![]() With Toyota having left him out to dry, and the Hokkaido area having no real car scene at the time, Smokey thought this was the perfect opportunity to move to Tokyo to pursue his dream of becoming a racing driver. ![]() Related: 10 Rare JDM Sports Cars You've Probably Never Heard OfĪs one door closes, another one opens, and Smokey was about to see this as clear as daylight. ![]() Hilariously, Smokey got fired from the job for tinkering with his Toyota Celica during work hours, which left him looking for employment once more. Smokey worked hard and learned the ins and outs of advanced automotive engineering and the principles at work, sharpening his driving skills around the Hokkaido mountain range in his spare time, too. He then found himself under the stewardship of that garage boss, who made Smokey the youngest mechanic at Toyota (by some margin, we’d imagine). A local Toyota garage boss helped him fix it, and Smokey’s friendship with him began to blossom from there.Īt 16, Smokey was already driving himself to school, which was illegal in Japan, and got him expelled. Ironically, a cheap Mitsubishi JDM classic that we think everyone should drive. Related: Here Are The Sickest Cars Built By Top Secretĭespite tinkering with cars from a tender age and having a mechanic father, Smokey Nagata once ran into a brick wall with his Mitsubishi GTO. He has no doubt enjoyed a fascinating life and a storied career, so we’ve decided to compile a list of 10 fast facts about Smokey that will be relatively unknown to most. After a bad break in his career as an amateur mechanic when he was 16 years old, he headed to Tokyo to pursue his dream of becoming a racing car driver. A man who breathes and sweats automobiles, he made a name for himself in the Japanese automotive tuning industry between the early 80s and late 2000s, when Japanese manufacturers were making some of the most tuner-friendly cars.īorn in 1964, Smokey Nagata spent his formative years in the Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido, in a little village surrounded by picturesque countryside and rolling hills. This rings especially true with Kazuhiko Nagata a name which might not ring a bell with everyone in the automotive world – let alone those outside it – but his code name, ‘Smokey Nagata’, will. We continue to update the content of this list to ensure readers are up-to-date on all things Smokey.īut while the cars tend to have their names up in flashing lights, the people behind them rarely do. But while many will be familiar with the name, a lot of his personality is actually cloaked in mystery. Updated June 2023: Smokey Nagata is a legendary tuner and performance car enthusiast and someone who takes great pride in showing just how passionate he is about the wacky world of JDM. Just watch this ridiculous 1,300 hp RX-7 melt GoPros like butter to see how ludicrous these cult classic JDM machines still are. During the JDM explosion that occurred during the '80s and '90s, society got treated to some truly sensational machines, like the Ayrton Senna-inspired Honda NSX, the Colin McRae-driven Subaru Impreza, and a certain rotary-powered screamer from Mazda.
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