The AE86 Trueno gets the doors and wings primed, and it’s all one colour. I’ve waited years for this!
Some photos from the ultimate distraction night, when we got a call to see some action with an NZ-imported Corona on Star Sharks. This was happening near the shed, so we couldn’t resist the offer.
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.
I’ve wanted to shoot this car for years, and we grabbed a quick chance to take some proper up-close photos on our visit to Paul Keenan and friends some time ago. Ever since this car popped up for sale years ago on Yahoo auctions, and then landed in the UK and finally into the hands of Paul, I was always invested in and loved the character this 81 has.
It would have been rude not to pull this out of the lad’s shed for a close-up, the killer with the trip to Paul and friends is the fact they had so many good-looking cars. I could have spent the week up there shooting everything. Regardless, I loved everything about this ek4, the colour, the OEM bits the wheels, everything worked perfectly. Enjoy these few up-close photos from that day of a very well-executed EK4 Civic SIR.
A dive into our adventure to LZ Fest last year with early morning blown gearboxes.
In the quest for AE86 perfection, Jackie spends insane hours straightening the bodywork.
We unearth a hidden K20 Honda-powered Cortina build and grab a bargain 4A-GE 20valve
A massive moment for the AE86 build, the first coat of primer is applied to the Trueno!
We organise cars and coffee, check out an ITB Altezza and do some rings in a 4A-GE Daihatsu
Another incredible shed tour, a hidden stash of Nissan Silvia parts and much more.
We strip away 36 years of paint on the AE86. This is a long time coming!
This one had been in the works for some time, Paul had always asked us up but the timing never worked out. One weekend things were in our favour and myself and Flip decided to call up and check out the lads and Paul’s personal car collection. I love how much Paul downplayed this as we really were in for a treat. Things just kept getting more interesting as the tour progressed, between the group of friends and then the collection they had back at the house, this was and still is the best collection I’ve ever visited in Ireland.
I thought this day would never come, the 86 was sitting in the shed for so long that it felt like I bit off more than I could chew, a few hours after this photoshoot the car would finally be leaving to go for paint. I decided to bring it around the corner to the place where we did the original photoshoot before the tear down, just to get one last up close and personal photo set before this look would change forever.
These photos are from the night before the car went for paint, I threw on the Longchamps to give some inspiration and threw it out into the ring arena. Not much to say here ill let the photos do most of it but this was a really good look into the overall stance and look I wanted for the car. It kills me just how much I’m obsessed with these wheels!