It’s one of the oddest yet most elegant spaces in Sarasota. But what is it? A garage? A carefully curated man cave? A gallery? A tribute to a life’s passion? You’ll find a little of each at Steve Tetreault’s warehouse in downtown Sarasota.
Tetreault is a car collector but one with an unusual focus. His field of expertise is the innovative Japanese sports cars of the mid-’60s. The Honda S600. The Datsun 2000. He finds them, has them restored, then enters them in prestigious competitions.
The cars Tetreault champions are the hidden gems of the automotive world, the true underdogs. “After World War II there was a lot of resentment toward Japan,” Tetreault says. “Many Americans dismissed these cars as cheap or unrefined. In reality, these early Japanese sports cars were marvels of engineering and design—full of character and boatloads of fun to drive.” And they weren’t copycats of their more famous European cousins. “They were creating something distinctly Japanese,” Tetreault says. “That makes them special to me.”…