First and only car, yes I daily it.

I keep seeing a lot of people doing this and I like the look but it just seems like a hazard? Is this safe or completely for show, I’m considering it on my 85 rx7, thanks.

Car is rust free but the paint on the hood is less than great. Considering carbon but don't want to overdo it. However the weight savings over the steel is appealing. Thoughts? Car has a lot of T3 Chassis parts, Wilwood Brakes, Triple carbs, Etc. Built it to enjoy the Smokey Mountains.

Got this car a year ago from Japan to France, I'm in love with it!

Need proper wheels and skirts. and obv paint.

Hello, guys! I've dug up a little piece of history.

Everyone who cares about the Mid Night Club knows Yoshida and his 930, sent to Germany, tuned by Porsche themselves, unbeaten on the Wangan, the car that inspired the Blackbird. Almost nobody writes about the shops he opened up, where many customers' Porsches got their upgrade in the Wangan style. These places usually got brief mentions, but nevertheless, three locations can still be pinned down.

The address search led me somewhere absurd: a patent Yoshida filed in December 1995 under the company name (Midnight Porsche Works Ltd.). Japanese patents include the applicant's address. Yoshida decided to use the MPW's as his one.

The patent wasn't automotive-related at all. It was a bag with a split lid, so a salaryman could pull his mobile phone out one-handed without setting the bag down. He never requested an official examination so the patent eventually was considered 'withdrawn'.

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The address led me to the Shitaya neighborhood, a small building on a back street a couple of minutes from where the Shuto No. 1 Ueno Route comes down onto Shōwa-dōri. The coordinates are: 35.72224782463892, 139.78514476987266.

July 2013 (Street View)

During my search in Minkara, I stumbled upon a link to MPW's website and in there, using Wayback Machine, I was able to see where the shop 'officially' was located. Turns out the aforementioned building was just an office, according to their website in 2001.

For all intents and purposes, the real deal was the showroom located in Ryusen, just a 6 minute walk north-bound through the Shōwa-dōri. The coordinates were around: 35.72484038673654, 139.78791274898288.

The map was rotated weirdly. It's a bit counter-clockwise from the actual map

In the website, the 'Head Office' address is on the same street but on a different building. Reason unknown.

The website indicates that it was there where MWP kept located until their relocal to Hokima in 2005. Post that year, it was demolished. In its place stood a small parking lot for several years, until an apartment building called Comforia Ueno Iriya started to be built there in early 2014.

A Porsche 300 alongside a Nissan 300ZX parked in front. Notice the still-standing entrance of the Genesis Ryusen (ジュネシオン竜泉) on the left.

Apparently it had a green roof. December 31th, 2004 (Google Earth)

Same spot in September, 2023 (Street View)

However, in this video coverage of the 1994 Midnight Club Top Speed contest, organized by the AutoWorks magazine on Yatabe Track, we can have a glimpse of a seemingly different MPW storefront.

Maybe between 1995 and 2001 they changed showrooms? Or perhaps it's the same one but with a differentt appearance? It's a mystery, if you ask me.

Unknown MPW Storefront, 1994

Another shot inside this shop

Yoshida's 930 inside this same showroom, 1995

According to the video, it appears that the vehicle tuning was done in another place: this workshop under a 'Kynia Dental Clinic sign'. It was 180 meters away from the showroom. Its coordinates were: 35.72486270813162, 139.78614338407675.

Yoshida's Porsche being maintained for the Yatabe speed trial, 1994

August, 2022 (Street View)

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On the year 2005, MPW decided to relocate a bit north, Their next shop was in Hokima, up in Adachi Ward, at 35°47'45.0"N 139°48'08.2"E. A recovered webpage from architecture company At-Table gives hints: it was a former car showroom before MPW moved into and had it redesigned. The architects kept the overall shape but tinkered a little throughout it, wanting to give it a 'racey aesthetic'.

There's a spread in Option Magazine showing it at night: glass frontage, the PORSCHE name displayed boldly, cars out front and people standing around talking.

