Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Tag: corolla sr5

AE86 Wall of Shame: the sad Poser Mobile AE86

The AE86 Wall of Shame can’t be complete without today’s entry: the Poser Mobile AE86! This is probably the cherry on top of the cake! The creme-de-la-creme of the Wall of Shame!

So if you aren’t already familiar with the Poser Mobile AE86, the video below will explain it all to you. In a nutshell: in 2005 T-Mobile tried to enter the US mobile phone market. Their campaign revolved around a gang of posers which were clearly from Asian decent that show up in a Sex-Spec AE86 when you’re out of pre-paid minutes. Think of the Bollywood version of The Fast and The Furious. Why they chose this ad is unclear, but either the Asian-Americans were their target group or they were trying to take the piss out of them. Better judge for yourself in their ad:

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Down on the Street: ghetto Toyota Corolla AE86 SR5

What are the chances of spotting a Toyota Corolla AE86 twice in one single day?
Down on the Street: Toyota Corolla AE86 SR5
While enroute on the highway to Hasselgren Racing in Berkley I got passed by this Toyota Corolla AE86. The car is presumably a SR5 model and it had steel wheels mounted with the old Toyota T style center caps.
The car was in just as bad shape as the AE86 I posted yesterday that I spotted in the Walmart parkinglot after visiting Hasselgren. As this SR5 actually was still entirely original it had a more ghetto like look. It is also funny to see how unattractive a car can get after almost 30 years left in original factory trim.

AE86 Crash test

Cannabolic (user on AEU86) found this video on Youtube showing a sideways impact on a Toyota AE86:

It is a bit hard to see, but the car is a LHD zenki Trueno 2 door coupe. I assume that it is a USDM Corolla SR5 since it has black bumpers. Not much is left of the position the driver is supposed to be in, so side impact on this speed is not recommendable! What did I drive up to two years ago? A silver 4AGE converted US SR5 2 door coupe! Damn! That’s exactly the same car!

What about its source? Maybe it was a promotion video for OMP roll cages? More likely it is an original 80s US crash test before the car is allowed to be sold on the market? That leave us the question why a sideways impact on high speed is part of this test?

Of course: they could also have wanted to find out if the car was safe enough for its main purpose 20 years later: going sideways! Clearly going that way leaves a lot less crushable area than going in a straight line. ;)

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