Tuesday night, while I was having dinner and watching reruns of Top Gear, I received a text message from JohnP asking me what are we having for Nostalgic Wednesdays? Hmmmm what would be a fitting topic to end 2010? Then he said, “something Japanese for sure” and I replied, “something ricey!” Bozosoku? Nope! Since 2010 was an awesome year for MaydayGarage, we need something bigger, brighter and wilder to celebrate the end of this epic year.
Why not reminisce the highly decorated colorful trucks from Japan,
Dekotora (デコトラ).
lol wut Optimus Prime?
Dekotoras are comercial trucks that are extremely decorated and customized for what purpose? Idk, i guess just for the hell of it. Built to show off creativity and individuality among Japanese truck drivers.
If we had Dekotoras here... Loves or Buc-ees meet yea!!!
These commercial (yes, they are daily driven) trucks still follow road regulations. The drivers have to bend around these rules for their art trucks to be road worthy. They are considered to be a road hazard when driven at night with the ALL accessory lights on, eventually resulting into a pricey traffic ticket.
These psychedelic trucks would take a lot of imaginative skills, years and a lot of monies before one driver is satisfied with his creation. Inspirations come from a diverse background like Gundam mech designs, Cadillac grills, classic Mercedes Benz flares, Samurai armor inspired to traditional Japanese architectural designs. Basically its all Lights, all Chrome kits and moar lights.
NEEDS MOAR JIGGAWATTS!!!
By the looks of these trucks, you’d think that the drivers would be like our road king aggressive truck drivers here in the US; certainly not. With all the money spent and detail put into building these works of art, the drivers are more cautious than ever. Just imagine using your VIPCar for delivering fruits and vegetables on a day to day basis.
Circus is in town.
I admire these Japanese drivers who have done these insane yet creative trucks.
I admire them because It reflects their innovative culture and their work ethic; the pride and celebration in what they do for a living and how they incorporate fun while doing it.
It manifests as an example to us on how we need to perceive our simple jobs and finding ways for it to be more fun and interesting.
2010 has been an awesome year for MaydayGarage. Just like these dekotora trucks, our passion is to bring our readers the freshest material and having fun while doing it.
“Ricers first. Photographers and bloggers second.”
Happy New Year!
-Mark-
Mark@maydaygarage.com