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Distro Stories: More of the Good Stuff

This is one of the most magnificent views any Japanese car enthusiast could drool over. We make it our thing to lay out all the wheels after we remove the tires and give them a clean. We do it so that we can stand back and admire. Sometimes you have to stop and realise just how good we have it in this country.

We give a good hour just sitting there taking in the sights. There’s not a lot of places in the world where you can do this, and we are very fortunate to call this place “work”.

Ireland packs a punch for such a little country, with a population of only 4.6 million we import some of the best Japanese cars and parts anywhere in the world.

A lot of our stock ends up going to other places in Europe and the States, but it all has to come through Wicklow in Ireland first.

If you’ve been to UP-Garage, you know how cool it is. Once the shock of seeing the place wears off and you go into a couple more on your trip, you start to realise there’s a lot of mediocre wheels and nonsense parts surrounded by a small selection of stuff you’d buy.

 

Obviously going into an Up-Garage is excellent, the staff shout at you in Japanese, there are loads of flashing lights and that excitement of the unknown, you could find anything in there. Usually, you find one or two items and leave a little bit upset. These days the place is mostly filled with parts for strange Kei cars.

I bet back in the day, Up-garage was filled with the good stuff, but companies like us have slowly poached that stuff out of Japan Via, Up-Garage and Yahoo auctions as there is less and less of a demand for it in Japan and more from our side of the globe.

Up-Garage have even started their own online shop which is further stripping their actual storefronts of those rare items.

 

 

I found myself laughing time and time again on our recent trip to Japan, showing pictures of JDM Distro to the locals, photos of the wheel wall and our seat or engine collection.

There are not too many shops in Japan these days that carries this much desirable aftermarket stuff all under the same roof.

I’m, sure there were many many shops back in Japans Golden era, but the Japanese car scene is shrinking and with that parts and cars have been spread out across the globe to hungry enthusiasts everywhere else but Japan. It’s like we are burning the candle at both ends, but there’s nothing we can do about it.

JDM Distro is unique in that sense; we buy a ridiculous amount of used parts from Yahoo auctions. Every single item has an interesting story; you can see from the small marks on the pieces. As we photograph the wheels for the stock, it makes you wonder where they came from, what car they were on etc.

Sometimes a bumper comes in with a team sticker, or a couple of scuffs, If we are lucky, we get bonus photos of the car which parts originated. I like the fact all these items are being reused again, landing in the hands of very eager car enthusiasts who grew up on a diet of Japanese car culture.

A lot of cars and parts in Japan get recycled, the automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the world, especially in a place like Japan due to them having no raw materials and not as much space. Many great cars have died to make lesser exciting newer vehicles. You see pictures on Yahoo time and time again, GTR skylines in breakers yards or recycling companies parting them out. It’s sad, but that’s the life cycle of many many Japanese cars.

Getting tp spruce all these used items up, photographing them as best as possible and watching them go to their new home is a satisfying feeling. It’s even better when a customer sends us back a photograph of them on their car, it’s nice to be able to help people achieve their dream look with a car, its certainly one of the ms=ost rewarding parts of the job.

 

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