With the ninth film in the Fast & Furious franchise on the horizon, it's mind-boggling to think back to what the series started as. The new ones are all about high-paced action and wild stunts, while, in the beginning, it was just a small, contained, story about a fledgling group of car enthusiasts: J.D.M. fans.

Before the Fast & Furious came out, most Americans didn't know much about "tuners" or street racing, but that would quickly change. However, contrary to popular belief, that wasn't the 'official' start of the Japanese sports car's rise into the spotlight.

There's a lot to love about what the Japanese domestic car market has done for the automotive community in the West. At inception, J.D.M. enthusiasts we're a minority of the overall "car culture," yet (just over a decade later), they may be in the majority now; thanks in part to pop-culture, the internet, and evolving technology. In an effort to elaborate on this underdog story, here is the evolution of JDM car culture (in photos)...

3 The Beginning: Late '80s-'90s

Via: itl.cat

The real start to J.D.M.'s current stance (no pun intended) in car culture began far earlier than after the first Fast & Furious film. Years prior to that, the Japanese market was only testing the waters with sports cars. Most of the 'sporty' models were exclusive to Japan since, at that point, American consumers wanted comfort over speed.

Nevertheless, a portion of car lovers saw through the collective haze and fell in love with Japan's sports cars. Though, the 1980's were just the beginning, because, with the '90s here, motorists would bear witness to the crème de la crème of J.D.M. Cars like the Mark IV Toyota Supra, Nissan GT-R (R32/R33), Mazda RX-7 FD3S, and Honda NSX were born; revolutionizing how the world perceived Japanese "race cars."

Via: youtube.com

To this day, J.D.M. cars from that era (mid-to-late '90s) still go for a pretty penny. That's due, in part, to their performance and appearance, but also the legendary status associated with each.

2 An Awkward Stage: Early 2000's

Via: generationhighoutput.com

Unfortunately, some car enthusiasts today have a visceral reaction against the term "J.D.M." for what it once meant. That being the early-2000's atrocious trend of what we would now dub "rice."

Though the F&F franchise did a lot of good for J.D.M. culture as a whole, they also did some harm, too. It's from there, and in a few lower-income areas, that the rice style took hold. The idea is entirely "form over function;" adding extra weight with needless, ugly, body panels, yet, not spending a dime on actual performance mods.

Via: pinterest.ru

Yes, it's sad to see, but also important to remember. Without being reminded of this awkward stage in America's J.D.M. community, we'd be doomed to repeat it sooner or later.

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1 Present Day JDM

Via: autosspeed.com

Towards the late-2000's, J.D.M. would change almost overnight. Cars such as the Nissan R35 GT-R gave fans an idea, "what if we focused more on beating expensive supercars?" Shortly thereafter, we got the first half of modern J.D.M. culture: the speed junkies.

The next half is a pseudo off-shoot of the old days of 'ricing' and body parts. Thankfully, though, it's (usually) better than the classics, as these cars have style/fluidity to them. Obviously, we are talking about "stancing." If you didn't know, it's all about camber and getting "more low." Not every attempt works well, but the ones that do makeup for the failures. Adding to the stance subgroup are other niches, like wide-body kits/Liberty Walk, drifting and show-cars.

Via: itl.cat

In terms of what's to come, nobody knows what will happen tomorrow, but we can make an intelligent guess based on the current information, trends, and habits we have so far (like the stock market, bonds, etc.). If we had to make an assumption today, we would go long on performance and wide-body's lifespan, while betting against stancing. Sorry stance-lovers, but it's likely a passing trend.

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