(upbeat music) - I'm back On, Up To Speed. This is a Tuner car from 2010, and this is a Tuner car from 2020 Wider, what happened? Well, Rocket Bunny happened. That's what (beeps) happened. Rocket rocket buuny. ♪ Bounce with Rocket Bunny ♪ Two words, Rocket Bunny. - It just looked crazy. - People will shoot me
videos and like, Hey this is your car from
the back, I'm like damn. That looks bad ass. - Rocket, two words, Rocket Bunny. - Rocket Bunny.
- Rocket Bunny. (speaking in foreign language) - So what is Rocket Bunny? Where did it come from and why did it make such a huge impact? Well, that's what I've spent
the last two months trying to figure out. I talked to a few of the
guys really close to it. I talked with mirror son himself. It's been far too long. I've missed you guys a ton. I've missed this freaking store. I miss whatever's going on back here. This is everything you need
to know to get Up To Speed on Rocket Bunny. We're back. (upbeat music) A big thanks to carparts.com
for sponsoring this monumental rocket fueled season
premiere of Up To Speed. And because this is such a
huge episode, we wanted to get a special sponsor. Like our friends@carparts.com. Clumsy Carl, what are you doing? - Tee tee, collision alert. (Carl shouting) It's okay, cousin, you had
a spider on your car thing. It was a Brown reckless, I got it. Don't worry. - No, we all have a friend
who always find some way to break something on your car. For us, it's our new intern, my cousin Clumsy Carl. And with a friend like clumsy Carl replacement parts can really add up. That's why I trust carparts.com. - It's okay, it's just a wiper. - They're your one stop shop for collision, repair
and maintenance parts. Who says that you have to sacrifice
quality for reasonable price. There are smart and easy way to get what
you want whenever you want. No matter what you drive. So if you need a new
headlight or side mirror or side trim or grill.
- What about bumper? - Why would I need a new. - Sorry. - Even if you need a
new bumper carparts.com has you covered. Get your car running great today go to carparts.com. And now back to the show. - Hey, you almost done. You told me mall you
take me to Harry Potter. - I've been wanting to make
this video for a while. The first time that I
saw a Rocket Bunny car it was in a Speed Hunters
article and they were profiling Muris on shop and there was
this white S 13 Sylvia parked out front and had four sixes on the side and Good Year
stickers all over it. Those stickers paired with the box fenders and tiny duck pill. Spoiler on the back somehow made one of the most Japanese cars
look like a fricking NASCAR. I loved it. (upbeat music) - [Interpreter] I've always liked NASCAR and cars from the 80's. I didn't intend for the kit
to look like those cars. It just kind of happened. It wasn't initially accepted
in the Japanese market but then the Americans loved it. - Whether you're a fan
of Rocket Bunny or not you cannot deny its impact on car culture. How? (bright music) We begin our journey where
every great story starts. A bypass highway tall room. This is the Kanjo loop. It's the outer belt of the hunching highway
that surrounds the city of Osaka Japan. And it's right up there with the Autobahn for
places to drive stupid fast except unlike the Autobahn stupid fast on the loop is very, very illegal. And I just wanna say for a
country, that's given us a lot of cool cars and underpants
from a vending machine. Japan is pretty stringent. So naturally the Kanjo
loop was the home turf of a particular set of cargo. The Bosozoku. - The Bosozoku. The Bosozoku. The Bosozoku. - These guys wore a loose
collection of clubs. They wore coveralls. They had bright dyed hair. It's like if the hell's
angels were like very, very very Japanese. And in the words of the
Bosozoku they were rebelling against a culture that rewarded
moderation and restraint. They were trying to be loud. They wanted to make a scene. I can relate. Now that might explain why
they drove cars like this and this and this one and right in the middle of this was
a guy named Kei Miura. Big blonde perm and all. - He comes from a background
of old school street racing scene where everything's super slammed. Everything is wild. The old school, JDM three
racer mosozoku kinda style. - He'd skipped the toll on the Kanjo loop by sneaking through the
gate behind other cars he took off his license plate and wore fricking Jason
Vorhees mask to keep from getting caught on camera. You know, regular stuff you do
when you're obeying the law. But in 1988, this punk
would start down a path to automotive greatness. (upbeat music) Miura's son had just turned 18. He was driving down the street in Kyoto when suddenly
something caught his eye. - [Interpreter] At that time, I was on a truck at a transporter. And when I pass through a nearby car shop there was a cool Datsun. And I wanted it. - Hey man, I'd like to buy that sunny. - No. - And what's the deal, man. It's not for sale? - Not for you. You're a punk.
- What tha. - Look at your hair, you're
obviously up to no good. - And the owner, Miura's
son calls him crazy guy. - Crazy man. - All crazy.
