Tag: toyota corolla (Page 2 of 6)

Picture of the Week: Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 at Paris-Dakar 1984

Picture of the Week: Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 at Paris-Dakar in 1984

May 10, 2015 / banpei / 0 Comments

In 1982 and 1983 Masahiro Uchida and Masaru Kubota joined the Paris-Dakar rally in a Toyota Carina ST A60. The year after they chose a different beast: a Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 coupe. And they stuck to that formula the next two years as well.

I have no idea who is posing next to the AE86, but surely that is neither Masahiro Uchida nor Masaru Kubota.
This is a zenki Levin, so it is not the same as the kouki the team used in their famous 1986 video.

Now there are a couple of things odd in this photo: first of all the exhaust is modified in a way that became fashionable in the mid 90s on Opel Calibras and Volkswagen Golfs. Probably they tilted the exhaust tip upwards to prevent it hitting rocks and bumps.
Second of all the rear axle appears if it is IRS and leaning on the stack of tires. Could it be they converted the live axle to IRS to increase ride height? I watched the 1986 video two times in a row but could not see a similar modification on the kouki Levin AE86 they used in 1986…

Via: Forum-Auto

Brilliant: collection of Showa scale model cars

February 4, 2015 / banpei / 0 Comments

Now this was a big jaw-dropper: two videos of a Toyota Mark II Grande GX71 literally covered in Showa scale model cars. This must be the largest personal collection of scale model cars I’ve seen!

Now if you look carefully enough you can see that each and every scale model car has its own special paint job (mostly kaido racer, race car livery or kyusha kai) and set of (rare) JDM rims! If you count the number of hours it took to make them look this way alone it already is an amazing job!

Now the list of cars, mainly from the late Showa-era, is going to be a lengthy one, but I’ll try to sum up the most important ones:

Toyota Mark II Grande GX71 (duh)
Toyota Soarer GZ10/MZ11/MZ12 (including the Shakotan Boogie Soarer twice)
Numerous Toyota Celica XX GA61
Toyota Celica GT RA45
Toyota Corolla Levin TE27
Toyota Corolla Levin TE71 four door sedan
Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 hatchback
Toyota Corsa AL11
Numerous Nissan Skylines C10, C110, C210, R30
Numerous Nissan Cedric/Gloria 230, 330, 430
Numerous Nissan Fairlady S30
Nissan EXA
Hasemi Skyline KDR30 Super Silhouette kaido racer replica
Nissan Silvia S110 Super Silhouette kaido racer replica
Isuzu Bellet GT-R
Mazda RX-3

And the list could go on for another 20 or 30 models that I overlooked…

Watch video number one: Continue reading

Friday video: Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 “Next One” campaign

January 30, 2015 / banpei / 5 Comments

Just hot from the press: Toyota released three mini movies (3 minutes each) called The World Is One in their Next One campaign featuring the Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 in three continents: Japan, Africa (South Africa) and Australia.

The movie really feels like following the Initial D vibe: two high school students, the nerdy one falls in love with a girl, works his ass of to get a license and a car and then buys a kouki ~~zenki~~ Toyota Corolla Levin AE86. They both go for a ride in the AE86: drifting/hooning off and then cruising along the shores. There the girl is found with another guy and see for yourselves the ending in all three parts. It is really well made!

Japan: Continue reading

Japanese Rustoseums - Overgrown Toyota Corolla Levin AE86

Japanese Rustoseums: Overgrown Levin AE86

July 3, 2014 / banpei / 0 Comments

Sometimes you get lucky and bump into the original source of an earlier rustoseums post and find additional photos, just like this Toyota Corolla Levin AE86:

The first images are an overgrown Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 but below that I found the photos I posted earlier (found at a different source) of an overgrown Toyota Carina AA63. As you can see the Levin is just as badly overgrown as the Carina and even worse in terms of its rustyness. It still has one good thing: the gigantic ducktail spoiler.

As you can see even the supercharged 4A-GZE has been overgrown: Continue reading

Down on the Street: Toyota Corolla AE86 GT-S

Down on the Street: well used Toyota Corolla AE86 GT-S

April 1, 2014 / banpei / 3 Comments

As I said earlier today (I’m in a different timezone): if I encounter more nice cars I’ll definitely post them. So how about a well used Toyota Corolla AE86 GT-S in the Milpitas Wallmart parkinglot?

While I was taking this photo the owner returned (hence this photo turned out not entirely sharp) and I had a short chat with him. He told me he is on the verge of buying a Scion FR-S as he is tired of continuously repairing an old and tired car. He offered me the car for sale but I friendly declined the offer. It will simply not fit in my suitcase and I guess my wife will kill me if I returned home and explained I just paid a fortune to ship a car to Europe. ;)

From every angle you can see that the sunny weather in California isn’t doing any good to the car: Continue reading

Wrecked: Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 GTV

December 13, 2013 / banpei / 2 Comments

What else to post on Friday the 13th than a wrecked Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 GTV?

Basically this one owner Levin AE86 bought it in June 1986 and wrecked it six years later. Judging from the damage the car would have been saved nowadays but back in those days a hefty repair-bill of 500000 yen was a bit too much to get it back on the road.

Via Minkara