THROWBACK: JDM RHD owners meeting 2007 / 2008

For those who don’t know. In 2007 and 2008, I organized an event called JDM RHD Owner’s meet. A meeting specifically for the small group of Japanese import car owners in Switzerland.
At both events in 2007 and 2008, we met at a location somewhere in eastern Switzerland, had a nice blast around some mountain passes and then met somewhere to take photos.
In 2007 we had a Daihatsu Copen, Impreza Coupe, an R33, my EK9, Andy’s two S15 Silvias and an R34 GT-R:

We also had hired Sashstyle for a nice photoshooting inside the nearby wood storage complex:

Where every participant got a set of nice professional photos:

I don’t remember how exactly this happened, but at the same meeting, also some guys from Co-ord Motorsports UK showed up with Japanese Rays engineering (Volk wheels, etc) people who brought along their latest wheel designs.

In 2008, the event was a bit more relaxed and organized on a more short notice, but again we had a nice gathering of selected cool cars:

We went for a spirited drive together, went for lunch at a cheese factory in Appenzell and ended up at the famous Schwägalp base station at Mt. Säntis.

Those were the times, when an RHD Japanese import car was really quite rare and what you see in these pictures are really some of the first proper “import cars” based on JDM culture that were brought to Switzerland by individuals for the purpose of fun. I remember the event was quite laid back and just a day of fun, and it was always a spectacle when pedestrians and people started to realize what the group of cars passing by were. They started to smile and wave and stop for a chat. Ah, the good old times. And it makes me happy i still own the very EK9 that made me do all of this, to meet likeminded people.

Maybe some day I’ll do another of those events. I guess meanwhile there are many more skylines, Silvias and whatnot to be found in some Swiss backyards. But at the same time, I guess that “pioneer” feeling we had back then is missing these days. We were a bunch of individualists who did all of this for the love of the japense cars and put a lot of effort, time and money inot it. Nowadays, it’s all just a few mouseclicks away. Nevertheless, it were those great times that brought me so much joy and friendships in this community.