- Get out of our store. - Kei was how should I put this? Not pleased. (beeps) But, he's not the kind of guy to give up very easily. - I got a plan. (upbeat music) - [Interpreter] I cut my
hair and dyed it black and went back to the store the next day. - All right, man. Fixed my hair and I hope it pleases you. I don't look like I'm
up to no good anymore. Let me buy the car please. Here's my money. - What car? (upbeat music) - I'm freaking. The sunny. - Oh yeah Sunny. Sorry, kid that guy just bought it. - What the (beeps) - Hey kid. I like your attitude. I like your spunk. Can you drive like really drive? - Yeah I can (beeps) drive man. - I might have something in the back. - [James] So the owner
showed Kei a Nissan, 510 that he had parked in the back instead. - [Interpreter] I decided
to buy it for 500,000 yen. The car was delivered two weeks later and I was told to bring
a helmet and gloves. I was taken to the circuit
on the day of delivery. My mentor is a crazy
stranger who suddenly took me to the race. - Now this guy realized that
Kei was a certified car maniac. So obviously he put him to work
making parts for Disneyland. That's right. The happiest place on
earth was being supplied by a bunch of hoolians. Kei learned how to design using CAD while making rides and
attractions for Disneyland Tokyo. Now, apparently he played
a big part in the design of a ride or attraction
called Cinderella's window but I couldn't find it
anywhere on the internet. He continued to work in the shop holding his skills with
fiberglass and his off time. He put that knowledge to
use fabricating Aero pieces for his car. And it wasn't long until someone asked him to
make arrow parts for their car. Okay. I didn't know it, but
those parts were installed on a Ferrari Dino race
car, not bad for a kid who's like 20 years old. When I was 20 years old,
I slept on the porch of a comedy club twice
because the train shut down I couldn't ride back to long beach. So basically we're pretty much the same. Kei was doing great but the good times were
about to hit a speed bump which is extra bad when your whole thing's building really low cars. - [Interpreter] I was 22 at the time, but I was caught too often by the police and was brought to trial. I got my license revoked for eight years and didn't drive on my own
from the age of 22, until 30. - So it would be years before Kei Miura could
design and drive cars at the same time, he was like 30. It was a tragic love story. Once he could be united with his love of driving and making stuff Kei set out to make his
own way to be his own man. It was time for Lyft. (upbeat music) So that is how he got into making parts. But why these parts? What made him want to make huge flares and slam cars like so many
doors shut by my father? The Japanese car scene was
about to experience a reset, a renaissance okay. In the early 80's, deaths from car crashes were on the rise and fairly or unfairly Bosozoku took the blame. This led to one of the most
fateful moments in car history the famous Japanese auto
manufacturer gentleman's agreement. - Gentlemen, thank you for coming. As you know, car crash
accidents are on the rise. It seems as if these
people can't get enough of killing each other with
our cars because of this the government is threatening
us with regulations. - Regulations. - Regulations. - Hell no. - No.
- No. - I think I speak for everyone when I say that regulations are the
worst thing that can happen to anyone ever. - We know, yes we know,
but we've found a solution. - We propose an agreement. None of us will make any cars
with more than 276 horsepower. - The (beeps) you talking about. - I just wanna say, I
think it's really nice that you guys invited me. - Gentlemen, please. If we voluntarily cap
our horsepower ourselves and we won't have to worry
about the government doing it. - But then how the (beeps)
are we gonna make sports cars? - Yeah. - Well, here at Honda, we're gonna focus on handling and wait. - Seriously. You guys, this is
like the best day of my life. - All right listen, because
this is the most important part we're gonna make our
engines extremely sturdy. That way all these gear
heads out there, huh? Can tune their cars to make
as much power as they want. - More power? - More power babe. - More power babe. - More power babe.
