By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

A few weeks ago I went out with the Midnight Mechanics crew to shoot their two Toyotas. The afternoon consisted of a crisp drive to the east coast of QLD, also known as the Gold Coast. A well known hot spot for Australian tourists. We decided to choose more of a natural and calming location, Springbrook Mountain. Springbrook is located about 20minutes inland from the beach pushing a few hundred metres high. For these two JDM vehicles they where both right at home in the mountains, with the lovely sounds of the 4-AG’s running through the hills, it was quite a scene. Continue reading at Speedhunters.

By Casey Dhnaram

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

It was last summer when I got a call from Miguel over at Newera Imports, saying I had to come over quick to check out one of the cleanest AE86 he had ever picked up. He was under strict orders from a customer to find a spotless “panda” Trueno, preferably with a AE92 4AG-GE swap, or black-top 20-Valve motor to the non “hachi-otakus” out there!

The search began and lasted several months, until Miguel heard from a well informed contact that a very special car was up for sale. Even though it was not exactly what the customer wanted, a few pictures were sent by e-mail and the decision was made. Miguel headed down to Nagoya to pick up the Levin you see here. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Dino Dalle Carbonare

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Ever since I borrowed a friend’s Corolla at D1 New Jersey to battle Ueno in 2007, I have a special place in my heart for AE86′s. I have even bought 2 of them since: one rally spec, and one street that is rotting because I can’t decide what to do with it but I don’t want to get rid of it and chance not finding another one in such good shape. Since it is coming to the end of Toyota month I thought I would share these pictures (I hope I am allowed) that I just got from my leprechaun friend and Team Falken Tire teammate, Darren McNamara. This is his AE86 N2 that he resurrected from the dead. It is probably one of the most mean looking and to the point Corolla’s I have ever seen and I bet it is crazy fun to drive. While it doesn’t have a ton of HP, it only weighs 1500 lbs after he installed the carbon he made at his shop MCNSport.com. He said it’s the lightest AE86 he knows of out there. What do you all think? More pics at Speedhunters

By Jeroen Willemsen

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Here’s another AE86 for everyone to enjoy; this one is owned by another fellow 86 owner on Club4AG. The face has been converted to kouki (late model, or if you want to be proper, “after minor change”) Levin style, again using kouki foglights without the glass grill. This time the AE86 has a kouki Levin bumper with a zenki Levin lower lip added on to it. The rear bumper is from a zenki AE86.

However, the thing that I think we should all point our attention towards is that AWESOME set of 14×8 and 14×9 SSR Starshark wheels on the car!!! The rare Starsharks are some of my favorite wheels in the history of Japanese wheels. Sadly, SSR just doesn’t make them like they used to. I have owned 13 and 14 inch sets of these wheels before, but none of them were as nicely sized as this set! I’m drooling. These wheels, combined with outstanding stance, really make this AE86 Levin into an outstanding looking car. Gorgeous.

Photos like this make me want to sell all my camera stuff and spend all the proceeds on buying all the old school Japanese wheels I want. What do you guys think? Sounds like a great plan to me! I won’t be creating any more photos, but at least I’d have a few more sets of awesome fat lip wheels to hug!

Big respect to the 86ers in the Pacific Northwest!

By Antonio Alvendia

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

I have no info whatsoever on this car, all I know is that it’s the first AE86 turned dragster that I have seen. I wonder what’s under hood. Do any of our readers have more info on this car?

By Jeroen Willemsen

I was pretty excited when I first heard about the 2+2 Toyota/Subaru RWD coupe. Sounded like a cool modern AE86. But now Edmunds, Autocar and 7Tune are reporting that it’s gonna be a two seater. I hope this isn’t true. Personally, I’m a huge fan of the whole useless back seat concept. Those small back seats can be actually be pretty useful when it comes to hauling kids or pets or short, agile friends. And they can be even more useful when you need to convince a significant other that a sporty 2+2 is "practical." And honestly, I think the new RWD Toyota/Subaru will be less successful if it’s a two seater. I hope Nissan doesn’t decide to downscale their 240 replacement, too.

We talked to Bob from Drift Office for a few minutes yesterday at Evergreen Speedway. They were out there with their gold right-hand drive AE86, which is being driven by Yan Kondo from Japan. The motor is only pushing 130 hp, but they are running an 80 shot of NOS to help them to get up a good entry speed for the first corner and better compete with some of the big domestics. I have a bunch more pics after the jump, plus two videos–Bob talking about the NOS setup and a walk-around of the car.

Continue reading "Drift Office at Formula D" »

During the Drift Office demo at Pacific Raceways on Friday I caught a ride with Bobby Rice in his nicely prepped AE86. As you can see in the pics, this car looks a lot cleaner than most drift cars, though Bobby doesn’t baby the thing. He has about $15,000 invested in it so far, and has gotten a lot of help from Bob and the rest of the crew at Drift Office. I got some crummy in-car video of my ride–going up and coming back down. As you can see we spun out both times, which was pretty hilarious. Here’s another video I shot earlier in the afternoon of Bobby ripping through the s curves. Thanks for the ride, Bobby! I have a bunch more pics of Bobby’s AE86 after the jump.

Continue reading "Riding With Bobby Rice" »

That’s the rumor anyway, and it seems plausible. The automakers have been swapping spit since Toyota bought shares in Subie, so the next few years might find them graduating from the friends-with-benefits stage. The rise of drifting has only increased the volume of AE86 fans screaming for a replacement, and with Hyundai poised to enter the RWD market with the Genesis Coupe, it seems like a natural time for Toyota to step up to deliver the goods. Check out Motor Authority for more info.

We had over 1,300 people enter our Trade For Our Scion contest and there were a ton of cool cars to choose from (though not everyone managed to follow directions, so quite a few were disqualified right out of the gate). So why did we pick Jonathon’s AE86? Well, for one, we like AE86s. Plus, he’s got a great ride page with an impressive list of mods. And it definitely helped that he’s a CarDomain regular (and member since July, 2006). Oh, and he followed the directions. So Jonathon, we hope you have fun with your new Scion. I’m sure we’ll have fun with your Corolla!