Liberty Walk: Ruining Cars, Correctly

- Before we continue with the Liberty Walk story, go ahead and hit the like button, it really helps us with the algorithm. A lack of respect for classic

cars

. Sacrilege. Piece of (beep), (beep) fart, (unintelligible) it seems that he took from a piece of (beep) and put it all in the butt (unintelligible). If you've heard of Liberty Walk, chances are you have an opinion about them. But there's a lot more to Liberty Walk than wild body kits, fender flares, and stoking internet flame wars. Who is the crazy person who came up with these designs and body kits?

How did custom car culture change in Japan and the world at large? Well guess what? Today we are going to find out and we have made a video about it. This is everything you need to know to catch up on Liberty Walk. (8-bit music) - Oh hey, thanks to Jackery for sponsoring today's video. You might be wondering why I'm wearing this hockey jersey while eating poutine with a pint of maple syrup. Well, we're celebrating the launch of Jackery's new Canadian website. That's right, the future of solar and portable power is now available to our Canadian friends.

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That's a lot of sauce. - Liberty Walk makes some of the craziest body kits the world ever asked for. Now, whether you like them or not, you have to admit that they have left a big impression on car culture thanks to their passion for innovation and commitment to quality. Plus, they chopped up some incredibly expensive exotic

cars

, which takes a lot of guts to even try, you have to admit. The founder of Liberty Walk is Kato Wataru. Kato san was born in 1967 on the outskirts of Japan's third largest city, Nagoya. Now Nagoya is often called the Detroit of Japan because people love to build cars there.

And the Japanese Eminem is from there. ♪ Yes, I'm a Nagoya destroyer ♪ ♪ Driving for your Shinoya ♪ - As a teenager in the '80s, Kato san became obsessed with the idea of ​​taking an ordinary car and turning it into something special, something aesthetically dangerous. Like adding a harmonica to a "Blues Traveler" style rock band. The hook will bring you back. (imitates harmonica) Now, this is most likely due to all the influence of the bad boys of Japanese car culture. Of course, I'm talking about the bosozoku, the bosozoku, the bosozoku. I've talked about these guys before on our Rocket Bunny episode.

When I introduced "Bumper to Bumper" we made a video about them. I'll put the link to both in the description below. If you like this video and say "I want to see more Donut", you can click on them. They'll be right there. They are really good. Now the word "boso" is translated as crazy or noisy. And "zoku" means group. Put them together and you have some very loud guys. I can't relate to that at all! These crazy, loud guys were former World War II pilots who began modifying cars and motorcycles to reflect their personalities. Now they wanted to make their vehicles impossible to ignore.

And they did it, okay. These cars have elongated fenders, wide, square arches and transplanted headlights. But the vibrant paint and 12-foot-long exhaust pipes made these cars a bit divisive. Some people loved them and others, including the police, called them a threat to society. Now, let's not forget, this all takes place in Japan, a country where the dominant culture tends to be more modest as a mouse and respectful of tradition than elsewhere. So the bosozoku lived loud and drove the squares crazy, man. Like your aunt when she finalized her divorce. He has new underwear and wears a toe ring!

Eat your heart out, former Uncle Chris! In the 1980s, the rest of the world didn't give a damn what a bunch of crazy, loud guys in Japan were doing, but that was all about to change. In the 1990s, car modification culture in Japan would gain global exposure for the first time. And Kato saw this as an opportunity. In 1993 Kato realized how he could leave his own stamp on automobile culture. At only 26 years old he took a big leap and founded his own company. A company where he could capitalize on the global explosion of interest in all things Japanese.

A company where he could bring his own creative vision of the bosozoku style to the world. A company that would become one of the most respected and controversial modification companies in history. That company was Liberty Walk. Now the name Liberty Walk, a name Kato san chose to represent the freedom a customer has to customize their car however they want. Now this was entirely in line with the founding principles of Liberty Walk. Kato san originally formed the company to change the perception of auto shops and spread positive energy by making his customers smile. I love that. Furthermore, the obsessed renegade wanted to promote himself as a radical and unique builder.

And to do that, Kato san started selling body kits for cute K cars. Now we know what K cars are, they are adorable little Pixar characters, they are Japan's everyday budget cars and they are a perfect example of Japanese culture of moderation and function over form. We're talking about beauties like the Suzuki Wagon R, the Daihatsu Move and the Subaru Rex. Now, Kato san's idea to sell body kits for K cars was radical and he really put Liberty Walk on the map. Business was booming! Nowadays, K car owners often modify and customize them, but not in the 90s.

