July 2020 • By Nestor Cabrera, photos by Naozumi Tsuda

If you have ever built a project car, you know it’s not just about ordering parts from a website and installing them on the car. Now picture trying this in a faraway country where the car you are building wasn’t even sold. 

Such was the task that Naozumi Tsuda took upon himself when he decided to import a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS to Japan. The first obstacle Naozumi had to overcome was actually finding a car. Unlike most of us, he couldn’t just go online, find a car and schedule a time to go see it; Naozumi resides in Uda city in the prefecture of Nara, Japan—a very long way from the US. Naozumi had to coordinate with a friend to help him find the car, he then had to arrange the export/import of the car to Japan. It usually takes about 20 days and costs around $2,000 to ship a car from the US to Japan via a container, then it has to clear customs, which can take several weeks, especially if there are any issues with paperwork, which there is a lot of.

According to Shige Suganuma of www.Mooneyes.co.jp, “There is a 10-percent import tax calculated on what you paid for the car in the US. There is also an annual tax calculated on the size of the engine, for example, a big-block could be $1,000 per year and a small-block about $600. An inspection is required every two years and that costs another $1,500. Plus, if you don’t have a parking space at your house you have to pay between $100 and $600 per month for parking depending upon where you live.” As you can see, it’s not a cheap exercise.

Once Naozumi got the car, he could not drive it legally on the road until the car had been inspected by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism as well as conform to strict emission standards. Since Naozumi is the owner of an off-road shop in Japan, he made space for the car and set out to build his dream muscle car.

You might wonder with all the cool cars in Japan, why Naozumi would be infatuated with a Camaro? Well, as I said, Naozumi is an off roader. He and his brother Masa own Tsuda Racing, a well-known shop in Asia specializing in 4X4 Suzuki trucks. For many years, the Tsuda brothers have been traveling to the US to compete in professional rock crawling and The King of the Hammers off-road race, known as the toughest one-day race in the world. With so many trips to the US, Naozumi has built a fondness for the American car culture.

The first thing Tsuda did when the Camaro arrived was strip it down to bare metal. The car was rusty in all the usual places so the team at Tsuda Racing spent a lot of time addressing all the rust, cleaning and prepping the body for a new coat of paint.

The car was delivered to Body Shop Kikuta for paint. Osama Kikuta is a very famous Japanese painter and he covered the Camaro in PPG Gold Pearl over Orange paint, which gives the Camaro the illusion of a light; almost yellow hue from one angle and a deep, almost red hue from another angle.

After paint, the car went back to Tsuda’s where the tired old small-block 350 was pulled out and a late-model LS3 engine was installed. The LS3 has become the go-to engine for just about any project car due to its high efficiency design and power output in stock trim. Naozumi isn’t one for leaving things alone, however, so he sourced out a hydraulic Comp Cams roller cam with Howards Cams roller rockers, installed a BBK SSI intake and a set of Hooker Headers to change the engines tune and give it a little more grunt when the skinny pedal is pushed to the floor.  A reliable turbo 350 transmission delivers power to a narrowed 9-inch Ford rear end. The Camaro rides on QA1 shocks and stopping power is provided by Willwood brakes. To keep that classic muscle car stance Naozumi mounted a set of Weld Prostar wheels, BFG Radial TA 205/70R15 up front and some 29-15.50-15 Hoosier Pro Street radials.

Before Naozumi could drive the Camaro on any road in Japan, he had to deal with emissions testing and vehicle inspections. Japan does not require the steering wheel to be relocated so Naozumi kept the left-hand drive configuration. He had to get every part he installed on the car approved, which meant many trips to the Land Transport office. Those of us who live in California always complain about California Air resources Board (CARB), but in many ways we are fortunate that companies like Holley, who owns Hooker Headers, apply for EO numbers on our behalf, (NOTE: CARB is used as an example so please don’t start complaining, we can address that in a future article).

Unlike most of us who have a parts store down the street, it took a lot time and money to source all the parts that went into his build.  Those of us who have gone through the trials and tribulations of building a car understand the difficulty of sourcing out parts, dealing with vendors and getting parts to fit. Naozumi not only saw this project through but managed to get it certified for street use in Japan.

Vehicle: 1969 Camaro SS
Owner: Naozumi Tsuda
Engine: 6.2L LS3
Intake: BBK SSI Intake
Header: Hooker Headers
Exhaust: Magnaflow
Transmission: TH350
Rear End: Strange Housing with Detroit Locker
Axle: Moser
Brakes: Wilwood
Tires: BFGoodrich Radial T/A 205/70R15 front, Hoosier Pro Street Radial 29-15-15 rear
Paint: PPG Pearl on Orange by Body Shop Kikuta