RE: Toyota Trueno AE 86: You Know You Want To
Discussion
Having been taught to drive in a escort, I thought long and hard,then bought a then newish mk1 mr2. I convinced myself that exotic mid engine handling would be better than the front engine/rwd/live axle of the corolla gt.
That mr2 is the only car I've not been comfortable with handling. I changed the ditch finders for decent tyres,but it still felt nervous. In all my long car owning career,not getting a AE 86 is my only regret.
Ok,my other regret is not paying £1000 for a mint mk2 Cortina Lotus in 1983.
That mr2 is the only car I've not been comfortable with handling. I changed the ditch finders for decent tyres,but it still felt nervous. In all my long car owning career,not getting a AE 86 is my only regret.
Ok,my other regret is not paying £1000 for a mint mk2 Cortina Lotus in 1983.
s m said:
Usually, in group tests of the time in the mags, the Manta GTE was picked ahead of these ( or the UK version of these at least ) which seems surprising now
Just had a look and C155 END, a black one I remember, looks like it died in 2006.....or went to Ireland.
Someone I know still has a white one in great nick - as said already, you either 'get them' or you don't
She did indeed end up in Ireland. Just did a quick check and she's now a rally car still competing!!Just had a look and C155 END, a black one I remember, looks like it died in 2006.....or went to Ireland.
Someone I know still has a white one in great nick - as said already, you either 'get them' or you don't
Ah, the AE86 (Or Corolla Gt Coupe, or as we know it the Twincam) has such a strong link to Ireland that its almost hard to describe. Back when these were brand new, they wern't much of a hit. Total sales in Ireland from 1983-1986 came to 48 cars!! What it was though was that we always had a love affair with quick, fun RWD cars and while Escorts and Chevettes had been the car to have in the 70's and 80's, the Corolla replaced it because of how cheap and available they were. When people say the Irish cleaned the UK out of cars, its not too untrue. Theres stories of groups of 9/10 lads getting the ferry over and each driving a car back. Some boys were doing multiple trips a week. While this Initial D Rep is the height of classic Jap styling, Paddy spec was 13in Superlites, Janspeed exhaust, 4 spotlights and lowered hahaha Obviously they went for peanuts back in the day and most that came in were driven to the ground as it was (and still is) the thing to do to just donut every crossroad. The latest trend now though is people are really getting into restoring these cars to pristine condition and the stock of new parts is nearly dried up. Decent clean cars are starting to fetch big money and youd be hard pressed to find any at all under about €6.5/7k. Ye might think £11,000 is pricey for a Jap, and it is being fair, but if I had the money Id have no bother spending £18,000 on this one http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C576477
dufunk said:
Honda fans cry on about rev's but the trd formula atlantic tuned 4age 16v revved to 10-12k produced 250bhp from a 1.6 N/A in early 90's no variable valve timing needed.
An irish lad living in America has just gone and put a Formula Atlantic 16v into his Twincam and it is crazy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afXKI6CDdpQ&fe...
ye are all talking about them now as if they are a new craze, ye missed the boat in the UK 20 years ago, when everyone was caught up in the era of max power and Renault 5's and Novas.
back at that time the Irish were buying them in the UK for GBP500 (and less) when ye didn't even know what they were, now 12 years later ye think there worth 6/7k -11k and its all because initial D. There was no initial D, youtube or anything when we knew what they were and what they could do,
I bought 9 in England, a mate bought 39, yes 39. each one you'd fly over, buy for 500GBP and get the ferry back that night, have it sold within 3 days for 3500-4000. Easiest money ever made. he made over GBP100k tax free in 12 months!