No sir. Liberty Walk was at the forefront of the movement to personalize them. He created some of the most interesting and radical parts and kits, and spoiler alert, he still does to this day. He's probably out there doing it right now. I don't know. What time is it in Japan? Either he's sleeping or he's doing it, okay? For example, you can buy a body kit for a Daihatsu Copen and convert it into this. Around 1996, Kato san began importing American cars and supercars from companies such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Hummer. Because what does a Hummer have to be?

Wider. I agree. It's not wide enough. This was another radical departure from the average Japanese auto shop. And for a time, Kato san made a decent living from his modified K-car parts and kits, as well as selling American sedans to wealthy Japanese businessmen. But something was missing. Ever the renegade, Kato san focuses on the future of Liberty Walk. He thought about his influences and his love for the Japanese tuner culture of the '80s and '90s and bosozoku, bosozoku. Inspiration was drawn from vibrant colors, radical lines and unique fits that turned a car from a collection of parts into a rolling work of art.

He thought about the reason why he loved modifying cars in the first place. The smiles, the smiles he saw on the faces of his clients. And then Kato san realized what his next iconoclastic move would be. It was time to start modifying exotic cars. This was in the 2000s. Modifying high performance cars was going to (honk) an absolute lot of people (honk). Now, one of the first cars that Kato san modified in this style is the reason why purists formed such a strong, shall we say, strong opinion about it. Now, there's no easy way to say this, but the first car he modified was a non-modified car.

They don't like it when you do it. And I'm going to rip off the band-aid here and it was a Ferrari. He cut a Ferrari, sorry Enzo. And to make it hurt a little more for the traditionalists, it was not just any Ferrari. No, it was a Ferrari F40. This was the last car that Enzo Ferrari personally signed. For many people, the Ferrari F40 is the reason they like cars. The F40 is not a car you're supposed to honk at, okay? Ferrari F40 is nothing to (honk). It would be like taking an angle grinder to the Statue of Liberty and carving out a couple of jorts.

You just don't do it. And still Kato san did it. And you know what, it looked amazing. Now, although this first modification of the supercar does not exactly show the full style of the Liberty Walk, the F40 showed determined modifications and artistic restraint. Kato san redesigned the rear fender to include two giant but functional Venturi tunnels. The front spoiler was elongated. He added fixed headlights and a manually adjustable one for more downforce. Despite the respect he showed to the Ferrari and the functionality of the modifications, people hated him. The F40 along with Kato san's similarly modified F50, yes, they blew up car forums and Reddit.

This was a pre-Kardashian internet breakout. Some people, myself included, thought it was a piece of intrepid genius to take a car that people are obsessed with and change it. Other people, and by other people I mean the studs slurping spaghetti, thought it was a sin, the worst thing to do. In addition to overcooking the pasta. But Kato san didn't do it for them. He did it for himself, to make himself happy. And as long as he was happy there would be no problems. But if he wasn't happy, then we had problems. Another important moment in the history of Liberty Walk was in 2008, when a friend of Kato san called him.

He says, "Son Kato, I'm over my Diablo," but the new Lambo line is incredibly basic, man. "And the Bat is looking too docile. "Can you help me?" And Kato san said, "Hell yeah, brother, "I can help you, brother." "We'll ship a Murcielago directly to Japan "so it can fly." I'm paraphrasing people. I'm not sure they had those accents, but that's basically what happened. Now Kato cut the fenders off the Murcielago and completely redesigned the car, also drawing on design elements from classic Lamborghine machines as his own bosozoku influenced the Japanese style. And what ended up with Liberty Walk was this, the first, but definitely not the last, Lamborghini modified by Liberty Walk. , Liberty Walk brought the car to Las Vegas for SEMA to exhibit at the world famous car modification show and it was also the first real world show that Liberty Walk got for its high end modification work And although Liberty Walk fits into SEMA.

These days, they were definitely the black sheep at the auto show in 2009. To put this in context, this was about four years before Rocket Bunny came to SEMA. RWB is one year away. As you can probably guess, people had opinions. Yes, the radical redesign of the Lambo blew up the Internet again. But after all that exposure, no new orders came to the company. Kato san was concerned that his modifications would be unacceptable to the automotive community. He had just gone with his instincts, never listened to the crowd and instead focused on how a car made him feel.

