Can you remember the last time you saw a car straight out of the Sex-Spec era that wasn’t on a restoration YouTube channel or a two-year-old Facebook Marketplace post touting the infamous “ran when parked” line? Yeah, I don’t remember either. The trend is dead and nobody in their right mind keeps building those things.
Right? Right???
Here comes Japan’s L-Tide Co, Ltd. and its demo cars/customers at the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon! Earlier, I told you about the future of tuning from the kids on display at Japan’s biggest tuning show. Now it’s time for a story about a firm that feels solidly planted in the past.
L-Tide is a small company out of Kodaira, a city part of Tokyo’s megalopolis, about an hour west of Tokyo Station. They make and sell seat covers for VIP vans and cars, along with caliper covers (yes that’s a thing) and other car accessories. They were by far the craziest booth of the TAS with some of the least expected vehicles this weekend.
You arrive at the booth, with loud “Pitbull style” music playing out of all the sound systems (each car playing different music, of course), and are immediately greeted by this bright yellow Honda Accord with (bright) red and yellow interior filled with (bright) spotlights showcasing the Alcantara leather that covers the entirety of the seats, dashboard, door panels and so on.
Oh yeah and of course, the car is stanced on 19×10 Work wheels, the entire trunk filled with speakers and subwoofers surrounded by, you guessed it, more red Alcantara leather!
If you were wondering, no, this is not a car on air suspension. It has 50-kg and 60-kg springs instead. I let you imagine the great overall comfort when bouncing around the city with your entire family.
Next to it was a Toyota Aristo. This one was a little weird as it had an air compressor in the trunk but the spec sheet indicated that it was on regular coilovers and springs. Maybe the compressor existed solely to make the BBS wheels in the trunk spin?! Yes!
The blue Aristo with very pink interior has a fake spare wheel that spins behind a plexiglass in the boot!
The interior was similar to the Accord, but with more dials (the compressor was most likely unplugged and the wheel in the trunk probably used a little electric motor to spin, but I like to think a complicated air system dealt with all that. Leave me and my imagination alone!)
A Toyota Alphard was also bombastically sitting next to it, similarly modified to the first two but with a black and orange interior, VIP captain chairs for the middle row, sitting on a real air suspension setup this time.
But all these cars are eclipsed by the real crazy cars of the TAS. Sitting at the end of the booth was the most insane Hummer H2 ever created, with a Takeoka Abbey Carrot next to it and a little Daihatsu Spacia in between them.
The sheer difference in size between those 3 was startling. Do you remember when Mad Mike and Xzibit would put screens around your screen so that you could watch your own rap video clip debut at full blast all over inside your car (and outside)? Well, this is what they did with that Hummer.
It was all the episodes of Pimy My Ride combined into this H2 crouching in front of me. Screens in the door cards? Check. Screens in the floor? Check.
Screen in the sun visors? Check of course!! And night/strip club lights! Everywhere!nWith gullwing doors, 32″ wheels with super thin tires, enormous speakers in the trunk and you guess it! More screens!!
Meanwhile, the Takeoka Abbey Carrot a 50cc microcar from the ’80s sat there next to it, with a fairly nice reupholstering job, no speakers. It felt almost refreshing to see it there. A car that looked like some recognizable form of reality compared to all the other cars, without a single boom-boom coming out of it.
We tend to make fun of that era, of the people that were into it. I know I do have quite the grin on my face when I first see that type of car anywhere. But.. then nostalgia kind of kicks in.
Nostalgia for something I wasn’t a part of but that was there to witness, back when everything felt simpler. I’ve made fun of Sex-Spec cars. I still do if I’m honest, but I like seeing them now.
I enjoy being reminded of that period in time and I hope the few who keep spending thousands and thousands of dollars on those cars keep doing it so I can have that nostalgic grin on my face, lying to myself when I complain that they are tasteless and ridiculous when the truth is… that’s what I like about them.
All photos: Flavien Vidal for the Autopian
One thing I think that catches a lot of people’s attention around these kinds of customizations is that they’re actual customizations. These are people’s ideas that were implemented individually.
Modern cars have surprisingly taken on a lot of features of that Need For Speed Underground 2 style, but nobody gives a shit because the corporate uniformity implementations won’t let you customize them. Sure, whatever, flash the fucking Lexus logo every time I start the car. I still can’t watch Shrek on this screen.
I was in Tokyo last Thanksgiving, and I was surprised at how many H2s I spotted (five in a week). They look so out of place, especially in a parking lot. I guess they still like them there.
As someone who spent many a weekend in my youth bondo’ing eBay spec M3 fenders and chasing the electrical demons created by too many subwoofers to create a shitty facsimile of these cars on the wages of an Outback steakhouse dishwashers, I’ll tell you the nostalgia this brings up… smell.
The people who were really into this scene 20 years ago were some of the worst decision makers imaginable. We’re talking about legal adults making less than $10 an hour spending thousands to add a turbos to Ford Escorts, and put low profile slicks on in a climate where there is snow on the ground 4 months a year. What hits me when I look at these cars is the unique scent of weed, air freshener, menthol cigarettes, sex and Slim Jim that permeated every single one of those “builds”.
I should probably sell it in candle form for fellow reformed ne’er-do-well millennials, and as a spray for Gen Zers to give their throwback machines full authenticity.
That Hummer is completely awful and I love it
That looks like a linear actuator to automate the opening and closing of the hood of the H2. I love it. I love all these. I especially love the Accord as that’s the earliest car I remember driving around in.
Article title saying ‘MTV Cribs’ is a typo right?
Yeah, I have to believe they meant Pimp My Ride.
I’ve heard the early-to-mid 2000s referred to as the ‘MTV Cribs’ era before. I prefer ‘Dub era’ personally.
Not to be a dork about this or anything, but the Aristo and Accord aren’t really trying to emulate the Dub-era style. Those are modified in an evolution of the Bippu/VIP style that briefly gained popularity in the states in the late 2000s. It used to be a very subtle, almost austere style of modification with the cars painted mostly dull colors but almost always featuring deep-dish wheels and huge brakes. The rise of the “stance” style in Europe resulted in the VIP style evolving to feature super-aggressive static wheel fitment and brighter colors.
The Alphard is done in a regional style that retains a lot of the traditional VIP mods, but almost always features BBS wheels.
The H2 speaks for itself.
I would totally rock that Toyota Alphard, especially since its on airbags. I also like the graphics on the inside of the H2’s Hood. I like cool features/things that are normally hidden, I dunno why.
Given my 2000’s NFS fueled childhood, I like most of these lol (H2 Is still WAY too over the top). Something like that Alphard is what I would build though.
Definitely not my taste, even back then. Nostalgia’s a hell of a drug.
That said, well executed.
The Abbey Carrot is from the 80’s? I would have guessed 60’s, latest.
You did what you did to me
Now it’s history, I see
Here’s my comeback on the road again
Things will happen while they can
I will wait here for my man tonight
It’s easy when you’re big in Japan
-Alphaville