As you know, the recent passing of Ove Andersson really hit the world of motorsports hard. If you’re in the Los Angeles area this weekend, please consider stopping by the Toyota USA Museum, where a tribute to the rally racer and founder of Toyota Team Europe will be held. Details after the jump.

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This has always been a dream of ours, to take one bad ass nostalgic and go drifting, one of the few motorsports where style matters just as much as speed. The problem is, we’d never have the nerve to actually do it because 1.) we can’t drift our way out of a used kleenex and 2.) we couldn’t bear to see the toll this would take on hard-to-find body panels and trim. Luckily, Hideo Itakura and HDO Racing Service have no such reservations and have been campaigning this SR20-powered Celica Liftback in Japan’s D1GP drift series. Note the intercooler masquerading as a grille. That’s total awesome right there.

UPDATE: Check out this pic from Zulu!

[Speedhunters

Last week the world of motorsports lost one of its greats, Ove Andersson, Swedish rally driver and a key figure in Toyota’s worldwide racing endeavors. He started out with his native Saab but went on to race Lancias and Renault Alpines before sliding behind the wheel of a Toyota Celica 1600GT in 1972. His own Andersson Motorsport team eventually became Toyota Team Europe, and was responsible for Toyota’s WRC efforts straight into the 90s. After that, Andersson and TTE led the automaker’s Le Mans and Formula 1 undertakings.

Although mostly retired, Andersson died doing what he loved, rallying. It was during the South African Continental Milligan Rally that the Volvo Andersson was driving collided head on with a car attempting a pass on the wrong side of the road. So let’s send him off with a gallery of photos from his rallying days and remember him as best we can, charging through the dirt in a Celica. (more…)

As Keanu Reeves would say, “Whoa.” Here’s a California blue plate special, a 1976 Toyota Celica Liftback with just 55,000 original miles and one owner. The asking price from Old Town Classics in San Diego is $12,500, which, while not unreasonable for a car in such minty fresh condition, does make you wonder how much they paid that one owner for it. This bicentennial beauty was spotted on Bring a Trailer but you could probably drive it home without one.

Thanks to Alex K. for the tip!

[Bring a Trailer]

TORC’s 13th annual All-Toyotafest. [LINK]

There’s some sad news from Japan today, as we bring you news of the passing of Tatsuo Hasegawa. Hasegawa was first an aeronautical engineer, developing aircraft for the Tachikawa Aircraft Corporation. The prototype plane he worked on was scheduled to take flight on August 15 1945, precisely the day WWII ended, and thus never saw the skies. Hasegawa then took his expertise in aerodynamics to Toyota, where he headed teams responsible for many of the company’s iconic post-war automobiles, including the Publica, Sports 800, Corolla, Celica and Carina. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on in the cars that we know and love. He is survived by his wife Miyoko, 86, and his son Akio. You can read more about Hasegawa-san’s life at Akio’s site.

Thanks to RStreet for the tip.

Ever since we began following the possible revival of a lightweight Toyota RWD sports coupe, to which names as wide-ranging as the AE86, Celica and Supra have been attached, there’s been a loyal group of Toyota enthusiasts clamoring for the car. Things started going south when it was speculated, then confirmed, that Subaru would be supplying the flat-four boxer engine, possibly some of the drivetrain, and would have their own Subaru-badged version. Some said “bring it on” while others swore that if the car was built with the Subaru engine they would never buy it on the grounds that it wasn’t a pure Toyota.

Ironically, Fuji Heavy Industries sales chief Mat Nagato has expressed that he shares the same concern that the Toyota enthusiasts do, except the brand he’s concerned about diluting is Subaru’s. “We may lose our longstanding territory, or we may lose the great niche brand image. The potential risk is there. We have to be very smart on marketing strategy,” Nagato said. Toyota has kept quiet on the subject.

[Source: Automotive News via Autoblog]