He may have been wrong to make such drastic changes to the supercars. No, it was not! As with all good things, people need time to catch up on a visionary idea. How long did it take until people liked Rocket Bunny? Van Gogh died before earning a single Dutch money. Operation Ivy disbanded the day their album came out. But Kato san's treatment of modern supercars was met with much more praise. Probably because he wanted to use F40s and F50s to push people out of their comfort zones, or maybe the styling of 2010s supercars was just a bit tame.

This new generation of supercars didn't seem as aggressive or exciting as past iterations, which is where Liberty Walk's body kits and modifications came into play. Suddenly, these super cars were unexpected and once again inciting excitement. A Lamborghini Gallardo modified by Liberty Walk did not look like an Audi R8 with a different body kit. It looked like a fucking Lamborghini Liberty Walk. At SEMA 2013,Liberty Walk displayed two cars, a Nissan GTR and a Ferrari 458 Italia. Unsurprisingly, the internet at this point went absolute BAPE, Pharrell yells at him. Liberty Walk was the talk of the town. Everyone wanted to see these cars with their own eyes.

Everyone wanted a photo. They directly wanted to make these cars their girlfriends. Liberty Walk was officially the hottest ticket on the scene. And the orders began to arrive. Since then, Liberty Walk has only grown in popularity. The company was inundated with so many orders around the world for its Lamborghine Machine body kits, as well as fully customized cars, that it had to acquire additional workshops. That's not bad for a company that started in a single garage that could only hold three cars at a time. Liberty Walk was so busy that Kato san created sister companies to cater to his customers' every whim.

LB Performance caters to customers who want to add some additional flares and details in the form of removable body kits, suspension and wheel upgrades, okay. These cars can be put back into stock if you ever want to sell it. LB Works is for people who want an original Kato san. Your car is shipped to Japan and modified by hand in the workshop. But there are no twists and turns. They're going to open that (honk). Then we have the Liberty Works GT. Racing cars with box fenders. Enough talk. Finally, Kato san stays true to its roots with LB Nation, which makes parts exclusively for Japanese domestic cars, including K cars.

For the workers at Liberty Walk, the motto at the shop is "no borders, no limitations." And believe me, they live up to that motto. And to prove it to you, let's look at some (honking) cars, okay. One of the cars that launched Liberty Walk into the stratosphere is the R35 GTR. It is one of the most customized with three different kits, each offering a different combination of performance and appearance. The same goes for the Ferrari 458. Kato san and his team took this sleek Italian aerodynamic beauty and turned it into an absolutely bad horse. Liberty Walk has also modified the Ferrari 488, the McLaren 650S street car and even a Lamborghini Miura, which is a replica of a Miura but still looked incredibly sick.

The replica sits just 32 and a half inches off the ground with the typical Kato Son stance and unassumingly redesigned front and rear fenders. Again, this beautiful piece of art is just a replica, so relax. Don't comment. It's a joke. Definitely comment. It helps us with the algorithm. Everyone hails the algorithm. Now, in the crowded room of supercar modifiers, Kato san is a man who stands alone. Liberty Walk is more than just a surprise store. The Liberty Walk artists clearly love cars and take huge aesthetic risks while considering the flow of the car's original bodywork. It's not just about bolting on a pair of fenders, okay.

The sign that hangs in the Liberty Walk showroom may do the best job of summarizing the spirit of its eccentric founder. "As long as it's a car, we can do it. "And most of all, let's be happy together." - Help us make room for new stock by purchasing some of our old favorites at our Donut Media garage sale. Visit DonutMedia.com and get some cool t-shirts on sale There are some old limited release t-shirts in dark mode that we don't have many quantities of so you have to act fast. The sale is going on March 24-27. com.

It's your chance to get even a classic Donut logo t-shirt for under $20. Click that link to get an awesome t-shirt. Thank you so much for watching this video and everything else at Donut If you haven't already. done, hit the subscribe button, hit the bell to make sure you don't miss anything. If you want some Donut apparel, including this hat, check out DonutMedia.com articles every week. My best friend in the world, Andy, designs everything. I love you (upbeat pop music).