Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Tag: Carina sightings (Page 1 of 38)

BJDM Toyota Carina: a Bulgarian interpration of JDM – Carina Sightings

My first reaction when I found this Toyota Carina GL TA60 for sale on a Bulgarian classifieds site was WTF?! But don’t let the looks at the front deceive you: this was done by a genuine enthusiast. Someone who really loved this Carina. Let me go over it completely.

The modifications on this Bulgarian Toyota Carina TA60 can be considered polarizing
The modifications on this Bulgarian Toyota Carina TA60 can be considered polarizing

The Carina

Let’s begin with the base of this car: it’s a 1982 Toyota Carina. As it features headrests on the rear seats and has a carpeted boot, it has to be the GL trim level. It features the 1.6-litre 2T engine, so we can narrow it down to a TA60. The seller mentions it’s a 5-speed manual, so its gearbox is a T50. In one of the photos are some German documents, so I suspect it originated from Germany many years ago.

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What are these Toyota LASRE engines doing in the Sahara desert? – Carina Sightings

What is this 1982 Toyota Carina ad supposed to mean? Are the Toyota LASRE engines supposed to fuel the infamous Sirocco winds? Sirocco winds are “a hot wind, often dusty or rainy, blowing from North Africa across the Mediterranean to southern Europe.”

Toyota LASRE engines in the Paris-Dakar rally
Toyota LASRE engines in the Paris-Dakar rally

Alternatively, are these engines supposed to give the Carina competing in the second Paris-Dakar rally a small push? Or perhaps, are these Toyota LASRE engines supposed to be giant windmills that work the reverse: wind makes them turn and in effect they suck up hydrocarbons via the exhaust and poop out fuel on the intake side?

We’ll probably never know what went through the minds of the marketing people at Toyota in 1982.

Baby-blue Toyota Carina GT-R AA63 kaido racer – Carina Sightings

I love to browse stuff for sale on Yahoo Auctions on a weekly basis and every now and then I find interesting stuff, like for instance the TRD Sports Accessories brochure. This week I encountered this baby-blue Toyota Carina GT-R kaido racer that is for sale for a mere 1.6M yen! (10K euros, 11K dollars)

Baby blue Toyota Carina GT-R kaido racer
Baby blue Toyota Carina GT-R kaido racer

Weak spot for Kaido Racers

I have a weak spot for kaido racers (also known as zokusha), especially if they are done well. This one is done very well, looking at the amount of work that went into this. First of all, you will notice the Levin AE86 front bumper has been widened and made its way to the front of this Carina. It’s not clear why they didn’t use an AE92 bumper as that would fit without any issues. Then the lip underneath the bumper makes it look more like a zokusha.

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Why is this Toyota Carina in front of a big mirror-glass cube? – Carina Sightings

I bought my first Japanese Toyota Carina brochure somewhere in 2007, just after I purchased my own Carina TA60. Many brochures followed over the years and I think I have almost all of the third generation complete. Here and there I also picked up some Japanese second-generation Carina brochures. Over 10 years ago I purchased this second-generation Carina brochure:

Second-generation 1977 Toyota Carina brochure
Second-generation 1977 Toyota Carina brochure

Ever since I bought that brochure, it has intrigued me why this Carina was parked in front of a gigantic mirror-glass cube-shaped building. What is the purpose of that? Am I missing some cultural reference here?

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Autoweek user review on Toyota Carina DX TA60 – Carina Sightings

I did happen to read a review of a 1983 Toyota Carina DX TA60 some time ago on the website of the Dutch car magazine Autoweek. This review spoke fondly about the car and how well it pulled their caravan. That reminded me of the many vacations I spent in my father’s Carina DX TA60 wagon with the same colour.

1983 Toyota Carina DX TA60 - You got to love that dog sitting next to it!
1983 Toyota Carina DX TA60 – You got to love that dog sitting next to it!

This is the full (translated) review:
Used the Carina for over 11 years. Never had any issues.
Spent many vacations with the caravan in hot climates. Never budged. As it’s rear-wheel-drive it’s ideal for pulling caravans. In my memory one of the best cars I’ve owned. Already 20 years have passed since I sold the car. Not because it didn’t run anymore, but because the inner wheel wells were rusted through. Water was entering the cabin through that.

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Crazy 1JZ modified Carina TA60 in Pakistan – Carina Sightings

I happened to stumble across a TikTok video with a crazy modified Carina TA60, but I couldn’t find out who created it. That’s the issue with TikTok: you don’t really follow people, you just scroll random stuff that interests you. Today I finally found two videos of this crazy build on Youtube!

Crazy 1JZ powered Toyota Carina in Pakistan
Crazy 1JZ powered Toyota Carina in Pakistan

Crazy 1JZ powered Carina

The company in question is Sbc Modifier in Pakistan. They do crazy builds like crafting a Rolls Royce bodywork on top of a Toyota Corona, a Mustang with scissor doors on top of a Kia Spectre and a Dodge Challenger on top of a Datsun Sunny B210.

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