Perfect: Toyota MR2 Built by Street Racing Legend

Stan's 1989 Toyota MR2 was tuned by street racing legend Rafael Estevez, who inspired the character of Dom Toretto in Fast & Furious. And that's not even the most special thing about it.

[CARISMA is The Drive's new series exploring the connection between enthusiasts and their cars. See the full playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHa6PXrV-yIjdroCPPYISm4OyNQOV6z4V ]

Stan Karr Yeung is the founder of Daikoku NYC, a car club in New York City inspired by the famous Daikoku meet in Yokohama, Japan. And his MR2 is a perfect encapsulation of his background as the child of immigrants from Hong Kong, his skills as a designer, and his passion for bringing people together over cars.

After an extended trip to Asia to get to know his roots, Stan came back to America wanting two things: a sweet car, and a place to hang out with like-minded enthusiasts. He ended up creating both.

"Most immigrant mindsets, it’s like, you don’t waste what you have, you gottta be thankful for what you do have, and make the best of what you have. If you can fix it, it’s not broken."

So his MR2 wasn't broken, but it was pretty close—rusted out, barely running, with its original paint shot when he found it in Pennsylvania. He trucked it back to NYC and got to work, bringing in Rafael to help complete his vision of a tuner MR2: classic looks hiding some wild mods underneath. Rebuilding the 4A-GZE engine with forged parts and boring it out to 1.8L, billet pulleys, HKS cam gears, a huge intercooler, a MaxECU Sport setup, adjustable BC coilovers, Techno Toy Tuning suspension parts, a set of Gram Lights, lightweight flywheel, custom exhaust... the list goes on. And it's not even done yet.

At the same time, he wanted to recreate the feeling he had visiting the famous Daikoku meet in Japan: chill vibes with incredible cars of all kinds and people from all walks of life. So Daikoku NYC was born.

"As you get older, it’s harder to make friends. But Daikoku ends up being a place you’re coming out to where it’s not focused on you directly. You have this kind of buffer with your car, and that ends up being a lot easier of a platform to talk and connect with each other.”

This month, in recognition of what Stan has built, Daikoku NYC was invited to be in the city's annual AAPI Month parade, with its cars running down the middle of midtown Manhattan in a celebration of the culture that inspired such a special club.

"It went from 'what happened to the meets? I want to see more variation,' to this bigger-than-me community that is inclusive of all and ends up being a really cool place for you to come and feel secure at with whatever build that you have. At the end of the day, that's all anyone is trying to do, just find a place to be with their car."

Follow Stan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daikokunyc/

Produced, shot, and edited by https://www.instagram.com/tomgorelik/

Previous episode: https://youtu.be/C9q8oezV8xs?si=5dHEkfryWDiME8q9

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