Box shaped love: The EP71 Turbo
The starlet has always been known for a reliable little run around. The 70 series like the silver model pictured above has been well established as a cheap A to B run around and a nice little car to use for Auto testing and hot rodding. In the last few years we have seen the love for these little starlets grow more and more. One of the reasons would be the fact they are cheap for the younger generation to insure and they are starting to get rare. The cars can be seen on websites like donedeal and similar and in some cases people can look for up to 2000 euros for them!
With all this love for the “boxy” starlets growing amongst the car scene, especially with the younger generation, we decided to do a little car spotting on a friends ep71.
The car is a 1989 Starlet Turbo S. The EP71 Starlet turbo is a rare enough car in on Irish shores. Less then 30 cars are known to have been imported into the country. This model has been left more or less standard and is in pretty good condition for its age. All the original paintwork and interior has been maintained. Who could ever paint over epic graphics like the ones on these doors?
The styling on the 80’s starlet Turbo completely awesome. Everywhere you look the car is telling you that its something special… something turbo! haha
The car was pretty advanced for its day with funky feature’s like the Electronic modulated suspension which was a system where the suspension was electronically controlled by sensors that would adjust the stiffness according to your driving style.
The owner Retained pretty much anything awesome about the car like the super awesome Turbo interior. You just couldn’t replace an epic interior like this bad boy!
Inside the cockpit was kept as stock as possible. The only things that have been added are an Apexi safc, Apexi boost controller and turbo timer.
Yes you knew we were going to zoom in on that steering wheel. What I love about the interior is you are constantly reminded that you are in a turbo starlet!
Lifting the bonnet reveals a 2E-TELU engine again letting you know its turbo as you can see it cut into the cam cover in red. Engine cooling has been provided by the honda familia in the form of a twin core alloy radiator for an EK civic. The car has been fitted with an uprated turbo and decat combined a bigger top mount to squeeze some extra power from the engine. An Apexi cat back has been fitted at the rear to allow the car to breath easier.
The ep71 turbo absolutely awesome. Its one of the most 80’s looking cars I’ve ever seen and has been kept in great condition. Finishing off the looks of the car the owner went with some Buddy Club P1 SF wheels with a red pinstripe which ties in perfectly all the other red and orange touches to the car.
In a country where the NCT and scrappage schemes kill most cars from the 80s and earlier, a car like this will only look better as the years go on but I would imagine would be a lot more sought after amongst car enthusiasts.
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