THE ART OF ILLUSION

Fancy an iconic classic but short a few million? There's a garage in Japan that could well be the answer to your dreams

- WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY TOBY THYER

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, this one is really an MX-5 under those raunchy curves. Or maybe you fancy something a little less flashy? Art Racing's MkI 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 favourites with the exotic body lines, chrome and rivets of rare classics of yesteryear.

So, it is 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 1980s and 1990s. His Nissan Sunny van, which sits up on a shelf in the workshop, and yellow Hakosuka were crowd favourites back in the day, running 8.4 and 9.2 second quarter miles respectively.