Unboxed in Photo: First Visit to MR "X" - Juiceboxforyou

I had wanted to see this place for years. We are going to call this Person Mr X as this is what was requested. Being friends with MR X on facebook for a very long time and chatting back and forth about various cars he had imported, we already had a solid relationship. I had shot a few of his cars for the website at various track days over the years but never had the chance to visit his house, I had only seen photos of stuff for sale on Facebook. I was originally going to get a shell from MR X and build on it from there but then a whole other thing happened with the Trueno from Dans Garden.

Mr X lives close to the Border between the North and the South of Ireland. He has been bringing in Classic Toyotas, mostly AE86’s from Japan for over fifteen years. I can’t imagine how many he has broken for parts, I’m sure he has lost count. What he does to these cars could be considered by some as sacrilege, and I won’t lie it saddens me sometimes to see these cars being stripped for parts but everything that gets torn down is repurposed into someone else’s build. It is a necessary evil. Mr X has an unbelievable amount of stock at his house, it’s in the most unassuming of locations and I bet he likes to keep it that way.

On my first trip to his home, I was in the market for a Bride seat, a seat rail, a catch can and a steering column, I knew there would be a few more visits but this is all I could afford for now. Its a very dangerous place to visit, you always end up coming home with a bunch of stuff you didn’t expect to buy. It is like being a kid in a toy shop all over again, except you have a bank account and your own money. It’s really you against your own willto hold back when you visit this place.

Everywhere you look there is something to take in, a set of fat Watanabes chucked in the corner or something rare and unusual which has been pulled from the many Levins or Truenos which have come here to die.

Asides from the Toyotas, Mr X has a very mixed collection of machinery, he’s quite fond of what was domestically sold here in Ireland and the UK and has had his fair share of hot hatches and funkier stuff from the eighties and nineties. This Renault 5 GT turbo was being suffocated by AE86 parts!

Everywhere you look, something catches the eye, everything is for sale also and you can’t help but ask the prices on stuff that stands out so you have to be careful.

In his personal collection, he has some seriously cool Toyotas. This AE82 FX-GT Limited is an incredibly rare car both in Japan and in Ireland and at the time of shooting these photos he had not one but two of these beauts and came with the 4A-GE from factory. This one looked particularly well on the Compomotive wheels and to be honest I can’t get enough of that slant back design.

Another old gem, this is just as rare in Japan as anywhere else in the world, its known as a KP61 starlet estate. I’m surprised he even found one going through the auctions. At the time we shot these photos, This was the only known example imported into Ireland and its first time I had ever seen one in the flesh. Sitting perfectly on some 13″ SSR MK2’s with that charming orange paint, I really couldn’t get enough of this beauty.

Did I mention I love this thing, the slant back is so distinctive. As modern cars move further and further into complicated territory, these simple square honest machines look better and better.

Here is the other FX GT Limited he had in stock. Like I said these are super rare cars in Japan and to see two in the same garden in Ireland is one of the reasons I love this place. Ireland as a collective has one of the most comprehensive collections of Toyotas outside of the motherland.

This is MR x’s other shed, this is where he keeps his collection of classic Toyotas, this place is any Toyota car enthusiasts wet dream. I was in awe when he opened the door, the radio was blaring and an array of square eighties silhouettes caught my eye. One of the main cars I was greeted to was this stunning AE70 that we actually shot for Juicebox many years ago, still looking as good as ever.

MR X is fond of the old Hiaces and has quite a collection, you must have guessed by now that his preference is eighties Toyotas?

Lurking up the back is his Rough and ready Levin track car. It’s like a game of Tetris in here, I was fascinated to see how he moves everything around.

In the corner was his gold Pride and Joy, I’m pretty sure he’s had this Gold 86 for a long time, it was sent off to be fully restored a few months after we shot these photos.

I was very eager to check out this Hiace van which had been recently come in from Japan. MR X bought this on a whim one night after a few beers only to find out it had a very unusual engine transplant.

As he rolled it out you could hear a very distinctive note from an inline six.

A quick lift of the seat revealed a Non-VVT 1JZ setup lifted from an X90 Chaser! This is such an awesome sleeper. He assured me the 1JZ was going to stay, comfort and power in an unassuming sleeper van. Could this be the ultimate combo?

Even the paint job and wheel choice was spot on with this thing. Is there anything cooler?

This A50 carina was also fresh in from Japan, Mr X had thrown a set of chunky SSR Longchamps on to see what potential could be easily unlocked with this clean looker I’ve always had a big love for the A50 carina and this example was one of the cleanest I had ever seen, it’s great to see old Japanese metal in such a great condition coming into the country again since any Irish sold versions of this chassis are long gone to the crusher!

In the corner of the yard, this Ae111 looked pretty depressing. Sadly this is the fate of most Levin/Truenos of this era due to their ever so desirable engine. As Alexi from Nori Yaro called them, “storage boxed for Blacktop engines” and yes sadly this is the case for most of these in both Japan and Ireland. We took a heap of these during the boom years and most have ended up robbed of their heart in recent years as the prices of these cars dropped to almost nothing. I can see these getting pretty expensive over the coming years as they start to disappear.

This cage was lurking next to the AE111, It had just been pulled from a freshly stripped 86. I actually came back to purchase this on my second visit. See what I mean? You come up for one thing and go home with something else.

So many cool wheels, most are for sale, you just need to know Mr “X” and know where he lives as he doesn’t post anything. He likes to keep things simple.

Some are not for sale! I tried to get a price on these 14″ wats but these were one of the only sets he was keeping.

Along with these lovely Dunlop Javelin wheels, another rare eighties beauty.

Id love to do a full feature on this van once the weather picks up this year. I’ll have to try to arrange something with Mr X.

How cool is this KP61 Wagon, I remember the first time I came across one of these online and was in complete disbelief. I had no idea they made such a variant and instantly fell in love.

This freshly imported 86 was brought in just to be dismantled like the many others before it. The good thing is most of these cars get repurposed or rebuilt into something else so all is not lost. This Levin fronted Trueno was showing sins of an interesting history back in Japan, sporting poly windows and a 20valve conversion and cage, I bet it has seen its fair share of track time over the years.

The white on white combo with this AE82 was perfect. Whatever happened to Toyota, they had so many models and trim levels of basically every chassis on offer back the golden days. We will never see times like that again.

I’m pretty sure this is an 82 car, as I said a bit earlier up in the post, it’s great to see such well kept examples of these cars coming in from Japan. You would love to know what sort of life they had to be kept in such a fantastic condition all these years.

I enjoyed the selection of stickers which has been slowly accumulating on the inside of the shed over the years.

Most of the cars that Mr X imports go faster than I can keep up with, you have to be quick when getting parts. Ireland has one of the largest AE86 scenes in the world and we are all out there for a good bargain. MR X does not post, you have to drive to him which is all part of the experience when buying stuff, it usually leads to purchasing something else that’s hanging up in his shed. I think that’s why he gets people to call up to him! Genius sales tactics.

I’ll leave this post with this image, here is a final shot from his shed with some wings and a random east bear seat lurking in the corner which we eventually picked up for Flips RX7. As I said, when you head up for one specific item,  you end up coming back with ten other things.

People like myself would be lost without someone like Mr X, he has created a very unique scenario which comes in handy when rebuilding or restoring your AE86 in Ireland, mostly because it’s convenient and reasonably priced.

You would easily mistake his garage for some random shop in Japan, it’s hard to believe this is just another house in the middle of nowhere in Ireland.