Super Autobacs Opens In Southern CaliforniaAutobacs stores in Japan are an awe-inspiring experience. For seven years, Turbo magazine's Tokyo Auto Salon Tour itinerary has had the buses stopping at a Super Autobacs.
Imagine all the JDM-spec you can dream of lined up on shelves: a row of custom exhausts (including titanium systems), a gaggle of coil-overs draped over pegs in the next row, tuning electronics and turbo kits in the next, entire displays of parts for specific cars like a Silvia, Skyline or EVO. All the best and unattainable JDM stuff is right there for hands-on examination. It's common to see a set of coil-overs or strut tower bars wrapped in cardboard with a tape handle going home as the carry-on luggage of one of our Tour attendees.
Autobacs Seven Co. Ltd., the parent company, was established in 1948 as a wholesaler and retailer of automobile parts and is publicly traded on the Tokyo and London stock exchanges. There are now more than 500 Autobacs stores and franchises across Japan and overseas and 3,500 employees. For fiscal year 2002, the company's net sales were $1.7123 billion.
The new Los Angeles-area Super Autobacs store is a one-stop mega store for all your automotive needs. The huge store boasts 35,000 sq. ft. of brand-name and original merchandise complete with specialty installation, maintenance and car customization bays on site. You'll find more than 71 brands and 10,000 products, including products for both American and import cars. Cleanly designed and designated departments make shopping fun and products easy to find. Thousands of unique products are at your fingertips and you can't beat the knowledgeable and friendly service. Autobacs is the ultimate source to support your personal car lifestyle. It's located at 12645 Beach Blvd., Stanton, CA. Tel: (714) 903-9900.
Factory Five FTM SupercarFactory Five, a major manufacturer of component replica cars, has designed its own supercar. Not a replica, the Factory Five GTM (Grand Touring mid-engine) is engineered to use a builder-supplied engine, driveline and suspension from a C5 Corvette (1997 and up). Priced less than $20,000, the GTM includes a tubular steel space frame, aluminum panel reinforcements and an aerodynamic body construct of an epoxy-resin laminate. Would a Supra engine fit in it? Factory Five, (508) 291-3443 or www.factoryfive.com.
| WHEEL OF THE MONTH |
| Manufacturer: | Center Line Wheels |
| Model: | Impulse |
| Size: | 17x7 |
| Offset: | 42mm |
| Available Bolt Patterns: | 4 and 5 lug |
| Weight: | 11.8 lbs |
| Available Sizes: | 15 and 17 inch |
| Contact: | www.centerlinewheels.com |
Video Data Acquisition...Are You Kidding?Racepak is not kidding. The company has devised a method of integrating synchronized video with the data gleaned from Racepak's on-board datalogging recorders. The video images are displayed on the computer screen along with the standard numeric and graphical data stream. This allows the tuner/racer to move the curser along the graph and view the video as it advances frame by frame or view the run/video in real time. Pretty trick. Racepak Data Systems, (949) 709-5555 or www.racepak.com.