nakai says he’s ready to go. Theresa and I run out to save Terence’s spot since he’s driving Nakai in. Hilariously, right after texting Nakai fell alseep. They ended up coming at 11:30am. Oops.

In the mean time, some shots for the cars rolling into the venue!

Before the show was open to the public I decided it would be a good time to take a walk around and take some shots without any crowds It was my first time actually being able to do this and man it’s so much easier!

After a quick walk around we’re back to the RWB corner. Not much to say, but here are a bunch of photos documenting the process. I was shocked at how much is done freehand. The only time I really saw a tape measure was during the alignment, but that was almost all by eye as well.

I’ve also got some amateur video of Nakai-san finishing off the windshield banner as well driving off for the test drive. Check it out below!

WIth most of the car being sorted and good enough to drive, we have just enough time to run the awards ceremony, where Theresa and Terence presented Mark with a custom RWB model car!

After the show officially ended and everything was packed up, there was a mini photoshoot with Mark’s cars and the other Alberta RWBs!

We’ll finish things off with some adventures with Nakai-san at the TT Automotive shop and Tea Bar. The experience of meeting Nakai-san and watching him work was such an incredible opportunity and I can’t help but be thankful for everyone who contributed to the build as well as those allowing me to get up close and personal for the photographs. Having Nakai-san sign my car was the icing on the cake.

This brings me back to one point I’ve always enjoyed about the car scene. Meeting like minded, friendly, genuine people and just having a blast. There’s too much ego, trash talk, stupid illegal stuff, and downright pettiness in the community, but I think I’ve found a group of people that I can rely on and enjoy killing time with. Car culture still brings people together and I love it for that.

Cheers,
Gary