A day I thought would never come, we had been at this for over five years at the time of these photos. This was an emotional day for both of us, we had both been so emotionally invested in this car over the last few years, Barry finished the front arch and gapped the front end and rear before hitting the hills. Without Barry this car would have never happened, along with Bryan, Flip or Jackie, key players in this car’s restoration, I wouldn’t have been able to undertake such a mission. I’m forever grateful for knowing these guys and having their influence and drive throughout the build.
Barry’s final day doing metal work on the AE86.
Here are a few photos from the night we installed the cam cover and the pulleys, a vision I had for this for a long time I was curious to see if it would work out.
We refreshed the AE86’s cam cover with some sparkle paint and give the BMW some attention.
I could watch Barry forever working on this car and others, working with metal has always fascinated me and it’s been an absolute blast watching him figure things out with this car and slowly remove all the misery. It’s mad to think it’s over a year since I shot these photos, the last few weeks before the car went for paint, Barry devoted his weekends to calling down and wrapping up the flared arch work on the Trueno. I divided that work into four episodes one for each arch as I loved having Barry on the videos chatting shit and showing us how he does it. I’ll leave these photos to speak for themselves, someone might appreciate how he does it, a dying craft, very much on a dying platform, a blog post!
Barry finishes the right side on the AE86. We can finally see how the Trueno will sit. The metalwork is almost finished!
This was a special Saturday for the 86; Barry and I had been away from the car since September, things didn’t line up, and I was keen to get him back down to finish the arches; this was all that was left on his end before the car 86 gets shipped off for paint. We figured out a few weekends, and he promised he would make it down and try to wrap this up.
Barry is back to hack out some surprise rust under the AE86 arches. We also launched Patreon and Discord!
Here is a rather sizable photo dump from AE86 fest back in 2021. This event is one of the best days out in Ireland and attracts much more than the 86 chassis. Every year it grows a little further thanks to the organisers and the overall love for this car in Ireland and beyond, with people making the trip from all over the world as in the last few years. You’ll see what I mean when you scroll through the images.
Another shot of the car with panels on. This was a weekend where we had a BBQ at the shed, and with the setting, I drove the windowless machine out into the yard to photograph its various twenty shades of pain.
I plan to make much more trips like this in the future. Ireland is filled with pockets of families and friends who have their stuff going on with car builds. These two brothers live and breathe 86s, and it was a pleasure to showcase a slice of their life on the channel. They have great taste in cars, and between the both of them, they’ve had more 86s than anyone I know.
A few photos from our little night drive in the summer of 2021; right after all the misery of covid had lifted, we decided to get together for a meet-up and appreciate the joy these rusty Japanese cars bring. A route was mapped to drive for some spirited driving, but we got some food beforehand. Far too many of our vehicles are sitting in sheds these days, never getting the use they deserve, so it was great to get them out for a blast. Finally, everyone went home smiling, reminding us why we got into these things in the first place. In Ireland, as the years progress, you tend to see fewer and fewer of these cars on the road; they live their lives in the shed as our climate isn’t the best for cheap steel Japanese machines.
Sometimes you have to drop everything when an invitation comes along. I got a message from Conor Browne a few months back, and he asked if I wanted to tour his stash of Toyotas and beyond. I had heard about the collection for years, but he was looking to downsize the load and asked if we could showcase the cars to shed some light on the stuff he had for sale. This worked perfectly for me as I wanted to see this stuff in person, showcase the unexpected treasure hiding in the unassuming Irish countryside and get some excellent content out of it all.