Photos Unboxed: AE86 Day
These photos are from AE86 festival last year. This is easily my favourite event here in Ireland and for obvious reason. The amount of cars that come out of the woodwork for this event is staggering. Ireland is flush with some of the greatest AE86’s in the world and its something we should be proud of. You could very easily mistake these photos for Japan.
I’m not going to do too much talking as this is basically a gigantic photo dump. There was so much cool stuff last year, I had a hard time cutting stuff out of this article.
We will start off with Paul Stryker’s Cream Levin. This car has been through many changes over the years but now it sits on Reubens old CR01’s and its a stunner.
Ireland has probably taken more JDM AE86’s than anywhere else in the world, for a country with such a small population that’s a pretty incredible achievement.
You can find every style over here, from fully kitted J-blood lookers like this Levin…
To UK style machines like this Corolla GT owned by Kyle Dillon. This was featured in one of our Vlogs not too long ago. We talked about the whole Japanese style VS Irish/UK style, there’s a clear division here between both styles, something that’s only unique to Ireland.
There are way too many good looking 86’s here. Some cars I haven’t seen in years and others I have never seen.
Some cars have always been favourites like Kevin from team Tekno’s all-black Trueno, I’ve loved the evolution of this car.
How about this multi-panelled 2 door Trueno?
These two cars are the polar opposite but both look as equally cool.
It’s hard to beat a black 86 with redlines. This car was a fresh enough import and it looked insane, Ireland is fond of the Watanabes and its easy to see why.
Just because this was 86 fest. It didn’t stop people from bringing other amazing 80s metal. The Retro Auto crew brought their GX71 Cressida and someone had an x60 parked beside it.
Along with the X71, The Retro Auto guys brought this LHD E70 Corolla 2 door. They had it sitting pretty on some Impul Hoshino’s.
Barry Mac imported his Trueno around the same time I pulled mine out of the ditch. We thought both cars would make it this year but sadly mine was still a bare shell. This is sporting a 7A-GE build and some fresh Work Equip 40’s.
An old favourite, probably the coolest Carina in Ireland and such a great car overall, these AA63’s came stock with the 4A-GE.
Wheels, Wheels everywhere.
Look how wide those Oni’s are! Nuts!!!
Come to think of it, Paddy from Retro Auto had a bunch of cool cars with him. This is his freshly painted 2 door Trueno.
Under the hood, he is sporting a Beams from an Altezza on ITBs. What an awesome combo.
Another cool machine which was, unfortunately, a non-runner on the day was this x60 Celica Supra. Imported into Ireland about a year ago, it has the most unassuming heart, a fully built 2JZGTE. I bet this thing is a handful.
Too cool!
Great to See Darragh’s O Connels car at this event. He was a die-hard 86 fanatic.
Everything about this!
Sean was just about to head out of a drift session. I’m not sure if we even got any action shots on the day, we were having too much fun taking in the vast lineup of cars in the paddock and trying to document everything for the Vlog series.
You don’t see too many Zenki Trueno front ends anymore. This thing looked tough as hell sitting on some Work Glowstar meshes.
Flip lurking in the background of Nicky’s old Trueno from the nightlife video, I will forever love this car.
So simple yet so effective, I spy some wildwoods.
We wrote a cool article on this car last year. It’s rough around the edges but that’s why we love it so much.
I had ever seen this GT-V before but the Longchamps, the solid red colour and those decals which are still somehow intact were a treat for the eyes. This is such a good looking car, I’m surprised it remained unmolested after all these years.
John Hickey brought his 1UZ wagon. This blue machine loves the abuse as you can tell by those love taps on the rear quarter.
Sean brought his new 86 also, I sometimes forget that he owns this 2JZ monster, there were talks of it being on track but unfortunately, it wasn’t running right.
Another shot of this black beauty.
It’s hard to beat the panda look. If three of my friends didn’t have this paint job id probably go this route.
I’ve come across this car on numerous occasions throughout the year, its another one of these amazing builds that’s nestled away somewhere in a shed.
You can’t go wrong with aggressive Watanabe’s. They’ve become the new favourite wheel here in Ireland. I’m not sure ill ever get sick of seeing them.
The Black over graphite colourway is one of the coolest combinations to ever come out of the Toyota factory.
