I will admit, as much of a drag to fuel-efficiency it usually is, my eye is often caught by the sparkle of a new stainless part like most truckers out there. There is something in me that makes me excited, like a kid with a new toy, when I get a new part that adds that perfect shine to my rig! Much like the truckers here in the United States that take pride in their chromed-out show trucks, a breed of trucker in Japan has taken pride in their rigs as well. The pride is where the similarities begin to part ways though, as their cult following has given birth to what I can only describe as “Extreme Truck Art”. Born much in the same way as a lot of our truck pride was spread through movies like “Convoy” and “Smokey and the Bandit”, the Japanese truck art craze was spread through movies and media as well.
Some of the original Dekotora art trucks were not privy to custom aftermarket parts that are readily available today and used parts usually acquired from sightseeing buses or U.S. military vehicles. The cult series of movies titled Torakku Yarō, translated meaning Truck Guys, is originally thought to of started the fad in 1975. Over the decades, the art has changed and been influenced by many other forms of Japanese media, including the art of Gundam, but the passion for these extravagantly decorated trucks has remained unchanged. Weird as it may seem to some, these trucks have been captivating to me since I found out what they were a couple years ago. Check out this video on them and let me know what you think of these cargo-hauling decorated trucks on steroids!