Remembering Japanese cars from the past
Usually, I would say a typical Japanese salaryman would contrast heavily with a Toyota Corolla Levin AE86. However, the photo below proves me wrong: the salaryman is just as panda as the paint scheme of the AE86!
The only thing off is the grey tie: this should have been a black one like the black stripe on the Levin!
Via DivinaPapaya
I’m sure you must have a couple of WTFs in your head by now: a Suzuka Carol Levin AE86? Isn’t that supposed to be a Mazda Carol or a Toyota Corolla Levin AE86? No, it isn’t in this advertisement:
The Japanese writing reads:
You might call it a space technology
but this wheel holds the
“romance of driving” of a new era.
Right, so these Suzuka Carol wheels are supposed to be space technology that holds the romance of driving in a new era?
When I searched for Suzuka wheels, I could only find cheap knock-off wheels that are called Suzuka. I found via Kyusha Shoes that Suzuka Sangyo is the brand that made the Carol wheel. What I also found out is that Suzuka Sangyo actually was the brand behind the Long Champ XR4 wheel and the wheel was manufactured by SSR. This really surprised me as I was under the impression it was SSR who manufactured and sold it. Anyway, I digress…
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Today’s video features a Finnish two-door Toyota Corolla GT Twin Cam 16 AE86 in Supra White and, unlike the title suggests, no 4A-GE screams in this video. Nevertheless, this video is a must-see! Let me explain why!
The song itself was written by Finnish rap artist HesaÄijä (Marios Kleovoulou) and DJ Oku Luukkainen. The song itself is about HesaÄijä’s first love Korhosen Taina. Also, I don’t speak Finnish, so I have to admit I first wrongly assumed the title 7300 Päivää meant something like 7300 rpm screaming 4A-GE. But that turned out to be a very wrong assumption as it translates to 7300 days. You can find the full lyrics of 7300 Päivää here.
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Someone sent me a picture of this Lancia Delta Integrale with a Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 front end crafted on it. I don’t remember who sent it and I’ve searched to no avail through my WhatsApp history. So if you are the person who sent it to me: very much appreciated and you deserve all the credit!
The Delta Integrale is about the same red as the panda-red AE86 colour scheme. I love the previous owner retained the panda-paint scheme on the front bumper. It would have been even more radical if the whole Delta Integrale had received some panda-paint as well. However, the Delta Integrale doesn’t feature the necessary lines to support that.
The photo is a typical Japanese car auction photo, so my guess is that it went through auctions some time ago. I’m not a big enough expert to distinguish the 8V from the 16V Integrale. All that I know is that it looks mad enough! So, what do you think? Blasmephy or the perfect marriage?
One of the highlights of this year was a WhatsApp call from Daniel ‘O Grady out of the blue about an early Corolla Levin SE AE85 he found. I was doing my usual Saturday groceries and just parked my car in a parking garage. Daniel was very agitated about this car as it had such a low frame number.
During the call, it dawned on me that such a low frame number meant it was actually a pre-production run. Last year I created an overview of the AE86 and AE85 frame numbers and a lookup function. One of the things that surprised me was that the AE85 production in May 1983 started at 180, while AE86 production started at 1. There are no records of the pre-180 frame numbers in the EPC either. This means these cars have been assembled in pre-production.
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There are so many questions I have about this Levin AE86:
So what’s going on here? The traditional Chinese writing on the wall would place this car either in Taiwan, Macau or Hong Kong. Cars drive on the right side (so LHD) in China and Taiwan and on the left side (RHD) in Hong Kong and Macau. I could explain the LHD headlights if this person lived in mainland China or Taiwan. So my best guess would be that this Levin used to be owned by someone living in China mainland or Taiwan and he was visiting Hong Kong or Macau.
That still doesn’t explain the GT-S door sticker and the zenki bumper though.
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