- July 18, 2025
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Jae Honda has bought and sold close to 100 vehicles during his lifetime.
“You have an obsession, I guess, is the right word, when your whole life you're still doing the same thing you did when you were a little kid,” he said.
He says if you have to blame someone, it would be his father, Myk Honda. Myk Honda had always liked cars, and was a mechanic when he was drafted into the Korean War.
Jae Honda describes his family as not being rich at the time he was growing up on Maui in Hawaii, but says a running car costed only about $50.
“Cars were cheap, like dirt cheap, back then," he said. "Granted, it wasn't much of a car, and it probably needed to be gone through, but so long as it steered, stopped and went, you just rolled with it."
His passion for bringing used cars back to life continues today.
Among the six cars found at his home, is one he says has proven popular at shows and events: the TripleR Atelier, an old 1974 Volkswagen Beetle he bought for just $175.
The term Atelier is French meaning workshop and suggests a custom build, which Honda rebuilt the Beetle using mostly recycled parts.
Honda's early driving experiences took place on the beaches of Hawaii.
He first learned to use a clutch and gas when he was about 10 years old, after his father built a dune buggy from a Volkswagen Beetle.
“At that time, growing up on Maui, it was pretty deserted, so there were beaches, and nobody enforced anything, so we were just driving on the sand, goofing around,” he said.
He says from that point on, his father's work with cars became non-stop.
“One car would come in, one go out, and again, mostly pretty rough cars, and I guess it was a combination of cost, and he just liked to challenge himself to see if he could bring these cars back, from the dead, so to speak," he said.
By age 12 to 14, there were few jobs Honda couldn't perform.
He was able to manage brakes and tune-ups, and began working at a shop owned by the uncle of Debra Honda, who is now his wife.
The business was a gas station, dealership and repair and body shop in one.
“He gave us decent enough instruction, but at the same time, I think back about the things that he let us do, especially the mechanical part, I'm like, 'Wow, that was some pretty good faith he had in us,” Honda said.
After attending technical school at a university on the island, he began working for a car dealership.
After that point, he and a group of friends rented a land development business from Debra's uncle, who had wanted to head in a different direction, but were ultimately unsuccessful in the venture.
In 1982, he and Debra decided to make a move to the San Francisco Bay area, where Debra was from.
After Debra worked in the technology industry there, and Jae worked in multiple jobs, the couple came to Sarasota around 2012.
Jae says Southern California was the "mecca for Volkswagen," but fans of the car can also be found in Sarasota as well.
"Even to this day, there, that's where all the shops are, and not to say there's not shops throughout the entire United States, and there's not a humongous following in this part of the country,” he said.
The car he calls his "pride and joy" is his 1963 Chevrolet Corvette (C2), which he bought in 1999 and has a rare double window on its rear. The garage also contains another 1960 Volkswagen Beetle, two 1951 Studebaker Champions, and Debra's 1968 Chevy II.
However, he said many people, including kids, have taken an interest in his TripleR Atelier, named for its motto of "reuse, repurpose, recycle."
The car was an abandoned project when he purchased it for $175, from a Nokomis hobbyist, eight or nine years ago.
Initially, the car had sat in a side area of the Hondas' yard, behind a fence, for two years.
However, that changed when Debra was on vacation with family in the Bahamas.
Completely on his own, Jae began thinking about the fact he was free to do whatever he wanted, and began working on the vehicle.
He says "almost anything and everything" on it has been repurposed, and it's evident in the car's appearance. Its setup has a makeshift feel, and little of the polish and comforts of a traditional vehicle.
"The only thing new on this car, that I bought, is the battery," he said.
Components, including the armrest and door handles, consist of repurposed hand tools. The gas pedal is a vehicle hub cap, which had to be flattened. The wooden seats come from a pallet board.
The steering wheel is from a series of rocker arms, which are valve train components from a car engine. By forming a circle of the rocker arms around a five-gallon bucket, Honda created the round shape of a wheel.
Suspended over the rear of the car is a box for storing items, and it comes from a part of his fence that blew down during Hurricane Irma in 2017. The box attaches to an old bunk bed frame given to him by his brother-in-law.
Even from the outside, the car is clearly no ordinary vehicle, with no paint and no clear coat, resulting in a patina left by rain and moisture.
"The car is just becoming what it becomes," he said.
Originally, he said, he had sanded the vehicle more lightly, but after the rust began, he ended up more thoroughly scraping away material.
Honda says Volkswagens have always been the vehicle a person uses for learning, but he's never stopped retooling them.
"I got away from them every now and then, but for some reason... I find another one. 'Oh, I can do something with this. I can do something with that.”
His endeavor with the TripleR Atelier may be unusual, and he says when a person takes a car out in public, they'd better be able to take the criticism with the compliments or not take it out at all.
Some might accuse the owner of ruining the vehicle, but others might appreciate the design of a car.
"Anything that looks like that's not the way it should be is because I did it that way, because I can and I wanted to," he said. "I tell people I build cars for my own personal satisfaction."