I spy a Juicebox sticker on this Levin. I have a hard time choosing the colour for my own 86 and going to these events doesn’t help at all. Every single look has been done a hundred times and it’s almost impossible to do something that hasn’t been done already.
This restoration was fit for a museum.
Another shot of this absolute beaut! I really couldn’t get enough of this car throughout the day.
At lunchtime, the organisers gather all the cars for a parade lap. Most years, a lot of the cars head home before we get around to the lap so putting this parade lap right in the middle of the day ensured the track would be packed.
I love the variety at these events.
You’ve probably noticed the large volume of photos in this article. I couldn’t help it. Both I and Flip were snapping until the end of the day. This event brings the goods!.
Shane Walker’s Levin is a slice of perfection. A nod to the Run free look from the early Millenium. It looks like it fell straight out of Japan.
Sean Kealy’s car is the same. Another car I can’t get enough of, there will be a full feature on this very soon.
This Zenki Levin was fresh off of the boat and onto the track at Mondello. As I’m writing this article, I guarantee someone has just purchased another 86 from Japan that is destined for Ireland.
The line up was truly impressive. Every style you could think of, OEM, drift, grip, UK spec you name it, all side by side. If it wasn’t for the Irish plates and faces this could easily be somewhere in Japan.
That’s a nice selection, OEM, UK and Hyper style all parked up, side by side.
I could have walked around this stuff for hours, Ireland should be proud of such a strong AE86 community.
Darragh’s AE86 out front and two GT86 behind, along with an impressive convoy of “Twin Cams’ This was easily the biggest gathering outside of Japan at the time. I think the 2019 gathering was even bigger.
We set off on the Parade lap.
The screaming sound of 200 4A-GE’s was infectious.
Everywhere we looked there was something cool to capture, Flo’s 20valve starlet was right in the mix.
After recently getting back from 86 fest in Japan and revisiting these photos, it’s insane to see just how many of these cars have ended up on this little rock.
With every possible configuration imaginable, we have some truly incredible examples.
The scary thing is, there are probably another 200 86 that didn’t make it to the event.
I could think of at least twenty in our hometown that was either unfinished or could not make the event. (cough cough)
This is one of those events where people travel from all over the country, its gathering pace over the years.
Chris from AE86 world brought his Levin down from Belfast.
I had the pleasure of driving this for a weekend when a friend owned this car. You’ll be seeing that in an upcoming episode very soon.
We actually featured this car twice on the website many years ago as the Initial D machine and repainted with graphics. It’s unusual that Ireland doesn’t have ant Initial D replicas. I guess we are into these cars for completely different reasons.
From rally cars to full-on track cars, the parade lap was filled with every sort of AE86 imaginable.
I do not remember seeing any rally 86’s at the event. You get used to seeing so many over here and nearly take it for granted.
How about a couple of cool slant faced wagons!
We actually pulled in 0ut of the parade to take it all in.
Another shot of Paul’s 2 door, Reubens old wheels look at home on this.
One of the coolest OEM colours, 8A9 blue which was only available outside of Japan!
This Trust coloured Trueno was imported into Ireland not too long before we shot these photos. The paint job is great!
Another couple of shots of Chris Gray’s Levin. He’s had this car a long time and has managed to acquire some of the coolest parts over the years.
Some tasty Tsuchiya parts inside!
I’m still laughing at the fact we captured zero action shots on the day.
We often wonder how many of these old Corollas would still be left here if it wasn’t for the scrappage scheme. Maybe the rust would have got to them first.
Mills competition car has one of the nicest paint schemes which looks to be inspired by Hibinos old machine back in the day.
Too cool!
I’m going to leave this article here. Right before the parade lap, the organisers gather the crowd for a Japanese style photo of all the cars and owners. Ireland should be proud of such a strong following for the AE86 and everything old school Toyota. I’m blessed to have such a community for the car I consider to be my dream machine, it has made restoring the Trueno that much easier here. I do not take that for granted.
Everyone in this photo has their own story as to why the AE86 became their favourite car and Ireland is such a unique place in that we have so many great examples that would rival anywhere else in the world. We are very fortunate and I’m proud to be apart of this community of twin cams lad.