SIGNAL HISTORY

Kousuke Kida aka MAD's past sounds like most any American performance enthusiast. His introduction to cars was helping out at his father's body shop as a young boy. Later he was head of a popular racing crew and gained valuable experience and what is more, got many friends and customers tweaking their motorcycles and cars. This tinkering led to a job at a local Toyota dealership after Mr. Kida graduated from high school.

After about a year the monotony of the daily routine was too much to bear and MAD set into motion the beginning of what would become Signal Auto. It was 1977 and Mr. Kida was 19 years old. He rented out the corner of a shop of his friend and started the business with his younger brother. This is the beginning of Signal Auto. Armed with some tools, a notebook, and a trusty pickup truck, his skill and determination allowed him to build a customer base. He was done with typical repairs and wanted to build big-time performance cars. His rolling business car was a Fairlady Z (Nissan 300ZX). He became a little too overzealous in his product testing sessions and landed himself and his car in the impound yard. He realized then to focus more on the performance of his customer's cars. The business expanded to a bigger corner of a bigger body shop. He finally bought a place which is the present head office. He says that "Signal" was named because there was a signal in front of the shop. MAD hired employees, he hired his father, and he had a strong customer base.


MAD was a big fan of Punch and Jon of the TV show "ChiPs" and the show was his inspiration to come and see America. Didn't know anything about the U.S.A., but wanted to know, wanted to go, and wanted to drive on the freeway in the U.S.A.! Nobody can stop him when he wants to do something. After all, he spent a year in L.A. Who could ever think that Signal Auto would appear here in L.A.? Later, MAD was joined by his brother, a paint and body specialist, and Signal Auto took over the body shop they had formerly been renting corner space from. MAD's vision was a business that could meet the needs of every customer who came calling.

	For the next 12 years Signal Auto was expanded and MAD decided to explore other avenues. One logical stop was racing. What better way to showcase one's tuning talents than on the tracks? Signal Auto built a Toyota Startlet KP61 for the "Freshman Series." MAD was highly successful winning a number of races in succession. He then moved up to the RS Formula series. Unfortunately, a serious crash at the famed Suzuka circuit dampened MAD's spirits but like the mishap with his Z-car served to refocus his attention. Shortly after his recovery he opened two tuning shops in Takarazuka and Takatsuki, both cities near Osaka. He again involved Signal Auto in racing, however this time as Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC) Series sponsor. Quite different from the circuit he had raced before, he was impressed with its speed and showy atmosphere. This strong impression made him have his dreams and enthusiasm in his performance car business. This experience led him to open G-Signal Osaka in the early '90s. Signal Auto's used GT-R car division was born with the opening of two lots, one in Osaka and the other in Kyoto to express everything he had achieved so far. He wanted to find a dream at Signal not only by himself but also with the young people driving performance cars on the street.


By 1997 Signal was making plans to do more than check out the scene---it wanted in on the action. The R33 Skyline was built and tuned and spent about six months in America running races from coast to coast. Fast forward to 1999 and the chop-top Civic was having equal or better success in America. Its 10.07 makes it the fastest Japan-built Honda to appear on American Shores. Quite good for a company that is viewed as a Skyline specialist. Mr. Kida is quick to point out that his Honda was built to race in the Quick VIII and not just run exhibition class. He also passed along that Signal Auto is the first tuner in Japan to run a Motec engine management system. MAD prefers the camaraderie and competition of racing and believes that if Japanese built Hondas continue to run in exhibition class and not race they will be seen as putting themselves on a pedestal, being too good to race with America's elite.

1999 June 13, he finally got the prize of 9.97 with Chop Top Civic in the circuit of NHRA. And in the year of 2000, he opened his new branch Signal Auto U.S.A. in Torrance.

MAD sometimes drives his GT-R34 on the highway in Osaka, which is WANGAN, and we can see Signal drifting crew which Chunky joins at a bay area of Osaka every weekend. At the time, MAD invited a crew of an American magazine to Osaka, Japan and took him to go night drifting to the Osaka Bay Area. And the JDM night drifting was finally introduced in the magazine first time in the US. Why did MAD take the person of the American magazine to the night drifting? He guessed that the JDM drifting would be popular in the US very soon for sure. After that, a lot of American friends have visited Signal Japan and the Signal drifting has sometimes been introduced in the magazine. The JDM drifting gradually got popular in the US too. Also the American friends got into MAD’s daily GT-R34 car and he took them to the highway in Osaka and showed off his driving to them as well. Finally a big boss of the American Magazine introduced us to people from BFGoodrich at Tokyo Auto Salon two years ago. After the show, they came to Osaka and showed up at Signal Auto in Osaka.