- More power babe. - Okay. Settle, settle, settle. - And if anyone complains how are we supposed to know
they were gonna do that? - Exactly. We just sold them
a car with 276 horsepower. - A focus on quality and efficiency. Genius. - We're all gonna break this
rule all the time right? - Oh yeah, totally. All right. Let's go bet on some guys
fighting in a parking garage. (upbeat music) - That agreement designed
to limit car crashes is in many ways why cars from
Japan are so sought after today. It's white Tuning exploded in Japan and with Tuning came a number
of different subcultures. Kei was influenced by
all of them, but three in particular stood out. The Kanjo scene was all about taking regular consumer cars and turn them into
rockets, windows too heavy. How about nets? Backseats? How about just nothing. Got a dent, leave it. You got to Jason mass. No fricking get one. Here's something that's
influenced by the Bosozoku style. And also the ethos on the Kanjo that whatever you
were driving can be awesome. If you put enough work into it. That's why he makes kits for
not only high-end sports cars but also things that
regular people can afford. Now while drifting in Japan was slightly more
organized than the Kanjo scene. (upbeat music) It was still home to punks and misfits and scallywags
kind, nearest people. The cars had style, they had flare but they were also functional. Kei's first car ever just so
happened to be a Toyota AE86 one of the most legendary
drift cars of all time - [Interpreter] My first car was the 86, which was just the time for the Bosozokuto turn
into street racers. Since I lived in Kyoto, I
went to Touge road in Kyoto but there were too many
cars lined up from the top to the bottom. So at that time I often went
to Nara, Osaka or Rokuoka. The number of people was too large and the police could not crack down. (upbeat music)
(car engine roaring) - And finally, another Japanese
car scene that influenced Miora's son is a little bit
more abstract, but he says that it was the most influential on him. It was the quiche. It was the key. It was the cue. It was the q-ship it was the Kyusha scene. I know that I'm probably
mispronouncing that. I'm talking about the Kyusha scene. (bright upbeat music) ♪ I'm talking about the Kyusha scene ♪ Kyusha, translates to old
car and it really just means, you like old cars. Specific subcultures aside, Miura was just like a fashion mogul. He saw styles from the past that he liked and brought them back to life. - He gets a lot of his inspiration from race cars, basically time attack cars Pikes, peak, Hill climb cars. He loves that stuff. Ruby stuff. He loves race cars. - Over fenders, big wings, wide bodies. These are all things that
were on old race cars. He didn't invent over fenders that 70's Trans-Am baby big wings look at our Canem and a number
of other racing circuits. Widebugs, that's old school DTM. The parts tried to convey a sense of power and performance
from a bygone era. And if you've subscribed
to Donut, congrats. You're a Kyusha here. ♪ I'm talking about the Kyusha scene ♪ You didn't even know it. This dude just thought, man I wish that these current cars looked more like these old cars that I love. And then he put together some
plastic and made it happen. - [Interpreter] The cars
of the 70's and 80's have a cool shape and the style is different
from the current cars. I don't know why I like it but I tend to convert new
cars in the old styles. - Now don't go looking for a Rocket Bunny corporate headquarters in
some sleepy industrial park because you won't find one. In fact, there is no Rocket Bunny building because it's not really a company at all. Kei Miura manufacturers
the body kits at his shop Tops Racing Arts in Kyoto. And he has since 1995. His website also looks
like it's from 1995. TRA Kyoto is less of your
typical garage and more of a mixed up menagerie of
motor sports and old technology. Knickknacks are strewn about the space. Ready to impart inspiration
on Kei at any given moment. Let's just say if you're OCD,
don't go there, you'll puke. Personally, I love it. (upbeat music) Today's Rocket Bunny kits are named after a parts line that Kei
developed in the 1990s for KVM. And the name was just too
cool to not use again. Inside TRA Kyoto is where
the magic fricking happens. That's where Kei Miura
designs Rocket Bunny kits which also goes by Pandem here in the States because of copyright issues. He also has a wheel company. He called for 46 Customs
whose two piece mesh design was crafted to compliment
any of Kei's body kits. 46 also was the name
of his old drift crew. - The 46 is the wheels
that he came up with with collaboration, with Inky. So it was the Rocket Bunny, 6666, or we just called it the 46 that's the wheel line that
he launched back then. - That story seems simple enough, but like everything with Kei Miura
where that name comes from comes with a dope backstory. Sometimes multiple ones. - When they started drifting with his crew 6666, they just all do all
sorts of stupid (beeps) because you know, you're a nervous and you're going out there and you're doing stupid things. So that's what happens. You see accidents, people
hit cars, trails, hop tyres. So he changed 666 to 6666. Because he got scared,
he was like accidents. So we're gonna change the name. - Chapter four, the legend of Miura. Kei's inspirations may have come from the Japanese underground and motor sports all over the world. But like Miura's son said,
the scene in Japan just wasn't super stoked on
his unique wide body style but it wasn't until his
designs got to the States that it really got big think
Tim Horton's or democracy. So I just wanna be clear here. All right. Miura's son had been
making Rocket Bunny kits for a hot second S 13 kits and previous stuff was already
being imported to the States. But when he changed the world
was when he released the kit the newly debuted Scion
FRS, Subaru BRZ, Toyota 86. He changed the world. - I think the community really
accepted it really well. You know, taking brand new car and cutting up the defenders
