I was going through the collection of Carina brochure pictures and one small detail stroke me on this brochure:

Belgian Carina GL
The Carina in the bottom picture is a Belgian Carina TA60 GL. Now that isn't that weird, but the brochure is Japanese and dated as S56-9 (September 1981). The Carina A60 lineup was released in September 1981 so the Carina on the brochure must have been a pre-production model.

This was done by Toyota before, just like the Levin and Trueno AE86 European tour in 1983 but we're talking about a left hand drive Carina here.

Also in this picture you can see the front of the car is actually featuring quad headlights:
Click here to read more about the mysterious Belgian Carina GL

Just by that: a Carina TA60 in my own hometown! :)

Toyota Carina GL TA60
When cycling to work I spotted the rear end of a Carina on a (closed) parking lot of an office building on the other side of the parking lot of the local fire department. I stopped and a fireman opened up the window asking if I was able to find whatever I was looking for.

So I explained I spotted exactly the same car as mine in the parking lot behind the fire department. He told me how to get there and I made a few snaps with the ancient phone I'm currently using (my own got stolen last week during a break-in). I also made one with my old analogue camera, but I'm still waiting for the black and white film developer chemicals so I can't show it to you yet...

The Carina was registered in 1983 as a beige car. It looked quite solid to me, didn't have too much rust (except on the steel rims) and believe it or not: it is, just like mine, an automatic as well. Only big difference is that this car is a GL, so it features a more comfortable interior. ;)

Last Sunday I saw an ad appear on Marktplaats offering a rare metallic green Carina GL TA60 for sale:

Metalic green Carina GL TA60
In the Netherlands the GL is a rare package where the rear seats have the headrests, more comfortable seats, storage compartments at the back of the front seats in the front doors and in the luggage compartment separate compartments for jack and tools, It doesn't sound like much, but if you take one peek into my trunk you will know why you need seperate compartments for your tools. ;)

The interior still looks great considering it is already 30 years old:
More pictures on the next page

A few small updates on my Carina, I mounted a diamonds grille:

My carina: diamonds grille!
Earlier this week I finally mounted the diamonds-grille I bought from Rob (NZ) some months ago. I was only able to make pictures today. My Carina DX is suddenly upgraded to a ST! :D
The white stripe on it is also a bit discolored, so I need to redo that soon, but nothing a rattlecan can't fix. ;)

I also passed the 86k some days ago and today I managed to make this nice hachi-fanboy-mileage:
86068 on the next page!

Okay, I have to admit: I cheated here... I did not spot this Carina at all. Instead David emailed some days ago me he has an extensive Toyota collection including a good looking Carina TA60:

Polish Carina TA60
So I cheated a bit to keep the DOTS in the Carina Week theme. :(

Polish Carina TA60
David's Carina is a 1983 2T powered Carina with a manual gearbox.
And the good news: David's Carina is for sale for only 700 euros! A bargain!
Drop me an email if you want to get in touch with him!