After the birth of RWB Johor Rough and Hyakka Ryouran (412) in June, Nakai-san is back again to build one more. This time it's Kuala Lumpur's turn to get its first wide-body treatment on the iconic air-cooled Porsche. The 3-day build was a little more lively and cheerful with a crowd of car enthusiasts and RWB fans coming from high and low to see the Master in action.
For Hayashi86.com, it's an important event we can't say no to because we are absolutely a huge fan of the RWBs! We created the RWB Names Compilations, visited RWB shops at Thailand, Philippines & even Japan, experienced RWB Roppongi Meeting early this year, and most importantly we followed all of Nakai-san's builds here in Malaysia (#01-02 & #03-04). We hope you can take your time to read them all.
I believe this man needs no further introduction. His masterpiece is the talk of the world now and I'm happy to say this is already my 4th meeting with the RWB founder. :D
The car that Nakai-san would be fiddling with is a Porsche 964 Carrera 2 cabriolet, owned by a trio of Porsche enthusiasts who have been long following the adventures of RWB in Japan before it even got famous.
Happy Three Friends - (From left) Kenneth, Zachary and Teoh.
The 964 C2 the trio have in their garage needed some more style and there weren't any great aftermarket kits in the market that could 'wow' everyone except for the RWB brand they've been liking since day one.
To realise their goal, they got in touch with the RWB crew in Malaysia and Japan in January this year to secure themselves a spot on the never-ending waiting list.
They flew over to Thailand's Autohaus RWB to meet Nakai-san for the first time during Kermit's build, and to Indonesia to take a closer look at Terror Garage's one-of-a-kind RWB Speedster. The deal was finally made at Johor Bahru when Teoh confirmed the dates that Nakai-san would be coming to KL to officially make them one - on August 7th to 9th, 2015.
Setting the official dates didn't mean that Teoh and his gang could sit back, relax and wait for Nakai-san to come over to do everything. The car had to be prepped in advance before his arrival. Body kits shipped from Japan had to be painted the same colour as the car's body, critical problems fixed and components like the engine restored to its optimum level.
The eye-catching colour you see is known as Riviera Blue, a Porsche colour that the trio agreed to have over their originally red Carrera cabriolet.
I'm sure many of you have pondered about the price one needs to pay to own an RWB. First and foremost, you have to own any one of those rare air-cooled Porsches. Next, you need to be able to pay USD$20,000 price tag as shown in the RWB website, which comprises only of the body kits (993, 964, 930, or backdated RWB style) and Nakai-san himself coming over to perfectly assemble it for you.
On top of the 20 grand, you have fork out extras (estimated at about USD$15,000) for the exclusive wide wheels & tyres, and specific suspension system that works only with RWBs.
The trio opted for a set of Work Meister M1 3P 18-inch wheels (F: 10.5J -17, R: 13J -49) wrapped in Michelin Super Sport performance tyres (F: 265/35, R: 295/35) and adopted the KW suspension setup instead of the familiar Aragosta RWB-approved suspension considering Teoh is the distributor for the German KW brand.
Choosing an ideal location for the first RWB KL build was just as important as selecting the colour of the car and luckily, Teoh had that matter covered. Huge thanks to Tengku Azman who volunteered and invited everyone to come to his place at The Garage KL for the important occasion.
The place is spacious, covered, with a trendy cafe on the 1st floor, and a huge parking area to accommodate the people, ...
... and of course, the varieties of awesome cars that turned up.
But among all the Porsches and unique cars I enjoyed admiring, there's just one car that my eyes kept turning back to, it was Yang's pristine Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-Apex. Even though finally I have one too, Im so used to looking at hachirokus that it has become a habit that I can't possibly eliminate. :D
One admirable personality I realised from observing Nakai-san was that he never rejects anyone who brings things for him to put his signature on, whether it's RWB merchandise or simply just a piece of paper. Despite the little words he speaks and his cool-serious face, I believe deep down in his heart he really appreciates the people who love and respect the work he has done.
This picture perfectly paints a thousand words of what Nakai-san is as a person. :)
There were times I tried to strike a conversation with him to understand his endless busy schedule managing international and Japanese customers, whether he is loving our Malaysian spicy foods and where he's heading for the next build.
I was curious about the recent RWB Natty Dread Jr he built for the Idlers Endurance Race which has an enormous rear wing. I like its style but yet wonder does it actually help with the handling on track? So, I asked him.
Nakai-san shared that Natty Dread Jr is totally different from the 993 Natty Dread and the huge rear wing styling is inspired from '75 Porsche 935 K1 Kremer. The most important thing in Rough World concept to him is styling, his cars have to first and foremost look cool on track and on streets.
By 2pm of Day 3, Nakai-san have completed the car with only little adjustments to be made. Honestly, I thought he was really taking things slowly this time because I've seen him work at a much quicker pace. Thankfully, the build progressed smoothly without any difficulties.
You’d immediately know the car was about to finish when Nakai-san applies the RAUH-Welt windscreen sticker and the 'Idlers' stencil on the tyres. Everyone at the scene was supporting him morally by observing the final moments of the birth of a new RWB.
A tradition in RWB that Nakai-san never fails to do is to let the owners peel the sheet off the sticker as an official sign to welcome the arrival of this RWB. The trio's dream finally came true!
Then, the convertible top was dropped and the car required a little push start to get the engine ignited (as the battery was weak) for Nakai-san to have a quick test run in the new RWB.
At about 4.40pm the weather was perfect, everyone's phones were up, cameramen & videographers were ready in their chase cars for the rolling shots, and off Nakai-san went ...
... into the busy streets of KL. Sadly, I didn't get the chance to experience that moment, but I heard that Dino from Speedhunters.com successfully captured pictures of the RWB running gracefully with KL's iconic Twin Towers as background. We've to wait for that! :)
After half an hour or so, the blue RWB returned to base and immediately, Nakai-san worked on final adjustments of the wheels to achieve the driving feeling he wished for.
Like most of its other RWB siblings in Malaysia, this car also received a unique Japanese name. It is named Miyabi, which translates to "elegance", "refinement", "courtliness" and sometimes refers to as "heart-breaker". RWB Miyabi is indeed an ideal name for a car that is delicate, humble yet able to steal your heart whenever you gaze upon it.
Congratulations to RWB Kuala Lumpur - Teoh, Kenneth & Zachary for the arrival of a new RWB in town! With Miyabi now, the RWB car count adds up to five in Malaysia, and I believe there are more RWBs yet to come. By that time, we'd be sure to be there again to snap important moments for you.
Thank you KL friends and RWB family for the awesome time.
And, thank you Nakai-san! Hope to see you soon!
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