Flashback: A Pair of Vintage Corollas

2013 has been a dynamite year for Toyota enthusiasts. The FR-S has proved itself as a savior to a brand that had largely been resigned to sellers of beige people-movers and uninteresting hybrids in the minds of the loyalists that remember the Supras and Celicas of the eighties and nineties. The RWD coupe was designed as an homage to Toyota’s AE86 Corolla, a car that had blown up in popularity in the past decade thanks to its headlining role in the manga series Initial D. It is no coincidence that popularity of the original hachi-roku and other vintage Toyotas rose nearly as a direct inverse of Toyota’s gradual exit from the enthusiasts eye. The death of the Supra, MR-2, and Celica, as well as the softening of the IS300, foreshadowed a bleak future, forcing fan’s of Japan’s largest automaker to turn 180 degrees for their automotive kicks.

Orlando Lespier originally wanted to build an AE86 coupe. He had found a prime example in Indiana, and it wasn’t until he arrived that he spotted this hatch, and fell in love. The car had escaped the harsh Midwest weather, surviving nearly twenty-five seasons rust free. Orlando’s vision for the car was to keep it stylistically true to it’s JDM roots and be content with building the car as a Sunday cruiser. With owning an older import, and facing the ongoing challenge to source parts, a preservation minded build is a smart bet. The imported Trueno bumper and 4A-GZE swap are testaments, however, that Orlando isn’t content to just leave things alone.

Orlando’s favorite feature of this AE86 is the transplanted JDM motor. He asserts, “This is my first car with a supercharger and it has a great feel to it. I’ve had turbo cars and been in cars with nitrous, but hearing that supercharger whine when at full throttle is awesome.” The visceral driving feel that comes from this Corolla is everything that Toyota lacked in the 2000s. Emanuel Crespo, the owner of the 1980 Corolla, was also looking to the past to get his Toyota kick, and found it with the earlier TE72 chassis.

Emanual picked up this coupe as a trade a 1994 Corolla wagon that he had been driving. Unfortunately, he was not as lucking in finding a rust-free example as Orlando had been with his hatch. The car spent 8 months in the body shop fixing the rust, pulling the quarter panels, and fixing dents before any mods began. He admits that the time gave him plenty of time to begin plans for the car. The first mod was a set of old school Recaro seats, and the JDM front and rear bumpers, T3 coil over suspension, Auto Power roll cage, JDM TRD rear fog light, and Emanual’s favorite part of the car, a JDM XXXC front emblem followed. The car sits on a set of classic 16″ SSR Reverse Mesh to finish to the classicshakotan-inspired look.

The current word on the street is that a new Supra is just around the corner for Toyota. Obviously, these rumors are seemingly perennial staples of the automotive blogosphere, but with the LFA at the top, F Sport variants being offered from Lexus, and the FR-S now at the bottom, there’s a Supra-sized hole that seemingly needs to be filled. Time will tell if Toyota can regain their spot in the enthusiast community, but with nearly 50 years of sports car heritage, fans can rest assured that the Toyota name is will always be present in the community, even if it means we have to wait till “flashbackfriday for the pictures.

Orlando writes, “I’m just happy to be able to do what I love and have such an understanding wife that shares the same passion as i do. I would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart and cant wait to start her build this winter also (1976 Corolla TE31). I am also the President of Team_Nostalgic car club here in Chicago and would like to thank the members that helped me out on this build as well, they know who they are. Everything was done at home in my own garage (besides machining parts) with my own sweat, blood and yes, some tears as well.”

Emanual writes, “I would like to thank Victor Toledo at “Vics Custom Rods” for the awesome job he did on the bodywork and paint job, my parents for putting up with my car addiction and my little brother for helping put the Corolla back together. Thanks to Jose Torres for the awesome shots, Henry Soto for the new 3tc swap, and my crew Team Nostalgic for showing support.”

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