The Toyota Corolla AE86, also known as the Trueno, is a car that has captured the hearts of many car enthusiasts around the world. As Vincent put it, "this little engine might only make about 130 horsepower, but it's a spirited 130 horsepower." The engine itself is equipped with VTEC technology, which allows it to switch to a more aggressive can profile on the fly, increasing the amount of air entering the cylinder.

This feature is crucial at higher RPMs, as it prevents the engine from being starved of air and losing power. In fact, the 4AGE has a red line of 7600 RPM and sounds amazing when revving it. The car only weighs 2300 pounds, making its power-to-weight ratio not a concern.

Unlike many cars of its era, the Corolla did not possess independent rear suspension. Instead, it had a solid rear end and limited slip differential, which made it incredibly easy to drift. In fact, this was one of the reasons why Keiichi Tsuchiya, the original "drift king," loved the Corolla. He would take his car to the mountains and slide it around every turn, earning him the nickname.

Tsuchiya's asphalt-pounding exploits were captured in a film called "Pluspy," which turned the tuner scene on its head back in the late 80s. The film and Tsuchiya himself were direct influences on the creation of Initial D. He even consulted on the show, offering his expertise on how to slide.

The Corolla's lightweight and simple suspension make it one of the best-driving cars ever. It is not fast by any means, but it is responsive and forgiving. As Vincent said, "the car's lightweight and simple suspension make this Toyota one of the best drivers cars ever."

And when we were at the front of the car, I know that you guys were scared that I forgot my favorite part, but I didn't. The Corolla means thunder, and you can't have thunder without lightning. And lightning means... well, let's just say it means a lot of fun behind the wheel.

In conclusion, the Toyota Corolla AE86 is a car that has earned a special place in the hearts of many car enthusiasts around the world. With its VTEC technology, drift-friendly rear end, and lightweight suspension, it is a car that is both fun to drive and a joy to behold. And with Vincent's passion and expertise behind it, this little engine might just make 130 horsepower - but it's a spirited 130 horsepower that will get your heart racing.