I still have a 1 owner original E reg , 69k miles, FTSH, tweed interior, dim/dip, etc sitting in a heated bubble for the last 15 yrs that I paid GBP300 for, now worth who knows but I'd guess north of E15k!
a whole generation of lads grew up, with the sound of a janspeed bapping away with the front wheel lipping the base of a traffic cone.
they were the days!!
back at that time the Irish were buying them in the UK for GBP500 (and less) when ye didn't even know what they were, now 12 years later ye think there worth 6/7k -11k and its all because initial D. There was no initial D, youtube or anything when we knew what they were and what they could do,
I bought 9 in England, a mate bought 39, yes 39. each one you'd fly over, buy for 500GBP and get the ferry back that night, have it sold within 3 days for 3500-4000. Easiest money ever made. he made over GBP100k tax free in 12 months!
I still have a 1 owner original E reg , 69k miles, FTSH, tweed interior, dim/dip, etc sitting in a heated bubble for the last 15 yrs that I paid GBP300 for, now worth who knows but I'd guess north of E15k!
a whole generation of lads grew up, with the sound of a janspeed bapping away with the front wheel lipping the base of a traffic cone.
they were the days!!
AE86? It's the Twin Cam! Pure 80s magic.
The Twin Cam looks dull now and in fact looked dull enough back in the day. Nor was it very quick - yer Golf GTis and Astra GTEs of the 80s would stomp on it for pace. No matter though - the Twin Cam was a genius, gorgeous-handling, proper no-nonsense sports car with a snicky shift, pedals set right, good throttle response and a rev-happy, bullet-proof engine that was only bested for 4-cylinder character by the earlier Integra Rs. And there’s never been an affordable sports car as good until the GT86. The Twin Cam is that good (despite appearances). Both it and the GT86 struggle to be understood in a world that prefers safety-first performance cars over sports cars.
No Friday night in my teens in rural N Ireland was complete without Twin Cam doughnuts ... nowadays it's 'drifting' and it's become sort of mainstream, decades earlier we just called it 'hanging the tail' or 'setting the tail out' and your rev-limiter revels usually were interrupted by an apoplectic traffic cop beating his red flashlight on your window and enquiring sarcastically about the race track …
'The GT86 has the genes of the AE86 - and that's what makes it so great. The AE86 is a joy to drive.' Some quotes from a nice back to back drive of the new GT86 and its ancestor, the legendary Twin Cam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tMyP9od8JM
The Twin Cam looks dull now and in fact looked dull enough back in the day. Nor was it very quick - yer Golf GTis and Astra GTEs of the 80s would stomp on it for pace. No matter though - the Twin Cam was a genius, gorgeous-handling, proper no-nonsense sports car with a snicky shift, pedals set right, good throttle response and a rev-happy, bullet-proof engine that was only bested for 4-cylinder character by the earlier Integra Rs. And there’s never been an affordable sports car as good until the GT86. The Twin Cam is that good (despite appearances). Both it and the GT86 struggle to be understood in a world that prefers safety-first performance cars over sports cars.
No Friday night in my teens in rural N Ireland was complete without Twin Cam doughnuts ... nowadays it's 'drifting' and it's become sort of mainstream, decades earlier we just called it 'hanging the tail' or 'setting the tail out' and your rev-limiter revels usually were interrupted by an apoplectic traffic cop beating his red flashlight on your window and enquiring sarcastically about the race track …
'The GT86 has the genes of the AE86 - and that's what makes it so great. The AE86 is a joy to drive.' Some quotes from a nice back to back drive of the new GT86 and its ancestor, the legendary Twin Cam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tMyP9od8JM
ciandon said:
s m said:
Usually, in group tests of the time in the mags, the Manta GTE was picked ahead of these ( or the UK version of these at least ) which seems surprising now
Just had a look and C155 END, a black one I remember, looks like it died in 2006.....or went to Ireland.
Someone I know still has a white one in great nick - as said already, you either 'get them' or you don't
She did indeed end up in Ireland. Just did a quick check and she's now a rally car still competing!!Just had a look and C155 END, a black one I remember, looks like it died in 2006.....or went to Ireland.
