Shannons All Japanese Day

Canberra.  It's a sleepy town.  Between roundabout, fireworks and sitting time in parliament, it seems like not much happens in our humble capital city opposed to the larger cities like Sydney and Melbourne. Partly due to its comparatively diminutive size, partly due to the age demographic.

As a precursor to Mothers day in early May, Shannons car insurance - the patron saint of modified cars - put on a show and shine in the largely unassuming and leafy car park adjacent to the Geoscience Australia building.

With entrants arriving at 10am and spectators at 11,  by the time I had arrived, things were already on their way.

Canberra show and shines are usually a petri dish consisting of many various scenes and styles, besides the minitruck scene and the Holden and Ford camp, most shows have a multitude of flavors depending on your tastes.

Today however, was specifically marketed as an all Japanese day, with partner host REACT, the rotary enthusiast ACT club bringing in a few tasty morsels.

I'm not sure why but I always find it hard to uncover local shows, some (Summernats) are more well known and some, unfortunately are not.

Either I'm not looking in the right place or they rely on word of mouth too much.  Fortunately for us, Wakefield park raceway is only a short drive away.

When I found out about this show I took it with a grain of salt and didn't expect very much, while the show was a tad small, the cars on display did not disappoint by any stretch of the imagination.

There were more GTR's and EVO's than you could point a stick at

But then, whats not to love about GTR's and EVO's?

Hmmm, do you think there's a 12a under there?

I loved this integra, there's not enough stripped out race prepped hondas prowling the streets of Canberra

It looks like it came straight from the TODA school in Initial D

This 300ZX was an interesting creation, judging from the paint scheme and windscreen banner, I'd say it was a Shannons company car.  Too much fibreglass and 90's styling cues for my taste.

I loved this RX7, the bolt on flares were a nice touch to the stark white paint. Panda mobile?

The bite to match its bark, atmo 13B inside

I'm growing fonder and fonder of the old mx5's, there is so much track and stance potential for a minimal outlay

This mx5 however... I'm not quite sure Australia is ready for the itasha movement just yet.  I'm not sure what these two old fella's were more interested, the scissor doors or the graphics..

 I love the subtle unassuming styling cues on this 300Z

Hello sir, how would you like your 4G63 packaged?

Um, just put it in an esky thanks...

Another classic you don't see very often, Mazda Cosmo 20B, yes please

This super clean RX3 sedan made a fashionable late entrance, all heads turned to hear its distinctive brap

Another car that commanded attention in a more ... unique way

All about that bass

2JZ's go in everything, they're like the cats of the automotive scene, 'if I fits I sits'

Anybody recognise this old bird? This is OG grand-daddy Honda Civic

If you were thirsty through the show, you could grab a quick cappuccino, seriously though, there was a van selling delicious coffee

I think this guy was on his way down the coast and stopped in for the show

With this ratsun in tow bringing the beers

This.  This needed a big ol' hole in the bonnet to fit in those enormous ITB's, love the USDM theme with the different coloured engine bay to the body.

Well that's it for the coverage so far, as always there will be more photos on our Facebook page and Insta account.

See you at the track

- Willie