Ah, where to begin…. if you didn’t know this by know, Ireland has a very very impressive AE86 following, when the flood gates from Japan opened back around 00, we pretty much imported any type of AE86 we could get our hands on and this continued for about eight years, right up until the country’s economy shat itself. Any proper day like the one that is somewhat annually held at Mondello brings some of the most awesome pieces of Japanese steel from around the country and this was as good as it gets.
This car was something of a rumour, not a whole lot spoken about it amongst the forums or between people, the owner Jason wanted to unveil the car at the right time when he felt it was ready. The car is just another one of these reasons why Ireland can be awesome, sure it rains quite a lot and everyone is miserable, but aside from all this Jason went and built one of the coolest two door KE70’s I’ve ever come across on both the internet and in the real world. I took a trip with a friend to see this car, we drove for miles along tiny little back roads and I wasn’t really expecting anything, which was a good thing. In Ireland you never really know what to expect when someone tells you about a car, as we rolled up to Jason’s house which is pretty much on the side of a mountain, my jaw dropped, I was truly speechless, I hope you can share the same feeling by checking out this feature on one of the coolest well executed Corolla builds this country has ever seen.
Happy AE86 day! What better way to celebrate this day than with a car like this. The Levin you are looking at is probably one of the most impressive builds I have ever witnessed with an AE86. These days people seem to have the mentality of adding a set of wheels to a car and stance and a couple of stickers and suddenly their car is something special or different. What I love about this car is the fact that pretty much every inch of the car has been changed, replaced or refurbished. This car wasn’t built to be put on a stand at a car show or to be king of the internet. Many people didn’t even know this 2 door even existed, for the people that did it was like an urban myth hearing what was being done and how much was being spent. The biggest thing I love about this Levin is how it was built to be driven and personally enjoyed, the fact Jerry wasn’t bothered if it was exposed to the world or not is pretty awesome.
Everybody who has been in the car scene for a long time either has some sort of place to keep stuff they have hoarded over the years or work on their cars. The first time I got a chance to go out to this shed I was amazed at how much was going on. There was just such an interesting collection of random bits and bobs and that was before you even started to look at the cars.
The car is running a 4AGE 16V + 10,000rpm = 230hp
Yes, turn this up nice and loud!
Many people have affection towards the kp series starlet in Ireland. Mostly due to the fact they were one of a rare breed of rear wheel drive hatchbacks from the late 70’s and early 80’s which made them extremely popular in rallying and hot rodding due to their FR layout which along with rust was one of the main reasons these cars disappeared, well that and the evil scrappage scheme. Most examples around Ireland have the usual superlites and mudflaps so it’s always nice to see a properly done version from the motherland.