During our journey to Osaka, Japan, we were notified by some friends that a group of fellow car enthusiasts from the famed “RANDAM Racing” car club wanted to meet us. RANDAM consist of older car guys and gals who have long been a integral piece of Osaka’s underground automotive car culture. Some have come and gone but the ones who remain are much older than the car guys you’d typically run into. The owner of the FC3s RX-7 below is actually in his 60s! The others looked to be more around my age or older and the club isn’t exactly welcoming in new members into their elite group. We always want to meet new people and see cars we haven’t previously been exposed to so we agreed to meet with the guys from RANDAM on a late evening a few days prior to us coming home to the U.S. We didn’t have the exact specifics of where we were going to meet them or what exactly we were doing but our friend Yasu Shimomukai brought us over to this vacant parking lot in the suburbs of Osaka. Upon pulling into this lot, our attention was immediately pulled towards the bright orange RX-7 and an even crazier looking widebody EF9 Civic. The liveries and colors were more of the 90s variety and it felt like we were thrust into a time-warp back into the earlier years of Kansai car culture. We got out and were greeted by the members of RANDAM and a few others showed-up later to hang out with us but in modified Toyota Hi-Ace vans. We all immediately pulled our cameras out to capture the cars and the awesome moment that we had been placed in. It was truly a pleasure. Just to be able to see some of these cars in person and to feel that air of nostalgia that comes from being around older car guys. You know these guys must have incredible stories to tell but we were hindered by the language barriers and the uneasiness of being around guys who were, well, frankly pretty dangerous people (non-car related type of danger, if you catch my drift). Soon after, an EK9 pulls up to join the party and we all gathered around it to attempt to understand its cool quirkiness. I had seen this EK in photos before but it is just a totally different experience just standing in front of it and seeing it with my own eyes. I don’t know, these are the types of unplanned moments that we probably all live for that can only be truly understood by being there. I juggled both photos and video that night with Der and I hope you get even the smallest piece of the same excitement that we had that night…

Enjoy…

RANDAM Racing FC3S RX-7…

RANDAM Racing EF9 Civic with custom front bumper and front/rear over-fenders….

This cars has been tucked away in Osaka for years now and apparently there aren’t too many photos of it floating around on the web…until now…

Kato’s FC has rear blister fenders, wide front fenders, custom carbon canards, GT wing, rear diffuser, and 2-piece Work Meister S1 wheels…

The rear angle of his FC….

Team Gachapin Racing decal…

Custom fuel system set-up in the trunk of his FC…

Interior of the RX-7 with a weathered Nardi three-spoke wheel and an assortment of older electronics and metering products….

Custom sheet metal door panel on the driver’s side wearing the RANDAM Racing decal…

Deep-dish Work Meister S1 wheels….

Old NO GOOD RACING decal on the passenger-side door-panel in support of another one of Osaka’s famed car clubs…

It is pretty normal to wear another team’s decal on your car in Osaka to represent friendship and brotherhood…

13B Rotary engine…no GM LS-swap here, haha…

A trio of old Option2 decals under the hood of the FC…

As stated, the EK9 pulled up moments after we started looking over the other two cars…

..but we’ll take a closer look at the EF9 first. You won’t really find another EF like this with the custom round over fenders and modified front bumper. The turn signals even have custom acrylic covers over them…

OEM EK9 Civic Type R rear wing that has been retrofitted to the EF9…

Center-exit exhaust under the modified rear bumper and custom license plate cover….

A closer look at the custom front over fenders…

Under the hood of the EF9 was a B16A engine with individual throttle bodies. I didn’t get a close enough look at the ITBs to identify what they were….

Retrofitted side mirrors on the EF9. They appear to either be from a motorcycle (Honda Hurricane/CBR?) or older Ferrari mirrors mounted to a custom base plate…

Quite the interesting-looking EF. This car isn’t registered for road use and I don’t believe it is a car that runs the Osaka loopway so one can assume that it is a dedicated track vehicle…

Much like the EF, the EK9 is also a very uniquely-styled vehicle with its own individual touches….

B16B Civic Type R engine under the hood. Nothing crazy, no shaved or tucked engine bay. It is just simple and modified for balance like most Osaka-based Hondas…

If you guys are big fans of ride height and how it affects the overall look of a build, you’ll probably enjoy the posture of Ryo’s EK9…

Bronze Volk Racing TE37 mounted on meaty Bridgestone Potenza rubber. Notice the custom front splitter end pieces mounted to the front bumper. That’s not something you see every day…

The rear also has this cool little end piece to add to the styling of the CTR rear lip…

Inside is a completely gutted interior with only the top half of the dashboard and two door panels still in place. Everything else has been removed or modified…

Custom fuel set-up mounted right behind the passenger section….

The traditional RANDAM Racing “Highway Magician” logo emblazoned on the hood of the EK…

Definitely one of the coolest names ever…

Worn with pride all over the car…

An attempt to get a group photo with the owners and other members. It was difficult to get them to hold still with the slow shutter thanks in no part to the language barrier that existed between us…

One more extra photo of the RANDAM EF9 and FC…

After we hung out for an hour or so in the parking lot, it got pretty cold so we decided to go grab some Japanese Yakiniku (JBBQ)…

Efficiency is key in Japan so places like this are now automated with touchscreen menus for ordering…

One of my favorite things about Japan is how great the food is and JBBQ is certainly very high on my eating priority list…

A group photo with the RANDAM Racing guys to end the night… And, that’s a wrap. Hope you enjoyed it…

Here is the Vlog that document this evening if you wanted to see it again, or haven’t had a chance to see it quite yet…