Tag Archives: ae86

VIDEO: Club-level race at Nakayama circuit in 1985

This video of a club-level race at Nakayama Circuit in 1985 has got everything: AW11, Gemini, Bluebird, R30, SA22, multiple generations of Truenos and Levins, and the smooth jazz of a Gran Turismo menu screen. Watch the video below.

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SEMA 2015, Day 01: The emergence of old school Japan

SEMA is for cars what Paris fashion week is for clothes. Top companies strut out their latest wares, often outlandishly decked out on stunning models. Most of the time it’s stuff you never see in the real world, but these shows act as barometers for the hottest … Continue reading

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PRODUCT GUIDE: Tomei Expreme Ti AE86 exhaust

It is a rare occasion that a chassis is popular enough to get a newly developed exhaust system nearly 30 years after the car was discontinued. However, due to the overwhelming popularity of the AE86 platform, Tomei has announced the release their newest … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 05 — Stock as a Rock

This year’s Japanese Classic Car Show seemed to have more diversity in bone-stock rides than ever. We might be reaching a point where fans of J-tin are truly beginning to appreciate unmolested cars. Along with the other time warps peppering our other … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 03 — Made in the 80s

Have chrome-bumpered bullies been making you feel bad that your urethane-capped car isn’t truly a classic? Tell them to take a chill pill. Now that 1990 is the 25-year cutoff, everything that was built in the Eighties is officially a classic.

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KIDNEY, ANYONE? 14,500-mile Toyota AE86

The march of AE86s coming out of the woodwork continues. Now what could very well be the lowest-mileage Toyota Corolla GT-S left in the world has surfaced in Waxhaw, North Carolina. With just 14,500 miles on the clock, this USDM version of … Continue reading

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VIDEO: Cruising and drifting Hakone in 1989

Talk about time travel. What were you doing in 1989? In Japan, car enthusiasts were lining up at Hakone Nanamagari Touge like it was a playground slide. A notoriously twisty section of mountain road, it is part of the most famous of Japan’s touge, the birthplaces … Continue reading

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ART CORNER: Khyzyl Saleem’s bosozoku future

The cars Khyzyl Saleem draws seem to ask the question, “What if Mad Max took place in the dystopian future of Blade Runner?” Neon-lit cityscapes, heavily modified cars, and a substantial dose of Japan-influenced tuning styles combine to form an incredible imagined … Continue reading

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GRAND TOURING: The Onsens of Yamagata Prefecture

Having toured Aomori and Iwate Prefectures previously and discovered many interesting sights along the way, we decided to again return to the northern coasts, this time to explore the Prefecture of Yamagata and the Sea of Japan Coast Road. 

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A Brief History of the Toyota AE86 Corolla

In the second of a series, JNC is teaming up with our friends at Petrolicious to launch simultaneously a video and an article about historically significant Japanese cars. Be sure to check out the excellent Petrolicious and their beautiful short … Continue reading

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GRAND TOURING: Lake Okutama Getaway

In the far western outskirts of Tokyo, Okutama-ko (Lake Okutama) has been a popular weekend destination for many years.  The scenic touge on the north and south sides of the lake provide a popular destination for weekend motorcyclists and kyuusha drivers … Continue reading

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KIDNEY, ANYONE? 11k-mile AE86 Corolla Levin

Take a gander at what is likely the lowest-mileage AE86 hatch for sale in the world. Listed for sale in Osaka, Japan, this true JDM Toyota Corolla Levin GT Apex reads only 18,260 km on the odometer, or 11,346 miles. 

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EVENTS: Old School Love, New School Flavor, Part 01: Toyotas

This gallery contains 2 photos.

Rarely do we feature events from the great Northern Midwest but being invited to Team_Nostalgic’s Old School Love, New School Flavor show in Chicago meant leaving my humble Minneapolis abode at 3:30 am on the day of the event. It … Continue reading

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KIDNEY, ANYONE? 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S liftback

A few months ago I made the claim — publicly and on video — that there were fewer stock AE86s left than Enzo Ferraris. So naturally the gods are going to make me eat my words by bringing every known example out … Continue reading

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EVENTS: Petersen Museum Japanese Car Cruise-In

There are many things to hate about Los Angeles, but its car culture isn’t one of them. As the trendsetting capital of the custom automobile, it holds the motorcar in such high regard that there’s a shrine to it located smack … Continue reading

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EVENTS: Showa Car Preservation Meeting

The Old Car Club of Tokyo recently held it’s 3rd annual Showa no Kurma wo Mamoru Tsudoi or “Preserving cars made in the Showa Era” meeting. This is a gathering for cars made during the Showa Era, which ended in 1989 according to the … Continue reading

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NIHON LIFE: Commuting above-ground

Living in Tokyo’s 23-ku has many benefits, and detractions too I suppose. However, one of my great pleasures is the early morning commute across town. Many years ago I decided to ditch the usual meek-gray-mouse-crammed-onto-the-Ginza Line experience for a motorcycle. 

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EVENTS: 2015 All-Toyotafest, Part 03

In the final installment of our 2015 Toyotafest coverage, we take a look at two types of vehicles Toyota is known for — its compact, rear-wheel-drive sport coupes and its famously indestructible workhorse trucks. The former once dominated the company’s lineup and the latter still … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Mooneyes Street Car Nationals

Take a dollop American car kulture, filter it through the distance of 5,500 miles and 12 time zones, sprinkle in a dash of home grown Japanese cars, and you get the Mooneyes Street Car Nationals. 

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EVENTS: Akio Toyoda shows up at Cars & Coffee Tokyo

At a recent Cars & Coffee event in Tokyo, the usual proceedings were disrupted when a formation of Lexus supercars arrived on the scene. Emerging from the fleet was the most famous man in Japan’s auto industry: Akio Toyoda, president and CEO of Toyota Motor Corp, … Continue reading

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