{"id":7276,"date":"2026-04-17T18:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T18:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/7276\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T18:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T18:32:10","slug":"this-big-bore-toyota-ae86-restomod-from-a-legendary-japanese-tuner-is-actually-a-pretty-good-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/7276\/","title":{"rendered":"This Big-Bore Toyota AE86 Restomod From A Legendary Japanese Tuner Is Actually A Pretty Good Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems like every fortnight, some company launches a restomod of an old car. Considering modern cars are both objectively better and less involving then machines of the past, it makes a great deal of sense that there\u2019s an entire industry dedicated to taking the annoyances out of old cars while preserving and enhancing the good. The trouble is, cars like Singer\u2019s reimagined Porsche 911<\/a> and Eagle\u2019s Jaguar E-Type are biblically expensive, commanding price tags more than many of us will earn in a lifetime. The TOM\u2019s Heritage AE86 is a little different.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re big into the JDM tuning scene, you probably already know who TOM\u2019s Racing is. If you aren\u2019t, that\u2019s okay. What you need to know is that TOM\u2019s is the best Toyota tuner on the planet. Founded in 1974 by Nobuhide Tachi and Kiyoshi Oiwa, it quickly gained Toyota\u2019s recognition and support as it delved into both road cars and motorsport. The company\u2019s list of achievements over the years is simply outstanding: 25 Japanese F3 and Super Formula Lights championships, eleven Super GT\/JGTC championships, a podium at Le Mans, five Macau Grand Prix victories. TOM\u2019s Racing even built a prototype Formula 1 car years before Toyota entered the sport. Conceptually, the TOM\u2019s Racing Heritage AE86 is almost if like Williams F1 started restomodding hot Renault Clios, which makes this restomod something worth salivating over.\u00a0[Ed note:\u00a0Imagine if Williams restomodded a Williams Clio<\/a>. Restomodception? \u2013\u00a0MH]<\/p>\n

\"Vidframe<\/p>\n

\"Vidframe<\/p>\n

The whole process starts with an old AE86 Corolla Levin. Yep, sort-of like the one from the anime, just with fixed headlights instead of pop-ups. Once TOM\u2019s Racing gets its hands on it, everything comes off until there\u2019s a bare shell sitting in the shop. Remember, these cars were cheap, so they were often driven hard and put away wet. TOM\u2019s doesn\u2019t just strip and fix any corrosion or damage, it goes the extra mile to stitch-weld the chassis and add additional spot welds for extra rigidity. A bit like a race car. Considering how floppy cars of the \u201980s are compared even to cars from the late-2000s, this is a worthwhile while-you\u2019re-in-there.<\/p>\n

\"GridPhoto credit: TOM\u2019s Racing<\/p>\n

While the shell is being worked on, TOM\u2019s Racing takes Toyota\u2019s 4A-GE engine and bores it out by a single milimeter, upping displacement by a mere 48 cc to 1,626 cc. That\u2019s not much on its own, but it\u2019s part of a holistic package involving many tweaks. A 20-valve head, new internals, and individual throttle bodies all help output climb to\u00a0192 horsepower while raising the power peak from 6,600 prm to 7,980 rpm. This thing probably won\u2019t win many drag races, but it\u2019s not built for that. When you think about it, 118 horsepower-per-liter surpasses that of the AP2 Honda S2000 and the Ferrari F430, and a power peak knocking on the door of 8,000 RPM sounds like proper fun. At the same time, refurbished running gear promises streetability. No straight-cut gears here.<\/p>\n

\"Tom'sPhoto credit: TOM\u2019s Racing<\/p>\n

Speaking of go-fast bits, most people will probably never see the aerodynamic modifications TOM\u2019s Racing makes to its Heritage AE86. That\u2019s because they\u2019re under the car, a carefully shaped series of belly pans engineered with the goal of reducing drag and increasing stability. Proper restomod stuff. Then there\u2019s the set of TOM\u2019s own 15-inch alloy wheels wrapped in V-rated Bridgestone summer tires, a throwback to the firm\u2019s original period-correct lattice wheels of the 1980s.<\/p>\n

\"TomsScreenshot: TOM\u2019s Racing<\/p>\n

Once all that\u2019s together, it\u2019s time for cosmetics. Just as the exterior gets suitably turned around, the interior of each AE86 gets a new lease on life. New urethane seat foam and hand-stitched reproduction upholstery winds back the clock on what is often the baggiest part of an old car, and the door cards are retrimmed to match. The final touch is a vintage-look steering wheel, keeping this fresh build period correct.<\/p>\n

By now you\u2019re probably wondering what this all costs. If you want TOM\u2019s Racing to supply the car, you\u2019re looking at 16,500,000 yen. That\u2019s about $103,600 at the time of writing, and while it\u2019s an enormous amount of money for an old Corolla, it\u2019s not a bad deal when you consider the sheer labor and parts going into it. Remember, TOM\u2019s takes an AE86, strips it back down to nothing, and refurbishes basically everything. A good restoration-quality paint job these days is more than $15,000 on its own without factoring in the cost of a complete vehicle tear-down and rebuild, for instance.<\/p>\n

\"Tom'sPhoto credit: TOM\u2019s Racing<\/p>\n

The TOM\u2019s Racing Heritage AE86 is also one of the few cases of a small-batch restomod not exceeding the price of the most expensive current mainstream car made by the original\u2019s manufacturer. A new Lexus LC 500 Convertible starts at $110,800, and while it\u2019s a more powerful, quicker, more luxurious car, this modern grand tourer has a very different use case from TOM\u2019s Racing\u2019s backroad blaster.<\/p>\n

\"Tom'sPhoto credit: TOM\u2019s Racing<\/p>\n

All in all, the TOM\u2019s Racing Heritage Corolla Levin AE86 actually seems like a pretty good way to spend just north of $100,000. If you love the AE86 and want a turn-key restomod, it turns out having it done by the best in the business isn\u2019t wildly more expensive than having a local shop do it.<\/p>\n

Top graphic image: TOM\u2019s Racing<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It seems like every fortnight, some company launches a restomod of an old car. Considering modern cars are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6570,6571,6572,474,8,17,6573,6574,6575,6576,1273,6577,6578],"class_list":{"0":"post-7276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japan","8":"tag-ae86","9":"tag-corolla","10":"tag-corolla-ae86","11":"tag-featured","12":"tag-japan","13":"tag-japanese","14":"tag-performance-cars","15":"tag-restomod","16":"tag-restomods","17":"tag-toms-racing","18":"tag-toyota","19":"tag-toyota-ae86","20":"tag-toyota-corolla"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}