Mitsuoka Orochi is considered by many to be one of the ugliest cars has ever been performed. However, a newly customized example cuts the courtesy of Liberty Walk, the tuner specializing in extreme widebody kits. And dare we say, it doesn’t look half as bad.
If you’re not familiar with Mitsuoka, they’re like Mansory’s Japan. They usually take an existing model from, such as Nissan, and add sheet metal and customize Mitsuoka’s own design. Their flagship model, the Orochi, is a trash can car with details from Honda’s motobike, Mazda and Suzuki, powered by a 3.3 liters Toyota The V6 and five-speed combo – the same for the Solara – is mid-mounted and drives the actual wheels.
That’s all well and good, but Orochi, named after a dragon in Japanese mythology, has always been about how it looks. Honestly, we didn’t see many dragons there. It is possible that a Lovecraftian deep sea creature was attacked by Godzilla.
In any case, this Liberty Walk modified Orochi, posted on founder Wataru Kato’s social media accounts, was the first decent account we’ve seen. That’s partly due to the store’s signature look – whether applied to Supra, Land Cruiser or Ferrari – is all about extremes, and few cars look as extreme as the Orochi in stock form (shown in the gallery below).
Liberty Walk’s Brand fender flares actually grip the Orochi’s wheels pretty well. The front lip and side skirts, not to mention its sloping ride height, help fill in some of the unusual organic lines in the original’s design. Also, with the giant racing wings on it, the whimsical air vents, and the hood on the Orochi looks more like home.
On top of that, Liberty Walk completed it on the basis of their current drift car, a Mazda S15 Nissan Silvia powered by rotary electric. That Silvia car itself was an homage to an older Group 5 Silvia race car (sold as the Nissan 200SX) from the 1980s. But I digress. The point here is that, while this may not be a race car, the racing gear helps make up for the Orochi’s unique bodywork. We never thought that adding more to an already busy design would help, but in this case, more is more.
Liberty Walk Orochi scheduled to premiere live at Tokyo Auto Shop this weekend.
