Before we go any further into the Liberty Walk story, go ahead and hit that Like button, it really helps us out in the algorithm.

Disrespectful to classic cars. Sacrilege. Piece of (bleep), (bleep) fart, (indistinct) looks like he took out of a piece of (bleep) and put it all up (indistinct) butt.

If you've heard of Liberty Walk, chances are that you've got an opinion on them. But there's a lot more to Liberty Walk than wild body kits, over fenders, and stoking internet flame wars.

Who is the madman who came up with these designs and body kits? How did he change custom car culture in Japan and the world at large?

Well guess what? Today we're gonna find out and we made a video about it. This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on Liberty Walk.

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WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Before we go any furtherinto the Liberty Walk story,go ahead and hit that Like button,it really helps us out in the algorithm.Disrespectful to classic cars.Sacrilege.Piece of (bleep), (bleep) fart,(indistinct) looks like hetook out of a piece of (bleep)and put it all up (indistinct) butt.If you've heard of Liberty Walk,chances are that you'vegot an opinion on them.But there's a lot more to Liberty Walkthan wild body kits, over fenders,and stoking internet flame wars.Who is the madmanwho came up with thesedesigns and body kits?How did he change customcar culture in Japanand the world at large?Well guess what?Today we're gonna find outand we made a video about it.This is everything you needto know to get up to speedon Liberty Walk.(8-bit music)- Oh hey, thanks to Jackeryfor sponsoring today's video.You might be wondering whyI'm wearing this hockey jerseywhile eating poutine with afresh pint of maple syrup.Well, we're celebrating the launchof Jackery's new Canadian website.That's right, the future ofsolar and portable energyis now available to our Canadian friends.Stop apologizing for losingelectricity during winterand take the power backwith the help of Jackery'samazing products,like their all new camping lightwith its portability,adjustable brightness,and a life span of 54,000 hours!It's a perfect power pairwith Jackery's generators.Check out the Explorer 1000.It's Jackery's most popular modelwith the ability to supply 1,000 watts,enough to run a full sized frigerator.Perfect for keeping your bagmilk nice and cold. (slurps)Plus it has multiple ports.Not just AC outlets,but also a DC port and USB charging ports.Perfect for that roadtrip up Icefields Parkway.That's right, I know where that's at.And you can take it to another levelwith Jackery's Solar Generator 1500.It's a real massive moosewith its incredible 1,800running wattage capacity,allowing you to power 99% ofyour devices and appliances.Oh yeah.I'm just doing a Minnesota accent really.So eat up your buttertart, get of your muskoka,and pause that episodeof "Kim's Convenience".Got to ca.jackery.com todayby clinking the link inthe description below.Plus everyone can get 10% offwith the promo code JACKERYCA.That's more money you can spend on gravyto pour over a plate of poutine.Mm, oh, that's a nice gravy.That's a lot of gravy.- Liberty Walk makes someof the most insane body kitsthe world never asked for.Now whether you like them or not,you have to admitthey've made a hugeimpression on car culturethanks to their passion for innovationand commitment to quality.Plus they cut up some insanelyexpensive exotic cars,which takes a lot of guts toeven attempt you gotta admit.The founder of LibertyWalk is Kato Wataru.Kato san was born in 1967on the outskirts of Japan'sthird largest city, Nagoya.Now Nagoya is often calledthe Detroit of Japanbecause people love building cars there.And Japanese Eminem is from there.