This photo set is from the second trip up to MR “X”. I was going to pile these photos in with the third trip but each time we head up there I always find myself snapping everything in sight. There is something new with every journey, something to leave you either confused or in awe. The little 5 GT Turbo has seen many AE86’s being stripped at this point, I wonder if it ever thinks it’s going to be next.
We head back to MR “X” to shop for AE86 parts. We also clean some 4A-GE valves and Flip gives us an update on his FC RX7
We shoot a stunning Blacktop 4A-GE AE111 Levin, a somewhat forgotten chassis and the guys go drifting their Datsuns at Mondello Park.
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.
Let’s get stuck right back into our walk around Japfest 2017. I can’t stress how good this event was, it’s a clear indication that we are out of the dark times. The car scene is booming once again.
This article was lost when the website went under. I managed to recover most of it and felt it was right to get these photos up here from what was easily one of the best Irish car shows to date. This will be coming in two parts as there is a huge photo dump with this feature. I’ve left the original writing intact so it might sound a little weird as those were supposed to be posted back in 2017.
In this Episode, we piece together this history of the AE86 and the recently acquired 20valve 4A-GE engine
We take a visit to an AE86 parts graveyard to pick up some parts for the Trueno, we also check out a very unique collection of old-school Toyotas locked up in some sheds.
In this episode, we figured it would be the right time to explain my love for the AE86 and I sit Reuben down to give an explanation for the shed. A bit of a gift for reaching the 50k subscriber mark.
So after a trip to Tec Arts, the day was still pretty young. We decided to head towards Spoon sports, that area of Tokyo had a hub of various tuning shops, or so we were told. We set the sat Nav once again and hoped for the best.
This has been a fast year. It seems not so long ago when we covered the Annual Toyota meet in Cork last year. I really enjoyed this meet because you never know what comes out of the wood work. Even the machine we came down in is worthy of a picture, (TRD Camry which you see here). You can also see Flip using his best shammy cloth to clean the flies.
After a night of madness on the docks, we woke to a familiar Irish sight, a soggy grey morning. Regardless of the weather, there was a shop that had been on the hit list for a very long time and I was incredibly eager to check it out before our trip came to an end. Tec Arts has been around for a long time and is a very familiar name in the 86 world. They primarily deal with AE86’s these days but are known to have built some very cool cars over the years.
A few months back, Dan a good friend of some of the OG Waterford guys called down to Waterford for a visit. After a few conversations, I told him I was after buying an AE86 shell and was looking to go down the path of misery chasing parts and doing a restore.
