The tranquil calm of the Izanagi Jinjya is shattered by the barely muffled SR20 barking to life. The aural assault gets even worse as the Cusco LSD engages bolt-action style, causing the massive rear meats to jerk and chirp, reducing the perfectly manicured gravel parking lot into a staccato shower of pebbly projectiles. The cacophony proves too much for the shrine's resident golden lab, who runs off in search of more peaceful surroundings. The other visitors are also rattled, not expecting to find such a car, along with us motley gaijin, within the confines of this peaceful sanctuary. Others may come here seeking serenity now but on this day our shrine is the house of Signal Auto and we came to worship at the bumper of its JDM Fairlady Z.
Sacrilege never felt so good.
Signal Auto Grand Poobah Kousuke "Mad K" Kida is a certifiable Nissan zealot with a fever for the flavor of the GT-R and Silvia. His younger brother Hiko is Signal's top tuner and is also tight with the peeps from Izanagi Jinjya, a very zen-like religious shrine located in the Suita City district of Osaka, Japan, just a pebble's throw from Signal Auto HQ. We've been here before, flaunting our complete disregard for Japan's social construct in order to shoot some of Signal's other super dupa cars. Come to think of it, we've even shot this exact same car before, for the cover of our November 2004 issue. Back then the Z was a mildly-built demo car with a radical SR swap intended primarily for drift exhibitions. While the car you see before you may look like the same Z33 Fairlady we featured almost two years ago, there are very few shared traits between the two variants aside from the Signal signature Andromeda hue, a custom blend from those colorful characters at Maziora lovingly applied by the gang at Show-Up Full Spot. As I watch the idling Z shake the shrine's paper lanterns "mildly-built" is the furthest descriptor from my mind.
For the complete story and more pictures, pick up the September issue of Super Street Magazine, on newsstands now!