♪ Aye, I'm a destroyer from Nagoya ♪♪ Driving through your Shinoya ♪- As a teen in the 80s,Kato san grew obsessed with the ideaof taking a regular carand turning it into something special,something aesthetically dangerous.Like adding a harmonica to a rock band"Blues Traveler" style.The hook will bring youback. (mimics harmonica)Now this is most likely because ofall the influence of the badboys of Japanese car culture.Course I'm talking about the bosozoku,the bosozoku, the bosozoku.I've talked about these guys beforein our Rocket Bunny episode.Back when I hosted "Bumper toBumper" we did a video on 'em.I'll put the link to both of thosein the description below.If you like this video and you're like"I wanna watch more Donut,"you can click on those.They're be right there.They're really good.Now the word "boso"translates to crazy or loud.And "zoku" means group.Put 'em together and yougot some crazy loud guys.I can't identify with that at all!These specific crazy loud guyswere former World War II pilotswho started modifying cars and motorcyclesto reflect their personalities.Now they wanted their vehiclesto be impossible to ignore.And they succeeded, okay.These cars have elongated fenders,wide squared off arches,and transplanted headlights.But the vibrant paintwork and12 foot long exhaust pipesmade these cars a little divisive.Some people loved 'em,and others, the police included,branded them as a menace to society.Now let's not forget,this all takes place in Japan,a country where the dominant culturetends to be more modest like a mouseand respectful of traditionthan some other places.So the bosozoku were living out loudand freaking out the squares, man.Just like your aunt whenshe finalized her divorce.She's got all new underwearand she's wearing a toe ring!Eat your heart out, former Uncle Chris!In the 1980sthe rest of the world didn't give a hootwhat a bunch of crazy loudguys in Japan were doing,but that was all about to change.In the 1990s the culture ofcar modification in Japanwould gain global exposurefor the first time.And Kato saw this an an opportunity.In 1993 Kato realizedhow he could make hisown stamp on car culture.At the tender age of 26he took a major leap andfounded his own company.A company where he could capitalizeon the global explosion ofinterest in everything Japanese.A company where he couldbring his own creative takeon the bosozoku style to the world.A company that would go on to becomeone of the most respectedand controversial modificationcompanies in history.That company was Liberty Walk.Now the name Liberty Walk,a name Kato san picked to representthe freedom a customerhas to customize their carin anyway that they'd want.Now this was totally in linewith Liberty Walk'sfoundational principles.Kato san original formed the companyto change the perception of car workshopsand to spread positive energyby bringing a smile to thefaces of its customers.I love that.Plus, the obsessed renegadewanted to brand himselfas a radical and unique builder.And to do that,Kato san started selling bodykits for cute little K cars.Now we know what K cars are,they're a lovable little Pixar characters,are Japan's everyday economy carsand are a perfect exampleof the Japanese culture ofrestraint and function over form.We're talking beautieslike the Suzuki Wagon R,the Daihatsu move, and the Subaru Rex.Now Kato san's idea to sellbody kits for K cars was radicaland really put Liberty Walk on the map.Business was booming!Today K cars are often modifiedand personalized by their owners,but not back in the 90s.No sir.Liberty Walk was at theforefront of the movementto personalize them.He crafted some of the most interestingand radical parts andkits, and spoiler alert,he still does it to this day.He's probably out theredoing it right now.I don't know. What time is it in Japan?He's either sleepingor he's doing it, okay.For example, you can buy abody kit for a Daihatsu Copenand turn it from this into this.Now around 1996Kato san started importingAmerican cars and super carsfrom companies like BMW,Mercedes-Benz, and Hummer.Because what does a Hummer need to be?Wider. I agree.Not nearly wide enough.Now this was another radical departurefrom the average Japanese car shop.And for a whileKato san made a decent livingthrough his modified K car parts and kitsas well as selling American sedansto rich Japanese business men.But something was missing.Ever the renegade,Kato san become focusedon Liberty Walk's future.He thought about his influencesand his love for 80s and90s Japanese tuner cultureand the bosozoku, the bosozoku.The inspiration he got fromvibrant colors, radical lines,and the unique one of one adjustmentsthat turned a car froma collection of partsinto a rolling work of art.He thought about the reasonhe loved to modify carsin the first place.The smiles,the smiles that he