Happy 86 Day from JNC

Since the announcement of the Toyota 86’s production end will likely come any day now, let’s celebrate this year’s 86 Day with a flashback to 2010. Remember those heady days, when Toyota showed off the FT-86 Concept along with an original AE86? JNCers were positively stoked — stoked — that a giant, future-obsessed company like Toyota was planning a lightweight, RWD, compact sports coupe referencing the original Hachiroku. And, of course, it was always good to see another well-preserved AE86 Coupe, even if it was on the other sie of the pond.

Everyone was saying sports cars were dead, but it kept affordable, fun, driving around for a decade longer than it probably should have (and even longer in the used car market). And now we’re actually getting a successor, despite the fact that total 86 sales are rounding error in RAV4 sales numbers. And that is a cause, even in a horrible year so far, for celebration. Happy 86 Day from JNC!