The videos are flying along, I guess because we have met a deadline for the 86 unveil(which is a good thing); Im trying to catch up with that progress, which makes the timeline for the rest of the videos a little weird, but we will figure it out. These photos are from late last year; when the car came out of the booth and received another coat of lacquer, we started fitting panels, and things hit me when the glass was fitted to the back paired with the ever-so-good-looking redline tails. I think I was almost sexually aroused by that rear end the first time we finished it; as strange as that is to say, I’ve probably fantasised about having this look for way too long. It’s been such a fucking journey with this car, and it’s insane to think that the mega building aspect of it is coming to a close; here are a few photos from this time, a bit of Barry welding, Bryan helping put stuff back together and Jackie working his magic on the tail lights.
Bryan and Barry double team assembly on the AE86 while Jackie fixes the redline Trueno tail lights
I never really appreciated the effort that went into blocking with a paint job because I had picked the best colour for body panels. Jackie was adamant that he wanted this car to be perfectly straight; I even started to lose track of the process, with the Trueno being blocked, spray-filled and then blocked again. Throughout the process, Jackie remained consistent with enthusiasm and attention to detail; most of the time, standing back and admiring his commitment, even after a full day of misery at work, was incredible. It’s been inspiring, and I’ve aimed to keep that mindset in my life as we advance. He wants to do the best he can all the time regarding his craft.
Here are the photos leading up to painting the car. We tried to get the best finish possible because, as I’ve learned, it’s all in the prep.
As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, delaying this content slightly is excellent for the brain, even if it is a year later. Im always living in the moment with this resto, and it takes looking back at these photos to see how far we have come. These photos are from this time last year, November 2022, when Jackie was deep in trying to chase the straightest panels on this car.
I had every faith in him; we have been friends for many years, and he has been at this craft for 18-plus years since he was 16 years old. I was fascinated to see the techniques he had picked up since the last time I had seen him in action: a light skim of filler on the panel, followed by large sanding blocks to block the car essentially; the big block would find all the high and low spots to try to give the straightest panels possible, probably better than how this thing rolled out of the factory.
This was probably the most significant change in the ae86 build. The car had sat in that strange maroon colour for so long in various shades, paired with primer and glimpses of restoration work; the car was essentially a patchwork quilt of misery. After years of tackling this without seeing any significant visual change, sanding the entire body down to bare metal and seeing the whole car uniform in silver was a moral boost.
Here are a few overdue photos from the first few days we took the 86 up to its new home, where the car still lives, as we begin to wrap up the paint process. This was a scenario I had anticipated since the start of the build, and honestly, I almost felt like this moment would never come. The car had a few lull periods, and I was worried it would never pull out of it. It sat as a bare shell for a little too long, and then we had a string of events that set things back. Thankfully, things came together at the start of 2022, and the progress car ramped up. It finally felt like we were on the home stretch.
Barry is back to cut the rust out of the AE86. Jackie calls down to apply fresh seam-seal the vulnerable parts of the Trueno! More progress and fewer distractions with this one.
We head to Irelands largest gathering of Japanese cars. An annual event held at Mondello Raceway, Japfest is the largest gathering of Japanese cars in Ireland and usually brings out some unexpected treats.
In this episode, we fall down the rabbit hole, trying to find out how many AE86’s Toyota produced worldwide. This episode started because two of our Truenos were 40 cars between each other on the assembly line in 1987 and now they live in the same shed. We also uncover some rare photos and interviews with the head designers and engineers on the AE86 chassis.
I had been meaning to shoot these cars for quite some time now. During the week when I’m working up in JDMDistro, I’ve been trying to make my way out to certain cars or groups of mates with interesting sheds. These lads are all local to where I’m living midweek so we managed to lock in a date after work last year and head for the hills.
Shed distractions, rings, A31 Cefiro’s and old stories with very strong Irish accents.
With the freshly painted Calsonic March, a few AE86’s, a couple of Nissans and a pair of starlets, we hit the road for the Irish Motor festival. This episode was supposed to be uploaded last week but Japanese Jet lag won the battle.
The Trueno gets neglected as we give the k11 March its final form. Rob has a Mitsubishi BBQ and we go off-roading.
The Trueno enjoys a little progress until we are distracted and rip apart the daily driver K11 March to unleash its final form!
We hit the road to Gatebil in Rudskogen Norway in a bad Transit loaded with Reubens C33 Laurel. Enjoy this half hour special documenting our trip to one of the craziest car festivals in the world.