(clears throat)
- Here's some of your favorite quotes!
"Looks like your ordinary piece of crap from the outside,
but whoever's behind the wheel is a demon!"
See, dub, this is why dubbed doesn't work as well
as what, whatever
getting caught by such a wewak old conquers
the ultimate shame for street car.
Again, this is why sub is better
than dub and the anime was kind of brutal
but it was actually really good anime for what it was.
And there have been cars that have risen
with fame and then died.
As people moved on to the next trend.
This is like a thing.
Hollywood can do that to a car.
And it makes me actually kind of, sort of sad.
But back in the day, like 40 years ago
there was a car that made
like an Epic establishment into the JDM world
a car that would become iconic and an animate
and car enthusiasts that grew up watching Thundercats
and teenage mutant Ninja turtles fell
in love with this little tiny boy.
I'm Alex, Alex set up high on the socials.
And today where we talk about a car that almost
everyone will recognize when it's driving along.
But no one seems to ever really pick them up
because they realize how expensive it is
the car that is underwhelming on the outside, but fun
in the driver's seat.
You know what I'm saying,
a car that likely founded the media's
attention to the automotive scene from the JDM perspective
here in the United States. Ladies and gentlemen, today
we're going to be talking about the building block
of a race car in the 80s.
We're talking about you wanting to own a
Toyota AE 86.
aka The Hachiroku
(seductive engine growl)
Also, Welcome to Fitment Industries.
I'm Alex, don't forget to subscribe.
And if you're just learning about us
we started making videos, talking
about the sort of stuff at old horse, hoping.
There's H so supposed to be at the beginning of that
that you'd add your modified car door gallery to help people
out that are looking to find wheels, tires
and suspension that fit their vehicle
or didn't because turns out we do make mistakes sometimes.
So if you don't have an aftermarket car, add it
to our gallery, www.fitmentindustries.com/add.
And if you are looking for aftermarket wheels, tires
or suspension, be sure to check us
out over at www.fitmentindustries.com where we literally
have everything. Also, also, finish your goddam car.
All right, the season's almost here
and it's it's it's April it's it's time to pick it
up and nickel.
The AE 86 is a series of the
Toyota Parol 11 and Sprinter Trueno
I'm gonna get this wrong a couple times
but they were both extremely small front engine
Google drive models within the 5th gen Corolla.
Essentially built as a racing platform
for the showroom stock group A and rally and club racing.
These cars were the backbone and foundation
of Motorsport racing and the first major car
that had a build quality that catered to drifting.
But we'll kind of get into that.
The whole point of this car was
It was going to be affordable.
Toyota has always done fun things with their name.
And if you look back at the name Trueno or 11
it literally stands for thunder in Spanish
and lightening in middle English, Easter egg for you.
These two models are nearly identical
but this video is on the AE 86 specifically.
So buckle up buttercup.
Cause we're going to talk about that one.
The AE 86 is an acronym for the engine series.
The 4 A is the engine.
The E is for the Corolla, for some reason.
The 8 stands for the series of the E 80
and 6 is the variant of this generation.
The car itself wasn't too flashy
but it wasn't enough fuel injected inline-4
with a 9.4 to 1 compression ratio
130 horsepower in Japan and 112
in the North America due to the modified engine because
of the EPA five-speed manual gearbox variable intake system
and an optional LSD.
That was actually pretty damn good.
Not only that, but Toyota threw some extra money
at the car and places that made it a Lego for racing
such as ventilated disc brakes,
MacPherson style strut, independent suspension,
4 link live axle, stabilizers bars, and dang near.
Dare I say poke fitment from the factory.
Right on you, Toyota.
But they knew what they were doing
because instead of designing
like some clunky thing that was kind of a pain in the butt
they pretty much only built it to be a Lego block.
They didn't really want to do anything outside of the norm.
That would make it unreliable.
So an engineer by the name of Nobuaki Katayama
pushed the AE 86 project heavily.
This would be the guy that would become the chief engineer
for the first gen Lexus IS, was a former racing driver,
led the Toyota Altezza project in Japan and
the 1st gen SC
400 and 300,
and the 4th gen Toyota Supra
and, finalized work
within the Toyota world rally championship
and, the le mans program.
I mean, he was.
There were a million AE 86 trim options depending
on which continent you're on, but for most
of the time you'll either see a GT GT apex or a GTV trip.
There's more, those are the basics.
During this time, both the Trueno and the 11 were sold
at the classic pop-up headlights and taillights.
They just combine the pieces together, saves on costs.
And if you wanted to let this one out of the group
you're looking for the Japanese two door GT model that came
in at only 1,984 pounds.
Huge.
The AE 86 was an instant hit and it did it all right.
It was a proper nimble sports car made by Toyota
at a price that made sense and worked right into the amateur
and professional automotive market.
The light is funk platform was great for car races
that would take on the likes of the civics
and the more expensive, larger platforms.
The cars were easily configured for rally use because
of its weight and whooped serious, butt talks at the time.
All right, the 150 horsepower AE 86 would
beat the actual app.
Wait, what words.
It would beat the BMW, M6, the Mazda 929, the 192.3 - 16.
And pretty much all the European Turo cars
in the European Tour Championship
which was a pretty monumental feat coming
from a little tiny Toyota.
