happy hachi (ae86) day!

As an American automotive enthusiast, it seems as if it is my job to complain about not getting uber cool models or variants on our side of the rim (or pond as it may be).  From the point of view of an automotive product director, there is no way I would want to release an inexpensive, lightweight, rear-wheel drive coupe.  People would drive them to the wheels fall off, and then quite literally buy new wheels for them, and drive them some more.  How would we sell brand new cars then?

The AE86 is to drifting, as the Miata is to autocrossing.  A well balanced lightweight car from the factory, that responds well to simple modifications.  The Toyota Sprinter was a variant of the Corolla line, the most popular being that of the AE86 chassis designation.  The “A” stands for the engine type (most well-known being the twin-cam fuel-injected 4AGE), the “E” stands for the Corolla model line, with “80″ representing the generation, and the “6″ being the 6th revision.  The nickname hachi-roku is simply japanese for “eight-six”.

In an era where cars of its type were all losing a driveshaft in favor of front-wheel drive, the hachi-roku kept its rear-wheel format (with an optional LSD!) and was powered by the aforementioned 4A-GE featuring Toyota’s Variable Intake System.  The car was offered in Levin and Trueno variants, the difference being between fixed and pop-up headlights, respectively.

CBY (Crystal Body Yokohama) AE86 Hachi-Roku

My gift to you on this Hachi Day is what is in my mind AE86 perfection.  The Crystal Body Yokohama (CBY) Levin features some fatty fender flares and some mint Panasports to fill them.  Some googling pulled up the following specs:

16×9 Panasport C8R
-6 offset front, -43 offset rear
225/45/16 Tires

I couldn’t find the tire model, but they look like Advan’s of some sort.  Any other tire would probably be sacrilege.  Panasports look so good on pre-90s cars, and the dish on these is simply amazing.  Happy Hachi Day everyone!!

P.S. Levin FTW!

contact@eqwitty.com | published August 06, 2009 | filed in mental releases | 1 comment »