When you think of a Toyota car, you think of car that’s reliable, fuel efficient, practical, and family friendly that on occasion has a bit of sporty styling. In other words Toyota’s are dull, and for the record I own a Toyota and love them. When Toyota builds are car or updates an existing car they don’t make any radical changes. They may change a couple of body panels, the interior, and maybe tweak the engine a bit to make it a little bit better. This philosophy of building cars has made Toyota one of the biggest auto manufacturers in the world. Toyota has mostly conquered every sector in the car market for mass produced cars. However, there is one sector of the market that Toyota hasn’t owned for quite some time, and it’s the sports car market. Toyota in its history has built six great sports cars. A Toyota sports car is different from any other sports car. They don’t sacrifice practicality and efficiency for performance; they combine them together to make a sports car that’s the best of both worlds.
The grand daddy of Toyota sports cars can be traced to the 800. The Toyota 800 was the companies first massed produced sports coupe, and it would become the template for most Toyota sports cars. First built in 1965 it was powered by a 0.8 liter 2 cylinder boxer engine that produced around 45 horsepower which was mounted at the front with power going to the rear wheels. Despite the cars lack of power it benefited from the fact that it was built light and nimble. The body panels on the car where built of aluminum which kept the weight down. The car was also low to the ground which combined with being lightweight gave it excellent handling. The 800 also featured something pretty revolutionary in the sports car market, a targa top. Something only the Porsche 911 had at the time. The car was small and engineered by Tatsuo Hasegawa who during World War II designed aircrafts so he knew how to make a light weight, agile machine and that aircraft knowledge really showed in the 800. Sadly only less than ten percent of 3,131 units remain a majority of than are in Japan. (Here’s a YouTube link of the car http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqkzf_j3hTQ )
In 1967 Toyota shocked the world when it built what most experts call the first Japanese collectable sports car. The 2000GT changed the worlds view on Japanese sports cars and made the sports cars produced in Japan viable against it European counter parts. It has smooth sleek body work that made it a classic. It was largely made of aluminum and very low to ground. Yamaha worked alongside Toyota to design and build the car. This was a huge move for Toyota who as the time was seen as a conservative auto maker. It was powered by a 2.0 liter straight 6 engine taken from a Toyota sedan. The engine was than modified by Yamaha to improve the performance and noise to produce 150 horsepower in a car that weighed nothing. The engine was mounted at the front with a five speed manual gear box with power going to the rear wheels that was also fitted with a limited slip differential. A limited slip differential was rare in Japanese cars; it was something that the Europeans put in their cars. This made the car handle just as good as the Porsche 911. The interior of car shocked people as well; it was put together the right way and rivaled the interiors of other grand touring cars of the time. When the 2000GT was put for sale in America is sold for $6,800 which was quite a lot. It was believed that Toyota made no money on this car, but they didn’t car. They had made something that put them on the sports car market and in films. The 2000GT was used in the James Bond film “You Only Live Twice”. This only heightened the popularity of the car. Once James Bond drives a car it becomes cool, that is just a well known fact in the automotive industry. The 2000GT also put Toyota into the racing scene. This gave Toyota a viable race car that would set several FIA endurance records that would later be topped by Porsche. This car changed the way people saw Toyota. (Here’s a YouTube link of the 2000GT in the James Bond movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8eJ8bj2sh0)
The Toyota Corolla is the least sporty car the company has ever built. It is a small fuel efficient family car and for the record I own a Toyota Corolla. However, between 1985 and 1987 the Toyota Corolla AE 86 was the grand daddy of drift cars. It wasn’t styled with much care, and its interior was basic and barren. There were several things that made this car such a hit among teenage boys who wear their baseball caps backwards was that it was rear wheel drive, short wheel base and its engine. A rear drive Corolla is almost seen as blasphemy to most Corolla enthusiasts of today, but in the mid 1980’s it was reaction to the small front wheel drive Japanese cars in the market. Toyota decided to do something different and offer the Corolla with rear drive in select models. The car has a short wheel base which made the back end of the car stick out when you went sideways. The engine produced anywhere from 87 to 112 horsepower depending on which version you got but it didn’t really matter. The engine was loved because it was easy to tune. People often put huge turbo chargers or massive super chargers to give that little car some grunt. Lightness was the key to the car. It handled very well and was loved by drifters. The AE 86 became a staple of rally races all across the world. Even after Toyota halted the production of the rear drive Corolla several independent race owners would still race the car. This gave life to Toyota in the 1980’s. (Here’s a video of AE 86 drifting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7l1PLpaefI)
When you think of mid engine rear drive cars you think of the Italians. Toyota in the mid 1980’s changed that mind set when it created the MR2. It was a mid engine car with none of the mid engine draw backs. It was a small light weight futuristic looking car. Its engine only had 4 cylinders, but that was more than enough to power a car that weighed as much as a flea. People often got the impression that if you drove fast enough and hit a rock or pot hole in this car you would flip over and die. The MR2 was a well balanced agile car. Since it was mid engine most of the time the weight distribution was 50/50. The engine was later turbo charged, and when you put a turbo charged engine in a car this small and light the result is rather dramatic. It was a fast little car and adored all over the world. (YouTube link of a 1985 Toyota MR2 commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHCVFrf5FKg )
The Toyota Celica was a front wheel drive sports coupe that was popular because it was cheap and fun. It lacked the luster of the rear drive Toyota’s of the past, but it made up for it in styling. It looked different from anything else in the market. It was essentially a coupe with a lift back. It was not a powerful sports car, but it was a perfect entry level sports car. It was also a great alternative for big heavy lazy American muscle cars of the 1980’s. Sadly this is all I have to say about the Celica because it was the precursor to the greatest Toyota of all time, the Supra.
The Supra is the greatest Toyota sports car ever built. The best Supra’s where built between 1993 and 1998. The Supra was sexy sports coupe that even by today’s standards is a great looking car. It was powered by 3.0 liter straight V6 engine that was turbo charged to 320 horsepower with a limited top speed of 155 miles per hour. This car made to physically limited to 155, some have said that with the limiter off the Supra can reach 171 miles an hour that’s super car territory. Following traditional Toyota sports car layout the engine was that front, rear drive, and the car was made of aluminum. Even though it was made of aluminum it was heavy due to the fact it had a very nice race inspired interior, but it’s weight didn’t matter the engine made up for it. The turbo charged engine gave the car the kind of roar that scared big V8 muscle cars. It had to speed to take down just about any non exotic sports car and had the handling to leave those cars in its dust. The Supra became a cult icon in the sports car world, and it is my favorite car of all time. Very few cars have the rare balance of style, performance and practicality. The Supra was a sports car that you could use every day. It had enough leg room in the back to fit four people. This made the Supra attractive to people. Supra’s today are rare and very expensive. A good Supra with twin turbo’s can cost you 24,000 and above. Honestly it is worth the money, because Toyota probably won’t build another car like it. It’s a rare breed of car. It makes me sad to know that Toyota doesn’t build cars like this anymore. In a world of emission standards the need of better fuel economy and the war on speed cars like the Supra won’t be built again and that puts a tear in my eye. (Video of a Supra revving http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYta8TyBxU8&feature=related )
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