More Door Obsession
Ireland has gone crazy for the Japanese four-door sedan. A little over ten years ago many of these big six cylinder machines were unattainable to the Irish man. Back then, still fetching insane prices in Japan very few of these were snatched up in the boom years and any that made it here were something of legendary status.
I think you could count the amount of well spec’d JZX100’s on two hands back then with only a very handful of them being manual or highly spec’d. These cars were fetching anywhere from 17k to 20+ k in the crazy times and were babied or lightly driven.
These cars were the ultimate goal for many, the final car, and the one you would progress to eventually. After the flood of Altezzas, Silvias and Skylines, many felt the next step on the ladder was the six cylinder four door, more specific a Chaser.
Maybe it’s the name, or the fact it’s seen as the king of the Drift FR Toyotas with its bulletproof straight six these are big cars carrying an even bigger prestigious presence. Looked upon as the mega stars in the Irish car scene many of us spent way too much time lusting over what we couldn’t have, seeing these being driven to death in Japan.
Fast forward a few years, Ireland has crawled out of the dark, prices on these have dropped in Japan and suddenly the dream is attainable. The Chaser very quickly consumes the country and before we know it the JZX100 flocks to the Emerald Isle.
The once rare Chaser became a common sight on the scene within months and with it were its brothers and friends, Mark II’s, Crestas, Aristo’s and Laurels. The country is craving the four door six cylinder in a major way.
I can see the attraction; I’ve always had a thing for the large more door drift cars. There is a certain addiction to the deep groaning six-cylinder note of a large four-door boat going sideways.
This Chaser is a particularly interesting model that caught my eye. The front lip looks like T&E but on closer inspection it’s a little different. I always love the hacked up standard bumper with the Gaping front mount, such a great look.
There is a nice Amuse front grille, the Vented hood looks to be Varis but it’s a little different so it’s hard to tell, as it has no markings. The wings are amazing, steel with massive vents that really set this creeping machine off against the sodium bulbs of the city. The paint job, it looks like a navy but as you walk around you see a crazy pearl shining back at you.
The wheels are Vienna Courage; with respectable offsets, they look at home on this big bodies sedan. The car could fit anywhere from the early Millennium right up to present date, the classy five spoke design looks at home on the car. They give the Chaser an “I get used but I’m still respectable look”.
This was a manual Tourer V from factory; I remember how blown away I first caught a glimpse manual JZX100 Tourer V. Fitted with an R154 from factory a manual option is less common than the Auto and highly desirable to unlock 1JZGTE’s true potential.
This has a few usual extras under the hood like a Koyo rad and a Greddy front mount. Controlling everything is a custom ECU. Out of the box there is plenty of power for the street with these engines without opening them up and many we have seen look to have very similar power modifications.
The car was fitted with a TRD 2 way in Japan and has a couple of other handling modifications we could see like a Jun floor brace, Cusco strut brace and Greddy Coilovers.
Its sad that after the JZX110 Toyota and pretty much all other companies since retired the six cylinder and cars of this type. The fact Toyota used to make stuff like this still truly baffles me, a chunky four door family machine with an ignorantly powerful heart, ideal for night time shenanigans with room for practicality if needs be, the best of both worlds.
The sound of this beast as it moves around the town, the paint, the tinted windows, the wheels, it just has a presence, which is very seductive. Toyota nailed it with the JZX100 Chaser, its great from every angle.
We should be very fortunate to be able to enjoy the FR Sedan. The straight six cylinder FR is already a thing of the past and to be honest it’s a shame.This is just one of many interesting examples which flooded in here in the last year and although not the craziest Toyota its certainly a very interesting very seductive car.
Fuck… They really don’t make them like the used too do they? Lets just be glad they did.
Wheels/Tires/Suspension/Handling/Transmission
Greddy Coilovers
18″ SSR Vienna Courage
Jun Floor Brace
Cusco front strut
TRD 2 Way Diff
Exterior
Steel Vented front wings
Varis Carbon Bonnet?
T&E Front lip?
Originlabo roof spoiler
Originlabo Boot spoiler
Amuse Grill
Uras smoked indicators
Custom JZX100 Cooling Panel
Interior
Blitz Boost Gauge
Purple Shift Dildo
OMP Deep Dish Wheel
Engine
1JZGTE Engine
R154 Factory Gearbox
Greddy Front Mount
Custom ECU
Koyo Radiator
Greddy Oil Cooler
HKS Exhaust