A big moment! We finally start assembling the AE86 shell. This weekend was probably the most exciting part of the build. The plan was to get it rolling in Flips after paint and wheel it back to our shed.
Fitting new parts onto the shell was one of the greatest feelings. Everyone was buzzing to help, which made for a hilarious weekend of assembly craic with the lads. It was a huge milestone, it felt like we had reached the peak, and everything was going to be easier from here on in. After looking at the 86 as a bare shell for so long, I was starting to wonder if we would ever get to this stage. Out of nowhere, the body went from looking more or less the same for two-plus years into pretty much a rolling chassis in the space of two nights. It all happened so quick that it took a week or two for my brain to catch up.
I found a photo set from when we brought the March and the Civic to the track day. I’m pretty sure this is from March 2019. This day out was such an enjoyable day with the lads. We had a blast in the Civic thanks to Trackdays.ie, and took the March out just for a laugh,
We find a famous AE86 and the perfect KE70 Corolla hidden in the Irish countryside.
I’m playing catchup, editing these photos and chucking them up on the site, but I’m enjoying the process of looking back at the progress so far. You’d miss build threads on old forums. These days it’s youtube for that sort of stuff. Regardless of the vlogs, I’ve still been snap-happy shooting as many photos as possible of the progress.
A photo flashback to the night we fitted the bus in the shed. This night was such a funny moment. We had no idea if it would fit through the door or even slot into Reubens space in the shed.
When we were backing the bus in, we thought it would be a perfect time to sort the broken front light on the shed, so Barry (Other Barry) climbed up to replace the bulb.
The AE86 gets its first coat of paint! We finally paint the interior and the engine bay on the Trueno before we begin assembly. A massive step in the right direction!
Man! What an epic feeling it was to finally get the shell’s interior and the bay into the paint. Unfortunately, the loss of my father right in the middle of the project put everything on pause for almost eight months. We had pushed the shell over to Flips in March of 2019, and it more or less sat there until October, gathering dust.
Our trip to Japan was well needed, and when we came back, we decided to crack on with the project.
I was incredibly nervous as we sanded the shells interior for the final time, Jackie had helped out with the sealer earlier in the year, and we had just primed the bay. Flip was giving the engine bay seams a coat of sealer before we covered everything with paint.
A flashback to the time Barry called down to work on Adrian’s Carina, this was the day we shot the photo of Barry’s head for the sticker we ended up making inspired by the Boss coffee logo.
Barry brought his Darth Vader mask to do a bit of welding, I love days like this in the shed, and I’m looking forward to more of them over the next year. It’s great having like-minded immature mates around; we all keep each other in check.
It’s incredible looking back over these photos the past few months, seeing how far we have come with the build as I’m writing this, its just over four years of owning this project. Time has flown by.
This photo set is from the weekend where I conned Josh into helping build the spit, something we should have done at the very start of the build and not toward the end of the metalwork!
Jackie was calling down to seal the bottom of the car, the 86 didn’t even receive any treatment like this from the factory, so it should last a little longer. The idea was to brush sealer into the seams on the bottom, and the entire base of the car would eventually get a spray sealer to ensure the Trueno can withstand miserable Irish weather.
Here is a selection of photos from a typical day in the life at work. Any longtime viewers will know that I work at JDM Distro in Arklow Monday to Friday 8-5 sorting the visual side of the business, shooting photos videos, Instagram, Facebook and everything in between.
It’s one of the most incredible places to work as a Japanese car enthusiast. We purchase interesting parts from Japan and have them shipped to our warehouse in Ireland. They get unboxed, photographed, repackaged and sent back out to many parts of the western world.
It’s a mad setup, but I enjoy working there. It keeps the brain entertained as we are constantly surrounded by the best parts, which can also curse as our wages rarely leave the building. Anyways, here are some photos from back when we did the Juicebox episode on Distro and the container that landed that day.
The AE86’s engine bay gets sanded down for its final coat of paint, we get distracted by a Rally, and we check out a freshly imported ’78 911 from Japan.
Due to unforeseen circumstances and my father’s death in June 2019, the AE86 project took a bit of a hiatus; we put the build on pause until we felt it was right to get back at it. It wasn’t until we returned from Japan in September until we started to move on with the project again. I was hell-bent on getting this thing finished, but life always seems to throw a curveball when you least expect it, and it reminded me to slow down and enjoy the ride.
If cars could speak, Reubens C33 would have quite the story. Fortunately, we have managed to document most of its life since it left the motherland, a hack machine that someone threw together. Reuben imported this car with the sole purpose of making some extra cash. It wasn’t until it landed that he started trying on wheels and parts that he fell in love with it.
Much like our photos from the 2019 BBQ, right before the world knew anything about the word Covid, we made our way to the most famous car show in Ireland, held in September every year. This event was a washout, and as expected, we were a little deflated after just coming back from our trip to Japan, which you might have seen on our youtube channel.
We did a lap of the paddock, trying to capture whatever caught our eyes and battled the never-ending heavy downpours that followed.
Little did we know this would be the very last sizeable Irish car show as nothing has happened since the Pandemic took hold of the world. Regardless, enjoy these quick photos from a pre covid world. It took a little longer than expected to get around to putting them on the site, ill keep the words to a minimum here and let the high-quality selection speak for itself. Enjoy – Neil