What if I told you there was a place in Japan where your wildest fantasies could be brought to life? Not that one. I’m talking about the one where the car in your garage looks as good as a 250 Testa Rossa, but with the reliability of a Honda Accord. Such a car can never exist, I hear you say—this is the ultimate automotive paradox, the holy grail, tosh and piffle. To that I say, have you heard of Art Racing?
Imagine hitting the road in a Le Mans legend, the GT40, except your brakes won’t fade and fail because the base car is actually a Toyota MR2 underneath that expensive-looking silhouette. How about dusting off that Harrington jacket and cable-knit sweater for a spin in Steve McQueen’s Jaguar XKSS? No need to sell your children on the black market, though, since this one is really an MX-5 under those raunchy curves.
Or maybe you fancy something a little less flashy? Art Racing’s Mk1 Austin Healey Sprite might be for you, now with power and handling from the snappy little turbocharged Suzuki Cappuccino. Starting to see a pattern? Basically, Art Racing will rebody reliable Japanese favorites with the exotic body lines, chrome, and rivets of rare classics of yesteryear.
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So, it’s possible to have your sushi and eat it—you just need someone very clever and ever so slightly mad to make it happen. Enter Tomokazu Murate. Forty years ago, Murate-san started building drag cars, making a name for himself at circuits like Motegi and Central circuit in the ’80s and the ’90s. His Nissan Sunny van (which sits up on a shelf in the workshop) and yellow Hakosuka were crowd favorites back in the day, running 8.4sec and 9.2sec quarter miles, respectively.
He made the leap into building customs and replicas around 20 years ago, and today, his workshop is lit up like a fairground. As we walk around his collection, he dances from one car to the next. His eyes light up as he recalls the crazy requests from famous clients and the wild creations that have resulted.
The replica cars I’m here to see are all standard OEM under the new bodywork, although the chassis have been pulled and stretched to suit the required dimensions. I’m told all the cars are road-legal, which, aside from simply not having the time, is why there aren’t any crazy engine swaps or power tuning going on.
Out on the road, the cars have real presence, although something is definitely amiss. The GT40 has twin center-exit exhausts but still sounds slightly anaemic, perhaps more so because it’s not at all the noise you expect to come out of such an exotic-looking car. But imagine one of these with a properly built motor.
Now, Art Racing isn’t just rebodied domestic cars and drag car nostalgia. Murate-san will also design and build you any idea you hand him on a café napkin, even the ones following a particularly vivid cheese dream.
A few recent builds include an apocalyptic safari Pantera for a well-known anime artist, and his drag racing roots are clear in the uber-wide rear end of the blacked-out Pantera sitting next to it. Then there’s the 502 big block Chevy powered Boss Hoss trike aptly named “King Snake,” with a custom aluminum rear end mimicking the sumptuous curves of a Shelby Cobra.
The Formula Vita-based 908 with a 4AGE engine was built by upsizing a scale model car to create a full-sized body. All of Murate san’s work is formed in aluminum, then a fiberglass mold is taken for the final production car.
If you’re looking for something with a little more character and more opportunity to experience the real ups and downs of flawed classic car ownership, then perhaps the Corvette C5-based Shelby Cobra coupe or the Z4-based Ratel—an original design—might keep you company by the roadside while you wait for a tow truck.
Browsing the Art Racing website, it seems like a pretty good deal to have an XKSS or GT40 parked on your driveway for a fraction of the cost of the real deal, but you are, of course, getting a fraction of the performance. But when you lift the gullwing door of the GT40 and swing down into the surprisingly stripped-back race-car-like interior, the workaday MR2 becomes a distant memory. Nobody is stopping you to take selfies and ask about the livery on your Toyota. Murate-san creates the illusion of Broadway at Netflix prices.
The cars on display are an absolute joy, but what you see here is really just the tip of the iceberg. This is the fun stuff. There’s a more serious side to the work produced at Art Racing.
You see, Murate-san is kind of the Batman of the car industry, quietly building cars for many of Japan’s most well-known names, including Liberty Walk, notably its wide-bodied Hurricane kit and its Miura replica shown at the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon. Remember the Yamasa Raggio from Ridge Racer? Art Racing was charged with bringing it to life for Samco to display at the 2006 Tokyo Auto Salon.
There are countless other brands and companies that have utilized Murate-san’s skills to design and build prototypes, show cars, and even wheels, but they can’t be mentioned due to confidentiality clauses. Murate-san seems in equal parts proud of his involvement and a bit miffed at not being able to share in the glory.
Despite his extroverted character, he’s happy to see Art Racing grow into what it is today, a place full of magic and illusion. He’s turning down work from corporations and focusing on customer creations, which is very good news because there’s a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance in his yard waiting to get the Ghostbusters treatment.
Art Racing’s greatest hits
1) What: Jaguar XKSS
Donor car: Mazda MX-5
Let’s face it...you’re not really Steve McQueen, so does it really matter if this isn’t really a Jag?
2) What: Porsche 908
Donor car: Formula Vita chassis – 4AG engine
Upscaled from a model car, all this 1969 works car needs now is a 1:3 scale Nürburgring to play on.
3) What: Porsche 356 Spider
Donor car: Daihatsu Copen
If cutting up a classic Porsche is the stuff of nightmares, stay calm knowing none of Stuttgart’s finest were harmed in the making of this Outlaw-inspired Daihatsu.
4) What: Pantera Apocalyptic Dragster
Donor car: De Tomaso Pantera
While not technically a drag machine, this thing has rear tyres wider than your house.
5) What: Ford GT40
Donor car: Toyota MR2
Ever imagined what a GT40 built by Toyota would look like? This might be as close as we’ll ever get.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