sawon his customers' faces.And then Kato san realizedwhat his next iconoclastic step would be.It was time to startmodifying exotic cars.This was in the 2000s.Modifying performance carswas gonna (honk) a bunchof people's absolute (honk)the (honk) up.Now one of the first cars Katosan modified in this styleis the reason why thepurists formed such a,let's say strong, let's stickwith strong opinion of him.Now there's no easy way to say this,but the first car he modifiedwas sort of a car that you don't modify.They don't like it when you do it.And I'm just gonna ripthe bandaid off here and,it was a Ferrari.He cut up a Ferrari, sorry Enzo.And to make it hurt a little morefor you traditionalists out there,it wasn't just any Ferrari.No, it was a Ferrari F40.This was the last carthat Enzo Ferrari signedoff on personally.For a ton of people,the Ferrari F40 is the reasonthat they are into cars.The F40 is not a carthat's you're supposedto (honk) with, okay.Ferrari F40 ain't nothing to (honk) with.That would be like taking an angle grinderto the Statue of Libertyand carving a pair of jorts.You just don't do it.And yet Kato san did it.And you know what, it looked amazing.Now even though this earlysuper car modificationdoesn't exactly show thefull Liberty Walk style,the F40 showed purposefulmods and artistic restraint.Kato san redesigned the rear fenderto include two giant, yetfunctional, Venturi tunnels.The front lip spoiler was elongated.He added fixed headlightsand a manually adjustablefor added downforce.Despite the respect he showed the Ferrarias well as the functionality of the mods,people hated it.The F40 along with Katosan's similarly modified F50,yeah, blew up the car forums and Reddit.This was a pre-Kardashianbreaking of the internet.Some people, myself included,think it was a mark of fearless geniusto take a car that people areobsessed with and change it.Other people,and by other peopleI mean spaghetti slurping stallion stans,thought it was a sin,the absolute worse thing you could do.Aside from overcooking your pasta.But Kato san didn't do it for them.He did it for himself,to make himself happy.And as long as he was happythere were no problems.But if he wasn't happy,then we got problems.Another massive moment inLiberty Walk's story was in 2008when a buddy of Kato san called him up.He goes "Kato son, I'm over my Diablo,"but the new Lambo lineupis basic as hell, man."And the Murcielago'sway too tame looking."Can you help me?"And Kato san was like "Hell yeah, brother,"I can help you, bro."We'll ship a Murcielago straight to Japan"so I can blow people's minds off.I'm paraphrasing.I'm not sure they had those accents,but that's basically what went down.Now Kato san cut intothe Murcielago's fendersand completely redesigned the car,drawing on design elements fromclassic Lamborghine Machinesas well as his own bosozokuinfluenced Japanese style.And what Liberty Walkended up with was this,the first but definitelynot the last Lamborghinimodified by Liberty Walk.In 2009 Liberty Walk broughtthe car to Las Vegas for SEMA.It was the company's first timeexhibiting at the worldfamous car modification showand was also the firstreal worldwide exposure Liberty Walk gotfor it's high end modification work.And even though Liberty Walkfits in at SEMA these days,they were definitely the black sheepat the car show in 2009.To put that into context,this was about four years beforeRocket Bunny went to SEMA.It's one year before RWB.So as you can probably guess,people had opinions.Yes, the radical redesign of the Lamboblew up the internet again.But after all that exposure,no new orders came into the company.Kato san became concernedthat his modificationswere unacceptable to the car community.He'd only ever gone with his gut,never listened to the crowd,and instead focused onhow a car made him feel.Maybe he had been wrongto make such drasticchanges to super cars.No he wasn't!Like with all goodthings it just takes timefor people to catch upto a visionary idea.How long did it take forpeople to like Rocket Bunny?Van Gogh died before heearned a single Dutch money.Operation Ivy broke up theday that their album came out.But Kato san's treatmentof the modern super carswas met with far more praise.Probably because he wantedto use through F40 and F50to shock people out oftheir