Inside Tokyo’s Hidden Dream Garage

Multimillion-dollar collection belongs to one man of mystery.

Oct 29, 2015 3:14 PM

Brendan McAleerView brendan mcaleer's Articles

In an industrial area on the outskirts of Tokyo, a hidden garage lurks above a factory floor. Below, enormous and complex machines create equipment to harvest power from the waves. Above, it's an automotive wonderland., Brendan McAleer

The only way into the place is through an industrial elevator. Takeshi Moroi raises the door and hits the button, and the lift slowly begins to rise., Brendan McAleer

It's a huge place with vaulted ceilings, shelves of parts stacked everywhere and at least a hundred cars of all kinds. Moroi pulls the sheets off the pride of his fleet, a Porsche 962C., Brendan McAleer

Moroi-san is quite famous for driving this Le Mans-spec endurance racer on the street. It's impossibly wide for the narrow Japanese roads, but he claims it's quite easy to drive. He's even fitted air-conditioning., Brendan McAleer

It's still a monster, with a 600-horsepower flat-six engine that's happiest at speed for better cooling. Very few of these cars were fitted with a carbon-fibre chassis, but Moroi-san’s was—by factory driver Vern Schuppan., Brendan McAleer

All the cars in Moroi-san's collection get driven regularly, and this Mk III Ford GT40 is no exception. It has just returned from a local hill-climb event., Brendan McAleer

The GT40 is a chimera, with a Le Mans-style front end, rear intakes and downforce set-up as they would have appeared when the car ran at Sebring. All the parts are original and correct., Brendan McAleer

This is a Datsun Skyline Sport, the car to which the mighty GT-R traces its lineage. Extremely few of these were made in either coupe or convertible, with bodies styled by Michelotti., Brendan McAleer

In the back of the space, a 6-liter AMG “Hammer” sits sandwiched between the shell for a Mazda 767 Le Mans car and a nondescript grey 1955 VW Beetle. Moroi pops the Beetle's engine cover to show a rare Porsche four-cam engine., Brendan McAleer

The collection started off with a Carrera 2 and a Ferrari 308. There's clearly still a fondness for what is roundly considered the prettiest modern Ferrari, as Moroi keeps several on the go., Brendan McAleer

One example has been rebodied to look like a 288 GTO, but don't be fooled. Under the skin is the drivetrain out of a F355, complete with an F1-style gearbox. Moroi jokes that as soon as it was finished, a friend bought a real GTO., Brendan McAleer

Along with his collection of about 40 cars, there are dozens of others belonging to friends and acquaintances who borrow space. Jensens, Jaguars, Ferraris, Bentleys—even an entire squadron of drift machines belonging to a local advanced driving school., Brendan McAleer

This postwar Bentley, for instance, is a survivor of the grueling Peking-to-Paris distance rally., Brendan McAleer

These tiny Fiats are also rally champions, and between them have a half-dozen successful Mille Miglia completions over the years. The Fiat Barchetta Sport 1100 Lombardo at far left is a one-of-one., Brendan McAleer

A Ford GT40 has some unusual stablemates here. The red Alfa Romeo on the left is a Zagato-designed SZ, one of a hundred sent to Japan. To the right is the third-ever test-stamping of the Subaru 360, the first car Subaru produced., Brendan McAleer

Moroi-san is wearing a jacket emblazoned with the insignia of the Toyota 2000GT owners’ club of Japan, and this is perhaps the biggest surprise of the garage. Consider the first Japanese supercar, the 2000GT is extremely rare, with just 351 ever produced. Each would likely sell for more than $1 million., Brendan McAleer

There are 13 of them here., Brendan McAleer

The 2000GT appeared in convertible form in the Bond flick, You Only Live Twice. Fitting, then, that multiple examples of the coupes are here in the private collection of Japan's own Hank Scorpio. This one's having a custom exhaust fitted., Brendan McAleer

Five of the cars belong to Moroi-san, with others belonging to friends and those seeking the expertise of the technicians who maintain the fleet of cars. One of his personal cars has a Toyota Supra engine swapped in, the compression bumped and fitted with triple side-draft Mikuni carburetors., Brendan McAleer

Custom-machined wheels hide Ferrari brakes up front and GT-R brakes in rear, as well as a full coilover suspension., Brendan McAleer

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