Evan and his Carina (Cresta)
You’d miss having Evan at the shed, he moved out to his home house a few months back, and there’s been an absence of his deep rural Irish humour. We shot these photos the weekend I was going to launch a video about his recently imported GX71 Cresta; I needed some B roll shots and decided to do a little shoot of the car out in our ring arena.
Evan got the car through our friend Ron, and it appeared to be a one-owner minter that was off the road for a long time. He plans to go Kaido racer-inspired, but mostly just low with excellent wheels and somewhat OEM, maybe more Kyusha style.
We found these Riverside wheels on Yahoo, and he had them fitted before it landed.
The car has a few scuffs and marks, but the interior and overall condition were pristine; it was 100% kept indoors in a garage as it had no sun damage.
Evan also picked up these TS-X60 speakers on the auctions and had them refreshed.
How good is this view, red velvet and eighties goodness?
I fall asleep whenever we’ve gone for a spin in this as its such a comfortable cruiser. They don’t make them like they used to.
Look how long it’s off the road! Emperor Heisei 9, which translates to 1997 since its last inspection.
Evan is in turmoil about what route he wants to go with the build. It’s a lovely original example, and he’s fallen for the luxury. Evan added the early spec front end to this as the later model came with one solid glass lamp.
It’s incredible to see the zinc coating on all the bolts, even after all these years.
The trusty 1G GE engine. This car is from Japan’s bubble era, where everything was over-engineered, and four vehicles were competing for the same market made by the same manufacturer. In Ireland, every old lad thinks this is a Carina which leads to endless back and forth with lads who are convinced their father had the same car back in the eighties. Sadly cars like this, oozing with character and quirky features, it’s a time that will never be replicated. Im really looking forward to Evan’s future plans with this Cresta.