With Japan being a country where innovative technology is always welcome, it is hardly surprising that some of the largest carmakers in the world today are Japanese. When it comes to design, Japanese manufacturers, known for their creativity, easily hold their own against the big names of Europe and outsell American brands in their own market. Thinking outside the box, they have created some of the wildest street-legal vehicles the motoring public has ever seen.
Some of these vehicles, like the Toyota GT-One, the TRD 3000GT, and the Nissan R390 GT1, owe their wildness to their role as road-going track cars. While some are wildly styled to appeal to a specific market segment, others like the Toyota bB Open Deck are designed for practicality. From quirky Kei cars to track beasts, here are the ten wildest street-legal JDM cars to ever come from the Land of the Rising Sun.
10 Toyota GT-One
The Toyota GT-One is a homologation special that Toyota Motorsport assembled in Germany to qualify for the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans. Unlike anything else that Toyota had ever created, the GT-One's wild design resulted from loosely interpreted homologation requirements and a little bit of rule-bending.
Designed by André de Cortanze, it was built on carbon fiber and aluminum honeycomb monocoque chassis and powered by a 3.6-liter twin-turbo V8 power plant. Tipping the scales at 1984.5 pounds, the road car could hit 60 mph in about 3.2 seconds and a top speed of about 236 mph.
9 Nissan R390 GT1
The R390 was first built as a road car before the racing version was developed for entry in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1997 and 1998. Originally adorned with red paint, it was rebuilt in 1998 and repainted blue. The Nissan R390 GT1 is currently housed in Nismo's Zama warehouse.
Power is supplied by a 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V8 mated to a 6-speed manual transmission to the rear wheels. Pushed by 550 ponies, it needs 3.9 seconds to hit 60 mph and 11.9 seconds to clear the quarter-mile.
8 TRD 3000GT
The most fitting word to describe the TRD 3000GT, a creation of Toyota's in-house tuner, Toyota Racing Division, is sensational. Rather than prepare a production car for motorsport, this time they did the opposite by creating a road-legal car directly inspired by a racing car.
One of its most striking features is the bonnet vents which are positioned to relieve the pressure from the larger volume of air sucked in by the intakes. Aerodynamically superior to the standard Supra, it performs better, and with only 35 units built, it is also very rare.
7 Nissan S-Cargo
The retro-styled S-Cargo is a small commercial van built on the same platform as the B11 Nissan Sunny/Datsun 130Y
from 1989 to 1991. Launched at the Tokyo Auto Show in 1989, it got both name and design from the Citröen 2CV delivery van.
Styled like a snail, the name "S-Cargo" also sounds like the French word for snail "escargot" which happens to be one of the 2CV's nicknames. But unlike a snail, its front wheels were driven by a 1.5-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine mated to a 3-speed automatic transmission.
6 Toyota WiLL Vi
Teaming up with companies like Panasonic, Asahi, Kao, and Kokuyo in August 1999, Toyota embarked on a youth-oriented experimental marketing project known as the WiLL. Based on the NBC platform, the WiLL Vi is a subcompact 4-door sedan that Toyota offered under the WiLL brand between 2000 and 2001.
Sold only at Toyota Vista Store outlets, the WiLL Vi was powered by a 1.3-liter I-4 engine mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission. Designed to stand out, it stretched the boundaries of originality with angular lines and a reverse-raked rear window.
5 Mitsuoka Himiko
The Mitsuoka Himiko is a 2-door luxury convertible grand tourer designed by Takanori Aoki and built from 2018 to date. Riding on the Mazda N platform which it shares with the Mazda MX-5, it sports an extended wheelbase and fiber-reinforced plastic body panels.
An unnaturally long snout and headlights sourced from Mini give the Mitsuoka Himiko a striking resemblance to the Morgan Aero. Known in the United Kingdom as Roadster, the first-generation was powered by a 2-liter I-4 while the second generation draws power from a 1.5-liter engine.
4 Mitsuoka Orochi
Before making its way into showrooms for the 2007 model year, the Mitsuoka Orochi was first shown as a concept car in 2001. Named after a mythical 8-headed Japanese dragon, it is an attention grabber offered either as a 2-door coupe or a convertible.
Power is provided by a 3.3-liter naturally aspirated V6 engine that churns out an output of 230 hp and 240 lb-ft of torque. Driving the rear wheels through a 5-speed automatic transmission, it gave the 3406-pound wild-looking Orochi a top speed of 152 mph.
3 Toyota 2000GT
Before Toyota shocked the motoring world with the 2000GT, Japan was considered the home of imitative and uninteresting vehicles. Jointly developed by Toyota and Yamaha, the 2000GT was unveiled at the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show and produced between 1967 and 1970.
With styling inspired by the E-Type Jaguar, the 2000GT's low-slung body was done in aluminum while the comfortable interior featured luxury trimming by Yamaha. To drive the rear wheels, two straight-6 engines were offered - a 148 hp 2-liter and a 138 hp 2.3-liter producing 148 lb-ft of torque.
2 Toyota bB Open Deck
The Toyota bB is a mini multi-purpose vehicle that Toyota built on the Toyota NBC platform from 2000 to 2016. Offered initially as a boxy 5-door hatchback, the bB got reworked and was turned into a 3-door coupe utility version named the Open Deck.
Replacing the roof of the cargo area with structural bars and the hatch with a tailgate, Toyota created a pickup. With a choice of 2 inline-4 power sources to choose from, it offered tons of flexible cargo space for its small size.
1 Daihatsu Midget II
The Daihatsu Midget II, introduced in 1993, is a small 4-wheeled truck that was built to succeed the 3-wheeled first-generation midget. Being a Kei truck, it was powered by a 0.7-liter naturally-aspirated 3-cylinder engine producing 30.5 hp and 37 lb-ft of torque.
Sporting bug-eye headlights and a front-mounted spare tire, the standard version came with one seat, while a 2-seat version was also available. A favorite among bar owners, it was a perfect companion to haul kegs around the narrow city streets of Japan.