Okay guys, I give up on anyone figuring it out.
The
thing pictured was a pic of "GAGU: The Import Mascot" .. straight from the racing scene streets of tokyo-- or so he was dubbed.
it was a mascot developed for the import scene.. back in 2001 he made his debut on the national scene.. he was at all the SEMA events, Hot Import Nights, etc. I first shot a pic of GAGU at his booth at the SEMA International Auto Salon in Long Beach, CA. eventually, he had his own website at
www.importmascot.com where you could buy GAGU merchandise, similar to
Hello Kitty style stuff.. (small purses, keychains, car air fresheners, etc with japanese style flavor and anime logos of GAGU imprinted on them).
GAGU was developed by Trung Ma, owner of the 97 Twin Turbo Supra that later made it onto the cover of PS2 game Midnight Club chasing behind Dustin Worles' yellow MX-6. You'll see in this pic of Trung's supra the GAGU cartoon logo on the bumper cover in front of the wheel and below the front corner light.
http://www.overboost.com/pix.asp?image=./images/374/full/DSCN2155.jpg
GAGU only lasted about a year.