and the quarter panels. And from that launch, it just,
I think everybody was really they all fell in love with the styling and it really blew up. - When the FRS came, I'm just like, Oh so that's Rocket Bunny. That's crazy. So S 13 for sure, what
kind of broke the ice. And then what really just
went nuclear as the FRS. And it just snowballed from there. - The FRS kit debuted at SEMA the largest aftermarket car
convention in the world. And it made a huge splash. These days, Kei Miura
influences all over SEMA but it's not just his designs. It's the process that allows
him to do those designs. - Usually when body kits
are made, they shape it and form it on the existing
car and start shaping it. And they have to make a plug off of that. But the way he designs it
is just everything's drawn on his computer screen and sends that data and gets, you know, CNC
machine for the first sample. - He starts with a laser
scan of the entire car. It's important to him that
his kits highlight what's best about the car rather than hide it. So making sure he has all
the factory details right is very important. And one thing that everyone says about his kits is they
fit very, very well. Then he starts to play - The way he designs,
he's so good at that. I mean, he's been doing it for a while. He's drawing the actual
wide-body body kits on the car spinning it on the computer screen and just like click click. - [Interpreter] I bought a
Mac for about 1 million yen when I designed rides for
Disneyland, since then I've been using CAD for 30 years since I was about 20 years old. I don't think there are many people in the world who have been
using CAD for 30 years. - What's maybe most impressive
is that all of this stuff is 100% self taught. The dude is a full on nerd. He's just like us. He figures out a thing he wants to know how to do. Then he looks it up on
YouTube or whatever. The 90s equivalent of YouTube was. Books? I don't know. But he has all the details, correct. He can upload the data to a
multi-access carving machine which uses it to make a mold
of the part out of polystyrene. And once the mold is formed, it's filled with fiber reinforced polymer,
resin and left to harden. When it does, the polystyrene
is removed, you're left with a beautiful body part. And what looks like a
bunch of packing peaks. Because of this process where most manufacturers can take months TRA Kyoto can go from concept
to part in just a couple of weeks. - That's what kind of makes
these kits more affordable because he doesn't hand mold things. He just it's all computerized. It's kind of why they
also fit really well. - And that perfect fit is
what every Rocket Bunny owner will mention that in the fact that they look best on very, very low cars because Japanese roads
are way nicer than ours and it's easier to drive over there. But these days, despite the
less than ideal road conditions over here, US buyers are
hungry for Kei's kits. Inspiring him to fab up must have stuff for pretty much every
cool car you can think of. And some of them are
just straight up bizarre, but like sick bizarre. For instance, we got the boss' kit which transforms Nissan S
14's and FD Mazda RX sevens into weird alternate
universe, Japanese muscle cars instead of just replacing
bumpers and cutting fenders. The boss kit requires you
to remove the whole front of your car and replace it with
a face that would look more at home in a 70s, Mopar the bulging hood completes
the look it's controversial. I'll admit it. Guess what? Fricking love it. Another controversial kit would be the one he made for the Acura NSX. It's not the most radical
by Kei Miura standards. The opposite. It's very subtle almost. And the NSX isn't the only mid-engine car that he's worked on. Porsche came in and the brand spanking
new Corvette C8 have also been blessed and they both look amazing. Just more proof that
everything from a Nissan GTR to a Toyota Yaris can
be Rocket Bunny verb. Kei Miura is one of those guys
that I'm truly jealous of. All right. He's blessed with this gift
of being completely carefree or at least coming off in that way. He does things his own way. And if you don't like it, so what? He's still gonna be making
his stuff and people other people are still gonna like it. In that respect, he's a real
artist and he's canvas is a car and his brushes are bits cutting into polystyrene and keyboards. His work gets visceral
reactions around the world and he's not slowing down. Rocket Bunny is for people who like Miura's son want to stand out. Life's too short to be boring. Catch some eyes, make a scene, get a fricking Jason mask and cruise. Get fat. I wanna thank everybody who helped make this video possible. Grant our writer, Jesse
and Zach who directed. Follow Donut on Instagram @donutmedia. Follow me @jamespumphrey. Dionnne from Toyo Tires. Go subscribe to his
YouTube channel @OMGMIATA. Kenji from Greddy. So full of knowledge and awesome. Thanks for talking to us and especially to Kei Miura for taking the
time and even more so the kits. And thank you again to Miura for sending me that kit and Dionne for making it all possible. And I really wanna thank you guys for sticking around and waiting this out. We needed the lights and
fires under our butts. This is a bigger episode. Let us know if you'd
like these bigger videos. Let us know what big Up
To Speeds you wanna see. I miss you guys. I love you very much. ♪ Better late than never ♪ ♪ For all that was lost once again ♪
More Ryan Hailey edits.
I even watched the ad
And one week later it's gone again. Any one have any idea why they didn't upload a new episode today?
Finally, my favorite Donut show is back from the dead! Took them long enough. :)
I would like to add a suggestion for a future episode. The beloved "2 step" please
Guys please do an up to speed on Prodrive.
Glad you are back was worried you guys might have run out on content for up to speed.
The wait is postponed
YEEEEES!
Such a dream comeback! Japan, my fav bodykits, you guys ohh
Hello from Ukraine! 🇺🇦