These pictures were from Tokyo Auto Salon 2005. I was reminded of them after talking with a blog reader by the name of Lloyd who asked me to share more pictures from TAS 2005. His request was specifically for some S2000 pics from 2005. As I scanned through hundreds of pictures taken on Bulletproof’s 2005 TAS trip, I realized that there are still a lot of good blog entries to be had from TAS 2005 cars/topics. Here’s the first, a direct response to Lloyd’s request.

These days, just four years later, ASM has a totally different image than it did in 2004/2005. The car pictured is in my opinion what put ASM on the map and marks the beginning of the transformation. What transformation you ask? The transformation from Autobacs Secondhan Market to ASM. Although the ASM name remains techincally the same, they clearly shed their image as a used parts store and instead Kanayama-san replaced that image with the image of the world’s most refined and high quality parts maker and tuner. Since ASM’s image and quality has become so refined over the years, its a bit fun to look back at this car which was instrumental in the transition.

The car pictured is Kanayama-san’s personal S2000. It was the first S2000 to break under a minute at Tsukuba (you can see the sign on the windshield). Being the fastest at Tsukuba can put anyone on the map, but in ASM’s case they didnt just squander the fame, they took it and reinvented themselves with the support and financial backing of Autobacs Japan. This was perhaps the last time that this car was seen without ASM original designed parts. In the picture you can see they run essentially all Mugen parts for aerodynamics. Shortly after ASM came out with their original bumper, fenders, bonnet and on it went from there…

Seeing this picture brings back memories because it was right around the time I started distributing ASM in North America and my friendship formed with Kanayama-san as one of my tuning heros and respected parts supplier.