With the popularity of kaido racers now reaching a more global scale, I thought it might be best to go back in time to see where they originated from and the trends and shifts in their design throughout the generations.

This first post will be geared toward what Holiday Auto magazine considers the 1st generation of kaido racers. Finding magazines from this era to reference can be difficult and usually only contain a few pages for each magazine. Holiday Auto did a few historical articles in more modern publications which will be my guide for most of this information.

By 1974, kaido racers appeared across Japan, sparking a nationwide boom. Their increasingly extreme modifications left many wondering, “Can you really drive this on public roads?” These creations quickly gained popularity and over time the style evolved.

Holiday Auto started noticing a rise in the number of these modified cars. They decided to call out and ask for people to submit their cars for a new monthly column. They ended up getting a large number of submissions and published them in a section of the magazine titled “Oh MY! 街道レーサー” (“Oh My! Kaido Racer”) in 1975. At the time, supercars were all the rage, but kaido racers were a new trend that started to take off and last, even after the supercars trend had died down. This underground movement was the polar opposite of what these supercars were about.

Yoshio Kawahara (河原良雄) joined Motor Magazine Co. (Holiday Auto’s publisher) in 1976 and became in charge of the Oh My! Kaido Racer column. At the time, there weren’t any particular qualifications for what was considered a kaido racer as there are now. Holiday Auto was just trying to showcase cars that looked like race cars but on public roads. Some of these columns might even feature foreign cars at the time, like European or American.

In this initial era, modifications can be considered modest compared to what we think of kaido racers today. But at the time, all of these modifications were considered illegal making them more remarkable.

It was a must that the cars were lowered, but not as extreme as today. Owners would remove their springs to get lower to the ground. Sometimes cars would sport works-styled (racing team) over fenders, Dunlop CR88 tires (nicknamed “papa”), and illegal door mirrors. These parts gave the cars a track-ready look while they drove around on the public roads. This is where the nickname “kaido racer” or “highway racer” came from.

Some of these modifications would run deeper than just the visual parts. People started modifying their engines for more performance. This would later spark the 0-400m drag racing and top-speed trials at Yatabe Test Course (谷田 部テストコース). Many of these turners would come from a background of building kaido racers.

By 1979, the Super Silhouette (Group 5) class joined the Fuji Grand Championship race as a supporter. This would then inspire what Holiday Auto considers the 2nd generation of kaido racers between 1979 and 1983. Since I have many more magazines from the 1980s, I will review each year individually, pointing out important cars and popular trends.

The most popular bases for these modifications in this era were vehicles with a history in motorsports, including the Hakosuka (GC10/KGC10 series), the first Fairlady Z, and the Savanna GT. Cars such as the C130 Laurel and the C110 Kenmeri 4-door sedans also gained popularity for their edgy and rebellious vibes.























Popular bases for this era:
Nissan Laurel C130″Butaketsu”
Nissan Skyline C10 “Hakosuka”
Nissan Skyline C110 “Kenmeri” and “Yonmeri”
Nissan Fairlady Z S30
Mitsubishi Galant GTO
Toyota Celica (A2/30 A40/50)
Source: Holiday Auto 1993-4, Holiday Auto 2016-8