comfort zones,or maybe the stylings ofsuper cars in the 2010swere just kind of tame.This new crop of super carsdidn't look as aggressiveor exciting as past iterations,which is where Liberty Walk'sbody kits and mods came in.Suddenly these super cars were unexpectedand stoke inducing again.A Lamborghini Gallardomodified by Liberty Walkdidn't look like an Audi R8with a different body kit.Looked like a frickingLiberty Walk Lamborghini.At SEMA 2013, LibertyWalk exhibited two cars,a Nissan GTR and a Ferrari 458 Italia.The internet kind ofpredictably at this pointwent absolute BAPE, shouts to Pharrell.Liberty Walk was the talk of the town.Everyone wanted to see thesecars with their own two eyes.Everyone wanted a photo.They wanted to straight upmake these cars their girlfriends.Liberty Walk was officially thehottest ticket on the scene.And the orders, they started rolling in.Since then, Liberty Walk hasonly grown in popularity.The company was inundatedwith so many worldwide ordersfor their Lamborghine Machine body kitsas well as fully customized carsthat they had to acquireadditional workshops.Now that's not badfor a company thatstarted in a single garagethat could only accommodatethree cars at a time.Liberty Walk was so busythat Kato san set up sister companiesto handle their customers'every wild whim.LB Performance handles customerswho wanna add a fewflares and extra detailsin the form of removablebody kits, suspension,and wheel upgrades, all right.These cars can be put back to stockif you ever wanna sell it.LB Works is for people whowant a Kato san original.Your car gets shipped to Japanand is modified in the shop by hand.But no takesees backsees.They're gonna cut that (honk) open.Then we have Liberty Works GT.Box fendered race cars. Enough said.Finally, Kato san stays trueto his roots with LB Nationwhich makes parts exclusivelyfor domestic Japanese cars,including K cars.For the workers at Liberty Walk,the motto on the shop flooris "no boundaries, no limitations".And trust me, they live up to that motto.And to prove it to you,let's look at some (honk)cars already, all right.One of the cars that launched Liberty Walkinto the stratosphere is the R35 GTR.It's one of their most customizedwith three different kits,each offers a different blendof performance versus looks.Same goes for the Ferrari 458.Kato san and his team tookthis sleek Italian aerodynamic beautyand crafted it into an absolutelymean wine chugging horse.Liberty Walk has alsomodified the Ferrari 488,the McLaren 650S street car,and even a Lamborghini Miura,which is a replica of a Miurabut still looked fricking so, so sick.The replica stands just 32 anda half inches from the groundwith Kato son's typical stanceand unfussy redesignedfront and rear fenders.Again, this gorgeous workof art is just a replicaso please chill out.Don't comment.Just kidding.Definitely comment.It helps us with the algorithm.All hail the algorithm.Now in the crowded roomthat is super car modifiers,Kato san is a man who stands alone.Liberty Walk is morethan just a shock shop.The artists at LibertyWalk clearly love carsand take massive aesthetic riskswhile also considering the flowof the car's original bodywork.It's not about just bolting ona pair of fenders, all right.The sign that hangs inthe Liberty Walk showroommay do the best jobof summing up theireccentric founder's ethos."As long as it's a car, we can do it."And above all, let's be happy together."- Help us make room for some new stockby buying some old favoritesat our Donut Media garage sale.By going to DonutMedia.comand getting some sick T-shirts on sale.There's some old limitedrelease shirts in dark modethat we don't have verymany quantities of,so you gotta act fast.The sale runs from the24th to the 27th of Marchso you gotta act fast.Got to DonutMedia.com.It's your chance to evengrab a classic Donut logo teefor under $20.Click that link down there.Get you a sick tee.- Thank you guys so muchfor watching this videoand everything else on Donut.If you haven't already,hit that Subscribe button,hit that bell to make sureyou don't miss anything.If you want some Donutapparel, including this hat,go to DonutMedia.com.We're dropping new items every week.I'm super, super stoked about it.My best friend in theworld, Andy, designs it all.I love you.(upbeat pop music)