Almost hidden in the corner of the Toyota gathering a few months back was this AE86. The owner was a little taken back by my interest in it. I tend to obsess over cars with a little character; cars we wish could only speak and share their tales, with faded team stickers, dents holes and scuffs.
It’s no secret that we here at Juicebox have a serious love affair with the AE86. There is just something about these cars, the spirit, the reward, and the simplicity, all embodied in a very genuine very simple, honest little chassis.
Entering Mongolia during the Mongol Rally was an exciting moment for us all. We had survived police corruption in Kazakhstan..
So you are thundering across the desert in a 27 year old 1 litre Starlet you bought for a couple of hundred euro should you be worried? Of course not!
This country is incredible at surprising us. I remember the first time I seen this Laurel, probably the first time I had ever seen a Laurel… it was dark down at the infamous port road,ill never forget the angry of this screaming monster sliding sideways up the road. There was just something so enjoyable about such a huge machine going sideways four deep. It just looks badass, the presence was insane.
Im often overwhelmed by the whole idea of importing cars from Japan. Over the last few years on the website, I’ve rambled enough about just how interesting I find the whole process. This little gold Skyline is a classic case of that. Lets just take a step back for a moment, anyone of you out there that has ever built a car, put all that work into it, with friends, family, the people you have met, the people you shared those experiences with, the jobs you worked to save the money to buy those parts, the late late nights of frustration and anger, accompanied by the days of utter joy you shared behind the wheel….
It has been almost four years since the tragic disaster in Japan. As a car head, like many of you reading this, apart from all the chaos and sadness that followed the disaster on March 11th 2011, we cant help but be fascinated by all that radioactive Japanese metal that was left behind. Google was kind enough to creep in and drive the streets year after year, which is amazing. I have spent hours cruising the streets looking for stuff but I have to give credit o my little brother for hunting out a lot of these, both of us would spend hours cruising down streets spotting stuff. We did one of these posts before and people really enjoyed it, so here is another collection of Cars that will probably never move again.
A couple of months ago this little Vitz popped up for sale here in Ireland, at a first glance you could see the little cage peeking out through the back windows so we clicked on the ad to take a look. You just have to love the mystery surrounding many of the cars which made their way out of Japan. This is a classic example of that mystery, this quirkly little white Vitz, or Yaris as they are known here, generally seen outside of Japan as a proper commuting A to B machine has a much cooler story than meets the eye.
A few months ago a few mates had come across the Ocean from France to pick up this beauty. I decided to grab a few snaps before she made her way back. I’ve always enjoyed this car. It wears the Garage Masa have the M kit which adds the strawberry face to the s14. Sometimes 15 front on a 14 doesn’t work too good as a conversion as the strawberry front is a little sharper towards the more relaxed lines of the s14, but Ive always like the Masa kit conversion, its a pretty beefy aero kit which doesn’t look out of place.
Dave’s car is well known amongst the 86 community in Ireland. Being one of the founding members of Garage Hachi, quite a hot blog up until a year ago, the guys have always had a serious eye for the right parts and have a true love for the 86 chassis.
I’m finally glad this feature happened. This has been a long time in the making. Many of you should know this car by now or its original look which Adrian brought out for to play last year in Prodrift. I’ve always had such a soft spot for this car ever since it came in from Japan rocking the Shino Kouba stickers and fat Watanabes. This year Adrian has revamped the car in Team Hankook livery and holy shit does it look good.
Ah, another AE86 track day. Anyone who follows this blog will know how much we enjoy this chassis. Anytime there is a track day for the 86 movement it always brings a very interesting selection of cars.
Ireland has to have one of the most solid loves for the AE86 in the world. We literally stole thousands of them from Japan. On top of buying these out of Japan we have all the goodies and people around the country manage to build some incredible examples time and time again. No other movement inside the car scene seems to be as good.