Someone I know still has a white one in great nick - as said already, you either 'get them' or you don't
Ah, the AE86 (Or Corolla Gt Coupe, or as we know it the Twincam) has such a strong link to Ireland that its almost hard to describe. Back when these were brand new, they wern't much of a hit. Total sales in Ireland from 1983-1986 came to 48 cars!! What it was though was that we always had a love affair with quick, fun RWD cars and while Escorts and Chevettes had been the car to have in the 70's and 80's, the Corolla replaced it because of how cheap and available they were. When people say the Irish cleaned the UK out of cars, its not too untrue. Theres stories of groups of 9/10 lads getting the ferry over and each driving a car back. Some boys were doing multiple trips a week. While this Initial D Rep is the height of classic Jap styling, Paddy spec was 13in Superlites, Janspeed exhaust, 4 spotlights and lowered hahaha Obviously they went for peanuts back in the day and most that came in were driven to the ground as it was (and still is) the thing to do to just donut every crossroad. The latest trend now though is people are really getting into restoring these cars to pristine condition and the stock of new parts is nearly dried up. Decent clean cars are starting to fetch big money and youd be hard pressed to find any at all under about €6.5/7k. Ye might think £11,000 is pricey for a Jap, and it is being fair, but if I had the money Id have no bother spending £18,000 on this one http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C576477
You're right though, I do remember a lot of these cars heading over there at weekends
I've got a Levin in panda colours. It's great fun. Considering converting it to a Honda S2000 F20C engine.
Parts are hard to come by (in the UK) and expensive. I've been looking for some boot plastics for a year.
I saw this forsale earlier today.
Trueno, panda colours, £5,800 http://forum.corollabrotherhood.com/viewtopic.php?...
Parts are hard to come by (in the UK) and expensive. I've been looking for some boot plastics for a year.
I saw this forsale earlier today.
Trueno, panda colours, £5,800 http://forum.corollabrotherhood.com/viewtopic.php?...
Edited by Escy on Thursday 29th January 00:43
Hi all, just for those interested, there is a facebook page called 'JapScrap'. Not the most inspiring name, but they get some lovely cars in and put Truenos up regularly. They've just put one on there for £5k OTR. Worth a look and worth following as they get lots of interesting cars. 
danjama said:
Hi all, just for those interested, there is a facebook page called 'JapScrap'. Not the most inspiring name, but they get some lovely cars in and put Truenos up regularly. They've just put one on there for £5k OTR. Worth a look and worth following as they get lots of interesting cars.
Cheers - will take a look https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ITP6nEsYbhk
How those brainless max power favs thought the novas and Renault 5 with 19inch wheels were a more fun car
How those brainless max power favs thought the novas and Renault 5 with 19inch wheels were a more fun car
K974 said:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ITP6nEsYbhk
How those brainless max power favs thought the novas and Renault 5 with 19inch wheels were a more fun car
I somehow found this more amusingHow those brainless max power favs thought the novas and Renault 5 with 19inch wheels were a more fun car
Irish police seem to have a more relaxed attitude to donuts
http://youtu.be/luN8ctQE1eQ
SMcP114 said:
No wonder you don't see many over here now!! They're all in Ireland! s m said:
I somehow found this more amusing
Irish police seem to have a more relaxed attitude to donuts
http://youtu.be/luN8ctQE1eQ
The Gardai (Irish police) for the most part have a decont amount of Cop on as they know that when it comes to the AE86 crew, your never going to have them racing up and down the motorways or dangerously speeding as them fellas get their kick from a few donuts at a crossroad and moving on again. We had a fairly big thing a few months ago when a well known AE86 driver passed away and his small rural town was taken over in his memory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0st5OQj_Mc A few of his built cars let the hearse and a string of others followed and even had a burning rubber guard of honour when they made it to the graveyardIrish police seem to have a more relaxed attitude to donuts
http://youtu.be/luN8ctQE1eQ
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