Monthly Archives: August 2009

Run Free Nostalgia

runfree_levin

Irish lad James has some cool photos of Yamashita-san’s Levin Coupe from waaay back in 2005 when he was lucky enough to visit the Run Free workshop.

Check em all out over @ AEU86 Forums!


Tec-Art’s Wallpaper

tecartswallpaper

Over @ Noriyaro. Get it now!


Enemies Then Friends

hachirokuguys

It’s that moment of apprehension when you see someone agape at your freshly washed and shiny ride, staring in envy. You think to youself, ‘What’s this joker up to?’ and run over one million ‘worst case senarios’ in your head. Before you have a chance to get paranoid, you realise they’re just another AE86 owner (or admirer) who will shortly introduce themselves to you and, no doubt, start you into a lengthy chat about how and why our little hachiroku is so damn alluring.  Being a pretty damn harcore ‘hachiroku guy’ himself, Antonio over at MotorMavens has no doubt been in this situation before, and recently found himself in Seattle on the flipside of this exact kind of encounter:

So here I was; standing inside Goods; checking out some sneakers, when low and behold, a bright red AE86 hatchback pulls up and parks right in front of the store. I couldn’t have even timed it more perfectly, it was funny. I obviously stepped outside the store for a closer look at this red kouki hatchback, and immediately two 86ers got out of the car with strange looks on their faces (you know, one of those “why the hell is this weirdo staring at the car” faces).

However, as soon as I introduced myself as a fellow AE86 owner from Los Angeles, it was all good. No problems. For some reason, no matter where you are in the world… when a hachiroku guy meets another hachiroku guy visiting from out of town, they seem to form some sort of instant connection. (Not in a gay way)

This is probably the biggest reason I started HR in the first place. The hachiroku community worldwide just seems to be full of friendly and genuinely cool people. I’m not an expert on the matter, but I’d say it plays a big part of why some people are ‘hachiroku guys’ and never anything else. I know for sure, I’ll be a hachiroku guy for the rest of my days and damn proud of it too!

But I digress, you should check out the rest of the encounter over at MotorMavens now!


Too Much Headroom?

AE85 Trueno Coupe chopped roof

The majority of average-height western hachi-roku drivers know how short the Japanese actually are: if you are below 6 foot you can still sit okay in the GT seats Toyota put in the AE86 BUT If you are over 6 feet tall, you seriously need to think about low mounted bucketseats or modifying your current seat rails.

Apparently a Japanese man (probably about the size of Ken Nomura) not having this problem thought a roof chop would look great on his AE85 Trueno Coupe:

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Panda Party

pandaparade

All white and all rocking smooth and clean mods, these fairly standard-bodied rides are a refreshing change from the ever-increasing madness we see coming out of Japan and the USA sporting all kinds of wide bodied, flared, blistered, pumped and who-knows-what-else body work. Chester Ng has these great shots of a crew of AE86 lovers from Hong Kong up on his website.  Sometimes less is more and for this selection of hachiroku it couldn’t be more true. I love the ‘Takumi’ and ‘Keiichi’ copycats, they’re almost perfect!


Not Just JDM!?

notjustjdm

You mean there are other parts out there? not just from Japan? And dare I say it just as high, if not higher, quality and… cheaper!?  Thats right boys and girls, the hachiroku motherland is not the only place to get top quality parts for your AE86!

This came about when I was searching for parts (specifically pistons) for my car and I didnt want to wait two months to have stuff shipped from Japan by boat or pay hundreds of dollars for EMS shipping. So I started looking at other parts of the world like the US, Europe and of course our home Australia. You’d be surprised what is available right in our own back yard and for a damn sight cheaper than having to import from Japan.

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The First Rally AE86!

Probably the first AE86 used in motorsports!

The picture above is showing the first usage of the Toyota AE86 in Rally sports and possibly also the first use of the AE86 in motorsports at all!

The screenshot was taken from a collection of videos (13 in total!) of the first AE86 to be entered the All Japan Rally Championship B Class. This particular round was held on June 4th and 5th 1983.  Since Toyota first started the AE86 production in May 1983, these brand new hachis must still have smelled like a typical 1983-era Japanese Toyota showroom when they rolled up to compete in this rally!

Hit the jump for the videos and more history!

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86 Day @ Nikko

86day2009

Finally we have the photo coverage from the 86 Day event at Nikko Circuit last week. Alexi @ Noriyaro has put up a mixed bag of the cars that attended the celebrations.  I particularly like the black KDS coupe and this lovely white hatch pictured above… so clean.

Check out yesterday’s Part 1 here while you wait for todays part 2, which should be up in no time!


Don’t Judge

NTO

It’s not what you expect…..

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Last One Ever: 2009 Nisei Week Showoff

IMG_0162

The common misconception when it comes to “show” style events that its all about chrome wheels, tanned leather interiors and penis hair cuts (especially in Australia). But as times change, so do the style of cars put on display at show events. Some say it has changed for the worse, I personally believe it has changed for the better. A perfect example of this was at last weekend 2009 Nisei Week Show Off in Los Angeles, USA with a mix and match of many different styles.

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