Vengaworld are an organisation that host modified car meets in London, and from what I had seen online they looked really good, but I had never had the opportunity to go to check one of the events out.
I was in London for Salon Prive’s Sloane Street Concours (which you can read about here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2026/04/12/salon-prive-sloane-street-concours/) so on my way home I thought I’d swing by Canary Wharf to check out Return to the Underground.
Firstly – what a fantastic event! I think having free to attend, organised events like this are fantastic for the automotive community and kudos has to be given to Vengaworld for that, but an event is only as good as the people that attend and from what I saw everyone there was super respectful of the cars, the venue and each other which is great to see.
As an enthusiast its nice to have a relaxed show to wander around, but at a free to attend event in a public car park in the middle of London where curious passers by can come and go, having such a respectful relaxed atmosphere really helps to paint the bigger car scene in a good light which can only be a good thing.
Secondly – I must apologise for the quality of the pictures here. The sun was setting when I was there and it obviously made dealing with lighting a bit of a challenge. Had I known how much the images were affected, I would have soldiered on until the night had properly drawn in. I still hope you enjoy this article though, and I will know to stay later next time (there will definitely be a next time!)
I’ve decided to split this event into two articles as it has been getting really long as I’ve been writing it. Today we’ll look at the Japanese cars of the event and next time we’ll look at the European cars
Now, without further ado – lets get into Vengaworld: Return to the Underground!
We shall start with a car very near and dear to my heart – the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ. The first car I saw as I walked through the door to the top floor of the car park was this beautiful facelifted ZN6 BRZ.
Another facelift in gunmetal (same colour as mine!)
I really liked the lip around this one. If anyone knows what this kit is called please get in touch!
The ZN8/GR86.
The original AE86. First we have a notchback drift car.
And a tribute to the iconic Tofu delivery hatchback from Initial D. I would imagine this was popular all evening. The whole time I was there, there was a little crowd around it.
Moving on to the 86’s bigger brother the Supra. I saw one Mk5 in attendance:
There were a few Mk4s:
The Z30 Toyota/Lexus Soarer has always been seen as the sister car of the Mk4 Supra. For a long time it was underappreciated in my opinion, but as time is marching on they are becoming more and more desirable. This was a really nice example!
There were a few big luxury cars from the Toyota/Lexus marque. The Crown Athlete estate was particularly tasty!
An IS drift car. It looks fantastic with the kit and livery! If memory serves the livery was from Craig at Violent-D. The man is an artist, his liveries are so well done!
Seeing a first gen MR2 was a nice surprise! I like the 1980s livery!
A couple of really unusual classic Toyotas now. A T180 convertible Celica. I can’t imagine too many exist now!
Along with an E100 Corolla. When I was a kid these were everywhere! I’ve not seen one on the road for years!
We’ll head from Toyota straight into Nissan. The S-Chassis is still ever popular. It’s always nice to see an S12. Small, deep dish wheels on 1980s Japanese cars just works!
Small wheels on these two S13s too! Midnight Purple and Millennium Jade are my two favourite Nissan colours. The purple really suits the S13!
This blue is rather fetching too. Contrasts nicely with the bronze wheels.
Moving along to the S14:
And finally the S15. Will we ever see an S16? Nissan – get on it!
Moving onto the R-Chassis/Skyline. We start with an R32 GTR.
And a GTS drift car with another Violent-D livery.
An R33 GTR:
An R34 with lots of carbon.
A four door R34. I’ve always thought these look good, especially with that style bodykit.
A bit of a bonus is a Stagea with an R34 front end.
One R35 GTR:
And another bonus – a Hakosuka GTR. I had to look it up and from factory they just had the flared wheel arch over the rear wheels. I’d never noticed that detail before!
The Z32 300ZX. This was another car that was underappreciated when I was younger. They have a pretty good following now!
Z34 370Z.
Finally a little Pulsar GTI-R. These came out in 1990 as a homologation special for Group A rallying. They raced in 1991 and 1992 then Nissan withdrew from WRC. Cool little car and rather rare!
Mazda’s rotary line up was well represented. This FB RX7 has featured on the blog at Brands Hatch Masters. https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2025/06/03/brands-hatch-masters-historic-festival-2025/ I fell in love with it then and I still think it’s a stunning car! Another livery by Violent-D if memory serves me correctly.
FD RX7s:
Along with a couple of RX8s.
MX5s. Both nicely presented cars. The little two tone one was lovely!
Finally a little Mazda 323 – another car you simply don’t see anymore!
Mitsubishi Evos. People clearly go all out building these! The pearl widebodied one was my favourite!
The Evo X. I’ve always felt the internet’s opinion of these cars was really harsh. Sure, they’re not quite as hardcore as the earlier cars and you can’t get a bazillion horsepower out of them like you can the 4G63, but in the real world you’ve got a fast, fun, practical all wheel drive performance saloon car – which is exactly what Mitsubishi always intended the Evo to be.
Subaru. There were a few Imprezas in attendance. For some reason I only got a picture of one. This is a Hawkeye. When I was a kid I remember being deeply offended when the Hawkeye came out, because according to young Richard the Blobeye that came before it was the coolest car of all time! The Hawkeye has aged really well though! It’s a smart looking thing.
This one was a really nicely presented example.
Finally from Japan we have Honda. The EK (6th gen) Civic is my favourite of them. It’s a car that always wears its modifications well – from a light street build to a drag car to a circuit car they always look good. Now they’re getting to an age where restored or really nicely kept standard ones turn the head too!
Integra DC5. I love the number plate! The Honda K-Series is a legendary engine.
Another K20 number plate on this EP3. I never like the EP3 until I got to have a little drive of one. They’re great fun!
A fourth gen (EF chassis code possibly?) Civic with what appears to be some inspiration from the Kanjo loop street racers. I love the Asahi Super Dry beer livery!
And last but not least – a pair of Accord wagons.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this tour of the Japanese cars at Vengaworld: Return to the Underground. If you’d like to see more, including the European cars at this show, please subscribe to the blog via email (from the box at the bottom of the page).
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By Richard Francis.
