Toyota To Revive The AE86
Monday
Mar 26, 2007
Wow. Is this for real? The folks over at celica.net say Toyota may be considering reviving the Corolla Sport, otherwise known as the AE86 platform (particularly to Initial D fans), which came in either Levin or Trueno (the former with pop-up lights, and the latter with fixed headlamps). The AE86 platform was unique in that it was the last of the FR-configuration (front engine, rear-wheel-drive) Corollas that Toyota came out with (this was during the mid-1980′s). This proved great for racing, especially with the drifting scene that was starting to get popular in Japan that time.
… Toyota might be considering re-releasing the driftastic Corolla Sport. The endearingly tossable rear-wheel-drive AE86 platform was known by many names around the world: Corolla Levin, Sprinter Trueno, Corolla GT and of course the Corolla Sport in the States. Particularly in GT-S trim, it was one of the few sporty models to make its way into Toyota dealerships, alongside the Celica and Supra, and eventually the MR2, which essentially replaced it. But it was fun and cheap, and that set it apart. Available from 1983-1987, it was one of the last affordable rear-drive cars that could take a pounding, making it a favorite of budget street racers and the emerging drift scene in the ’80s and ’90s.
I hear AE86 of various conditions can fetch up to a cool PhP 1 million locally. That’s enough to buy you a brand new top of the line Honda Civic. If Toyota were to come out with a lightweight, FR layout sprinter at an affordable price, I’d love to get my hands on one.
BTW, if you’d like to learn more about drifting or other driving-related stuff, do check out my new Study Driving blog. Contributors are welcome.
J. Angelo Racoma is a technology journalist and blogger. See more of his blog posts here at racoma.com.ph, commentaries at racoma.net, and Twitter feed at @jangelo.
Comments
Alex
March 27th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Me some of my former college friends wanted to import hachi-rokus back in the day (being Initial D geek-os). We got a dealer in Japan who could get it for us for a relatively cheap price of around PHP100k (compared to the price of a 93 Honda Civic hatchback then, it was a steal! Plus that stock 4A-GE engine, yeah, baby!). Then we ran up the numbers for shipping and customs and tax. Turned out that everything would cost a near million each. Tsk. Plan aborted.
I still want white one, paint it black and white, and stick a “Fujiwara Tofu-ten” decal on it.
brian
July 6th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
P1M? well, if you want a really really mint one, with upgraded engine, suspension, etc., maybe it will cost that much.
However, a fairly decent one can be had for 500k or less.
ae86 beast
July 22nd, 2007 at 1:39 am
psycho you….
1M? youre out of your mind
relaunch it……
your a day dreamer
where did you got that news?
In your day dream.
HA HA HA…
Daniel
August 6th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article To Revive The AE86 | The J Spot, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
apex
September 20th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
IS THAT FOR REAL!? CAN U PLS GIVE THE RELIABLE SITE ABOUT THIS..tnx
newbeenew
February 26th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
The most interesting fact that today, i see same article:).
Although I do not remember there may be a link to the source,
but probably not – but your site look solid.