It would be easy as hell to tune become popular
in Japanese street racing and Toge racing
because of its weight.
And if that wasn't enough, the Michael Jordan
of racing at the time, Keiichi Tsuchiya, gosh, this is hard.
The drift King popularized the car through the launch
of the drifting culture and the racing culture.
I mean, it was just his
it was his thing and it was in animate
besides the animate, he did a lot of other stuff.
Okay. Nowadays, taking a look at the car that carries a bit
of a takumi tax, has not become a classic here
in the States and the want to own one by people
like you and people like me have reached new Heights.
All right.
Which is why we're done talking
about the history of the AE 86.
Clock me baby is like seven minutes in.
And the fact that it's now treated as a car plated in gold
makes it a little bit harder to buy.
No, we are here to talk about you wanting to own one
of these tiny little hatchback cars that everyone
seems to know, but not buy.
So you want to own an AE 86, we'll set
down your manga and grab your favorite tofu
because we're going to sit down and talk
about what it's like to actually own one of these things.
And if truly dare I say up to the JDM Tax.
Before you even jump into buying one, there's a couple, two
three things that you're going to want to be aware of.
First one, which one do you want?
Because there's such a variety.
It's important to understand which one you're
trying to track down and buy.
And there's lots of interests in the car
but that usually translates to lots
of people like top rank and others.
Not really giving much merit to you.
If you don't know which version you're looking for
especially even the model
because you do have different models, girl, a GT coupe.
You have the kouki, the zenki,
you have the notchback or hatchback.
You have different trims models
and options in different areas of the world.
Chasing one down is a Rubik's cube in and of itself.
And if you don't understand really what you're gunning for
they're not really going to figure it out for you.
Now, once you find one, understand
that you're likely paying 15 to $20,000
for a 40 year old now Toyota coupe.
You need to be picky, or you're gonna be in trouble.
Check your typical stuff.
Here's some great things to keep in mind, maintenance
record timing belts, run through the gears
and see if any synchro-mesh is worn out, but get pickier.
Okay, you're going to want to check the spare tire area.
Is there rust or is the spare even still there?
Check the rear seats.
If they go up and down without running into each other
that's usually a clear indication that they haven't been hit
or slammed or anything in the back of the car.
Not if they do, it could have been in the collision.
Now, remember, these cars are old, all right?
And the life is likely not as well documented
as you would have hoped check for rust.
It's extremely common on these cars
But joint points in suspension mounts are easiest places
to detect and track for rust.
And this is going to be really where you find a lot of that.
Now weld points are easy on the inside of the
wheel well to also check.
And there are common places where rust can begin to
rut the car.
Remember if you're paying for good chunk of change
on a 40 year old Toyota, you want to get a good one.
These cars sit in a special place
for a lot of people around the world
the subculture of the car, the price that of man
the build quality and the purpose has now been concreted
and a chapters of history that sit collecting dust
in the forms of decades past, and damn is it quite the car
and adventure to jump into this platform, simply learning
about it teaches you just how much this platform means
for some people around the world, in its infancy
the AE 86 opened the doors for motor sport, drifting
and modification to those that otherwise never had the cash
or real availability to get into it.
Toyota opened that door for a lot of people.
And this was the car that fed the addiction for drifting
for buying two forties
for creating the Miata for understanding the purpose
of the Lexus drift cars, it's responsible
for fueling the passion that likely laid the main framework
to the automotive culture in the 80s
and into the 90s from a JDM reliability
and ultimately not super damn expensive car that you
and me could get into.
And it deserves every ounce of respect
but it is damn expensive.
VIN 6, 19 Corolla, Sr 5 on 15 by eight work,
equips are insane.
They're like 1600 bucks.
Again. There's another one in the gallery.
That's running TE 37 and Yokohama Advans at BC Coilovers
which can be quite the bill.
And when you're already spending $20,000 on the car
the parts that go with it are usually just as expensive.
Sure. More affordable options exist
but the car has the iconic mentality. It does.
So no one really wants to go cheap on them anymore.
It's really only the best of the best.
86 has a beautiful setup on work Meisters
and the classic Panda two-tone setup that I just want
$20,000 for an AE 86 may be a little steep but I'll take it.
But that's the thing too.
A lot of people, the car is a walk.
Once the price point comes into play
compared to what you can buy for the same, the price,
the decision to pull the trigger can become
quite a bit tough for people like you
and people like me because $20,000 to
get you in an M3 boy, they can get you,
dare i say, a Corvette and S 2000, even a Cayman.
It's a high demanding price that stood for something
in the 80s, but you're buying the principle.
But the car these days, even though the platform
is incredible, aren't being purchased for what they can do
because many cars can do exactly what that car can do.
Now they're being built and bought for the foundational
principle of what they once stood for.
And you need to be sure that you understand that because
while that's pretty cool, it can either leave you
overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but what do you think
of the AE 86 worth it or not?
Let us know below.
And if you're looking for aftermarket wheels, tires
or suspension, be sure to hit us
up over at www.fitmentindustries.com
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries
not figment,
not fidilament,
not filament
"Fitment" people at SEMA.
The models kept saying it wrong in the videos.
We will see you later.
Goodbye.