There are some historic cars that will sadly never pass through the hands of common folk like you and I. These rare, historically significant, and radically experimental cars will forever remain unobtainable, squirreled away by museums and manufacturers as mementos of bravery and madness. Unless, of course, you’re Yuji Watahiki from Mito in eastern Japan. He’s built one out of aluminum. In his shed.
Easily qualifying for ‘mad rare old-timer’ is the Tyrrell P34 six-wheeler Formula 1 car, an oddity so bizarre, it only raced for two years. “The Tyrrell is the most unique of all F1 cars, so I challenged myself to build one,” says Watahiki flippantly, as if justifying today’s choice of T-shirt. “I love F1 cars from the ’70s because they were all different. Today’s grid is basically all the same.”
Only six P34s were ever built. Two are currently in Japanese museums, two are owned by ex-F1 driver Pierluigi Martini, and two were destroyed. There are, however, two more replica Tyrrells. They’re built by CGA Race Engineering, based in Warrington, using original blueprints and plans obtained from the Tyrrell family. That’s about as close to the real thing as you’ll ever get, and only if you’ve got a spare £1,750,000 (P132 million)
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Coming up short? Us, too. Turns out you can still get pretty close using photos and eyeballing the original cars in Japanese museums, as Watahiki has with his pretty convincing replica. “I usually only use the anvil and hammer. I’ll bring out the English wheel for bigger curves, but most of the work is done by hand right here,” he says as he points to a space on the floor of his workshop next to a Lamborghini LP400.
The bodywork is impressive, but his execution of the steering mechanism and drivetrain is inspired. Although his version has slightly less power than the real Tyrrell’s Cosworth DFV, Watahiki has repurposed a Hayabusa bike engine mated to a Suzuki Cappuccino rear diff to power his creation. A few cut-up diff housings have been geared and act as chain tensioners.
Of course, there are six teeny tiny problems with running a Tyrrell. I asked him, where on earth do you get F1 wheels that size? “I was lucky and found one for sale at an online auction, badly damaged,” he explains. “I drew up a design based on the measurements and had it machined. I bought the tires from a supplier in Japan four years ago, but they’ve since gone out of production. I’ll switch to Hoosier next time.”
A couple of hours’ drive north of the Tokyo metropolis in Ibaraki prefecture, I find Watahiki pushing a BMW 320i into the paint booth for a respray. The sun is roasting and he beckons me to take shelter in the log cabin/office where his Jack Russell terrier Dino greats us with a woof and a lick. I’ve met Watahiki and Dino a couple of times before—his main business is building aluminum wide bodies for old Porsches, but this is the first time we’ve sat down seriously for a chat.
“When my father ran this garage, we would just replace damaged car panels with new OEM parts, but I was interested in fabrication, so I used to practice on the beaten-up old panels in secret,” he recalls. From the age of 18, he worked alongside his father, honing his skills as a mechanic, fabricator, and restorer on classic cars. They worked alongside each other until the younger Watahiki took over the operation.
Building a Tyrrell is not his first foray into automotive construction: “I made a Lamborghini Miura shell for a customer in Japan who wanted a display piece for his exotic car showroom. Then an acquaintance suggested it should be displayed at an event in Italy, where Lamborghini Museum got wind of the car and offered to display it there.” If you’re in the area, it’s still there to this day.
“Then I made a Dino 246 to display at a local event. I’ll happily make them to order if anyone’s interested,” he says with a chuckle. Chances are, if there are photos to go off and it ran on four (or more) wheels, Watahiki can build it.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