Thanks for watching Bumper to Bumper. Every Tuesday, new episode until the day I die. Also watch Wheelhouse on Monday and my other show Up to Speed on Thursday. We've got a ton of new shows coming all summer if you like this episode, make sure you let us know by hitting that Like button. Follow me on Instagram @JamesPumphrey and follow Donut on Instagram @DonutMedia.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Are you freaking kidding me?Am I sitting next to one of the coolest,most iconic Japanese carsin the history of freaking Japanese cars?Don't answer that.The answer's yes, I am.I hope you got your beauty restbecause no one sleeps in Tokyo.We're going Bumper toBumper on the Toyota AE86.Eurobeat intensifies.Initial D, it's the mangaslash anime that inspireda generation of carnerds, myself included.In the same way that Two-Lane Blacktopand American Graffitiinspired our dads to get intoheavy American iron,Initial D introduced usto the world of glorious Nippon Steel.The show featured pretty muchevery standout Japanese caryou can imagine.Mazda RX-7, Nissan GT-R, Subaru WRX STI.But one car stands above the rest,a humble Toyota AE86.Kinda like this one.Actually it's exactly like this one.The car's driven by theprotagonist Takumi Fujiwarawho uses it to deliver tofu for his dad.Just like the show, this AE86has the Fujiwara tofu shop on the side.This car is owned by Vincent Chan,and he went to extreme lengthsto faithfully recreate Takumi's car.And it took a lot morework than you might think.So the Corolla thatTakumi drove in the shownever really came to America.It was called the Corolla GTS over here.It looked like an 86 but itwasn't quite like Takumi's.The Corolla GTS we gotcame with pedestrian-safeUS-spec bumpers.They're very ugly.We also got some otherless powerful versionslike the Corolla SR5.The whole family tree in theUS is all very confusing,so let's just move on.This car started life as a bone stock SR5.Why not start with a GTS?Well, thanks to drifting,those are very, very, veryhard to find in the US,and you gotta pay a tonof money for what is stilla 35-year-old Toyota Corolla.So why not build your own?DIY Crew.DIY Crew, bam-bam-bam.The outside of thiscar is iconic as frick.To any fan of InitialD, the stark white paintaccented with a blackstripe and carbon fiber hoodis reminiscent of the thirdgreatest animal on Earth.You got your buff horse,you got your Zoom Doggy,then you got your panda.But that's not all Vincent had to doto make this AE86 Takumi's.Real quick, let's talk about the term JDM.It just means Japanese Domestic Market.When people talk about JDM parts,what they're talking about is the partsthat were either installed in the factoryor sold only in Japan.Saying something is JDMdoesn't mean it's better,just that it's unique to Japan.Get it, got it, good.Back to the show.Up front are these JDM zanky bumpers.They aren't all fat like the US versions.They look really good.These bumpers and this Truenogrille are worth thousandsto collectors.You can get a Miatabumper for like a dollar.These yellow lights right down herecut through the fog of Mount Akinalike a hot knife through tofu.Now you know Vincent isa real fan of Initial Dbecause of this hood.Casual fans like Nolanmight say that Takumi's hoodwas black, not gray.Well, Nolan is wrong.Takumi's got the carbon fiber hoodlike this one in season five.You call yourself a fan, Nolan?You gotta work from the bathroom today.And the carbon doesn't end there.Even the headlightcovers are carbon fiber.That's some real nerd (bleep).This particular Corolla iswearing Konig Rewind wheels.Now you real AE86 headsmight be saying to yourself,hey, oh buddy, that's not what Takumi had,and you're right, good job.Takumi's car had Watanabesor Wats on the showbut those are super hard tocome by especially in the US.And these Konigs look the part.Vincent says that he would loveto get his hands on some actual Wats,so if you have a real set forsale, hit him up on Instagram.You know that's what's sobeautiful about the car communityis we can all help eachother build our carsand then it's like it's all of our car.And the JDM touches just keep on coming.These corner and bumper lights, JDM.Window visors, JDM.Rear bumper, JDM.The rear taillights, you guessed it, JDM.Vincent didn't just make theoutside of the car look goodlike Takumi's.He did the inside too.The inside is maroon,just like on the show.How cool is that?And it has all thedetails that you'd expectfrom a true Initial D fanatic.The steering wheel is an Italvolante,and as you might haveguessed, yes it is very rare.The wheel is attached toa MOMO quick release hubwhich makes it easier toget in and out of the car.It was kinda hard for me to get into it.These seats are Recaro SPGswith Recaro seatbelt padsjust like the show.And Vincent upgraded the shifter too.The five-speed has a Toyotaracing development TRDshort shifter kit for lightningfast shifts in the twistiesand a TRD shift knot just like Takumi.To let Vincent know how hard he's going,he's also installed water andoil temp gauges in the dash.Speaking of water, noInitial D tribute buildwould be complete with myfavorite part of this build,the piece de resistance, a lone water cupbecause you gotta drive smooth.You don't spill a drop of that.You're all like bored, it's early morning.You're drifting down the pass.So tired, I wish I didn'thave to deliver all this tofu.Wait, driving's cool?I can be a cool guy from driving?And there's a drift.And now, for my favoritepart of every episode.What?It's playing Initial D, thelive-action movie in the car.