Issue 17
Text George Arteaga
Photos Richard Palos
Owner Yoshiaki Yamashiro
Car Club: Techniques CC
Model Monica Nunez
Un Desmadre
Some of you might say that fixing up a carrucha is easy, and in reality it's not! You need to know what kind of paint, interior, wheels, etc?, you will be installing into your ride. Yoshiaki Yamashiro, from Techniques CC in Japan, was working on a 1950 Chevy Fleetline aka "Un Desmadre." Un "desmadre" is the perfect word to describe this masterpiece. It took Yoshiaki approximately seven months of work and nearly $25,000 to get it where it is today.
When Yoshiaki found the ranfla, it was sitting in an old barn on a farm in the Los Angeles area for many years. Once the carrucha was found, it went through a full strip, down to the frame. The ranfla was shipped to Osaka, Japan and then made it's way to Car Club Customs Hydraulics of Tokushima, Japan where Taka, the Vice President of Techniques Japan, went to work on this beauty. While the car was at Taka's shop, the paint chrome, upholstery, and all the final touches were completed to make it look the way it looked then, slammed to the ground. Then the ranfla was shipped back to Los Angeles from Japan for a car show in October of 2000 and then was shipped back to Japan in November, to have airbags installed and to be repainted the same color by Car Club Customs Hydraulics. The interior is all og mohair and the paint is a 1999 Lexus black, and the chrome was dipped so many times it would be hard to count. That is what makes the chrome shine so much. The rims are 13x7 street wires with street premium sportways, even the spare in the trunk is a sportway. Pinstriping on the air cooler was done by Danny A. of Pasadena, CA. The sound system is an Alpine single CD player with Infinity speakers mounted not to be seen to keep the og look. The great looking plaque was made by Plaquesworks and it was gold plated to perfection by Mark.
As you can see, fixing a ranfla is no easy task. That's why it's "Un Desmadre" to get it to perfection, but at the end of all the work, you have perfection. The lowridng culture in Japan is going strong, they cruise every night and so does Yoshiaki. Techniques, E.L.A. Chapter, started twenty nine years ago and this og car club has made its way internationally with a Japan Chapter. The membership is at an all time high of twenty-six members and have more cars flying plaques than most clubs in all Japan, even with the high standards of Techniques. Yoshiaki would like to thank Taka, Sensei and all the members of Techniques Japan. Techniques in Los Angeles members, Peter Cruz, Henry Juarez, Richy Miranda, and Benny Miranda, Ray Carrillo "President," and last but not least Robert, the best mechanic to work on bomba motors.