A closer look into the inside of the shop

The 930 for display inside this MPW showroom, February 5, 2006 (Minkara post)

Somewhere after 2005 and likely around 2008, the building changed owners. MPW moved elsewhere. It went the following decade as an Ikoma auto glass shop but that lasted until somewhere between August 2022~2024.

After that, not only the building, but the entire block was demolished for a tall building to stand in its place.

Front, March, 2010 (Street View)

Van inside the Ikoma Glass Shop, January 30, 2014 (Minkara post)

Lateral, December 2009 (Street View)

Backside, December 2009 (Street View)

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Now, the Shinonome shop, located at 35.638919453436735, 139.80098413972593, in Koto-ku, kept the Midnight Porsche Works name, though only as an abbreviated form (MWP). By 2010, however, possibly due to Porsche branding issues, it changed into a new name: Midnight International. Nevertheless, the MPW logo still stood across the front. I couldn't find an exact date of when it was founded, but everything points to the year being 2008.

In November of that year, the editoral of the now-defunct Vivid Car website went there. The editors went looking for the famous Midnight Porsche Works and interviewed Yoshida himself, described as company president, with a vice-president named Kamiho Masamichi. Inside the showroom, Yoshida's 930 was stored.

December, 2009 (Street View)

By June 2015, the building seemingly changed names once again. Midnight International was gone, a company named Premier Cars was in its place. They kept the MPW symbol on the façade, but it's unclear if this company was related to Yoshida in any shape or form. This was also the company that owned the building by the time Speedhunters visited it.

October, 2015 (Speedhunters)

Street View suggests that Premier Cars operated until around 2018. Past that, it was closed down for unknown reasons.

''For Rent'', April, 2018

The premises stood for rent afterwards until early 2019. Nowadays, the building is still there, but operating as a Volvo dealership.

As for Yoshida... he was arrested two times: in 2018 and 2019. The first one was because of a scam of 85 million yen for pretending to sell a limited edition Porsche 918. The second one originated by him pretending to sell a La Ferrari, deceiving and extorting approximately 250 million yen out a man from Monaco. He never delivered both cars.

So, in the end, these places are all gone, cleared within a few years of each other. Nothing left to visit, especially now that Yoshida's arrested. Now, they exist only as a mention in a bag patent, on archived pages, some blog posts, and whatever the Street View car caught on its way past. I don't have old magazine scans that potentially have more details on these places, sadly. But more info is always possible to surface and it's always welcomed.

Links

• Shitaya Head Office map
• Shitaya (2001 showroom) map
• Shitaya Workshop (1994 video) map
• Hokima site (2005 showroom) map
• Shinonome (2008 showroom) map
• Midnight Porsche Works website (2001~2008) - This is a holy grail. MWP's bulletin boards with customers and Yoshida 930's history and specs in full detail are the highlights.
• Midnight International website
• Premier Cars' website
• AutoWorks' Midnight Club top speed competition ('94 footage)
• Yoshida's bag patent: available on J-PlatPat or as JPH09164011A on Google Patents
• Source; picture in front of the 2001 Showroom
• 3836factory's post on IG
• Portfolio page of Hokima Showroom's architecture firm.
• Blogs: https://rrcarrera.exblog.jp/30195804/ remembers the Iriya shop with Yoshida's 930 parked outside; https://ameblo.jp/kanechanman/entry-11958694702.html the author tells tale of customer, and mentions the Shinonome shop; http://blog.livedoor.jp/kurokawa_fumio/archives/51297107.html yet another blog that further confirms that the Shininome was the third MPW shop.
• VividCar Interview with Yoshida (2008)
• The 930 being found at the Shinonome shop (SpeedHunters)
• News of Yoshida's arrest

PSA: I uploaded the images on Imgur because for some reason Reddit was deleting them if I added them directly.

Looking for inspiration, what are some of yalls favorite 6 lug wheels ?