A couple of months ago Toyota announced that it had barn-found an old AE86 in Japan that they planned to restore. The purpose was to show what could be accomplished with the roster of remade parts under the Gazoo Racing Heritage Parts program. That project is now underway and Toyota has posted an update and, man, this heap looks way worse than it did when they dragged it out.
Not only does it have rust on the wheel arches as shown in original video, but on the cowl, panel seams, rocker panels, and hatch edges — basically all the most difficult places to fabricate replacement sheetmetal for. You can AE86 bits through the GR Heritage Parts program, but not entire body panels. Even mechanically, there’s still a lot missing if you want to do a full nut-and-bolt resto.
But if anyone can rescue the dilapidated Sprinter Trueno, Toyota can. At the end of the video Toyota announces that reproduction components for the 4A-GE engine are forthcoming, and that advance orders will open in September. No further details about which parts or how much they’d cost were given.
Toyota’s aiming to have the car completed for the two-day Fuji 86/BRZ festival at Fuji Speedway on September 13-14. The event will also serve as a celebration of the 30th anniversary of Initial D.