(laughs) I want this so bad now.Eurobeat intensifies.When Vincent bought thiscar, it was pretty mucha bone stock, bottom ofthe Corolla line Corolla.The engine inside was ananemic carbureted 85 pony powermill that could hardlyget out of its own lane.Now that would not be goodenough for my boy Vinceor Takumi.A car like this deservesone of the greatest enginesToyota ever built, the 4AGE.This particular 4AGE is the silver top.It's what I call my dad.It has five valves per cylinder,which makes it breatheextraordinarily well unlike my dad.The engine is also equipped with Toyota'svariable valve timingsystem, basically VTEC.As the engine increases in RPM,the rockers will switch toa more aggressive can profile on the fly,which increases the amountof air entering the cylinder.At higher RPMs, this is crucial.Other engines without this featurecan be starved of air andlose power at the top end,but not this little guy.He does really good at the top end.The 4AGE has a red line of7600 RPM and it sounds amazing.Now this little engine mightonly make about 130 hrsprbut it's a spirited 130 hrspr.And the car only weighs 2300 pounds too,so it's like a littlepower number like thatain't a prob, Bob.You're gonna be drivingthis thing downhill anyway,so you don't need power baby.Let the gravity do the work.Like most aspects of this car,Vincent didn't leavethe engine stock either.No, it's got individual throttle bodiesfrom a later version of the 4AGE.It's also got an upgradedradiator, oil coolerrelocation kit, and a struck barto make the front end more rigid.All the power from the enginegoes through a five-speedmanual transmission andflows to the rear wheelsthrough a limited slip rear end.Unlike a lot of cars of the era,the Corolla did not possessindependent rear suspension.And that's one of the reasons it's so fun.It was Toyota's affordable commuter carand they saved money wherever they could.The solid rear end andlimited slip differentialmake the Trueno incredibly easy to driftas demonstrated by theoriginal drift king himself,Keiichi Tsuchiya.Tsuchiya-san was a racecar driver in Japanwho basically invented drifting.He would take his Corollainto the mountainsand slide it around every turn.His asphalt punishingexploits were capturedin a film called Pluspy,which turned the tuner scene on its headback in the late 80s.No one had ever seen this kind of driving.The film and Tsuchiyawere direct influenceson the creation of Initial D.He even consulted on the show.He's like, mm yeah, slidemore, mm probably slide less,he probably turned his hands like this.Oh yeah, e-brake here.Great, it's perfect.Let's go get a tiny weirdcoffee from a vending machineat a rest stop.The car's lightweightand simple suspensionmake this Toyota one ofthe best drivers cars ever.It is not fast by any means.But it is responsive and it is forgiving.Dad.And when we were at the front of the car,I know that you guyswere scared that I forgotmy favorite part but I didn't.Trueno means thunder,and you can't havethunder without lightning.And lightning means.♪ Pop, pop, popup up and down headlights ♪♪ Popup up and down headlights ♪♪ Popup up and down headlights ♪♪ Popup up and down headlights ♪♪ Popup up and downheadlights, pop, pop, pop ♪The AE86, especially this one,has a special place inthe hearts of car nerdsall over the world,and while this might not be a real AE86,it might as well be.Vincent put a ton of work,bringing this car from the TVscreen into the real world.And that's a passionany fan can appreciate.Thank you, Jimmy.A big thanks to ExpressVPNfor sponsoring this episode.A VPN or virtual privatenetwork is great for me becauseI don't like all my dark infoout there on the dark web.ExpressVPN helps me to protect my stuff,and the best part isit's less than $7 a monthwith a 30-day money back guarantee.I watch a lot of sick carvideos from all around the worldfor research, but sometimesthey're blocked in my area.ExpressVPN has servers in 94 countries,so all I gots to do is connectand I can watch people docrazy burnouts from whereveron the globe.Take back your internet privacy todayand find out how you canget three months freeby clicking the linkin the description box.ExpressVPN.com/Bumper2BumperTake back your privacytoday with ExpressVPN.And now, back to the show.Thanks for watching Bumper to Bumper.Every Tuesday, new episodeuntil the day I die.Also watch Wheelhouse on Mondayand my other show Up to Speed on Thursday.We got a ton of newshows coming all summer.If you like this episode,make sure you let us knowby hitting that Like button.Follow me on Instagram @JamesPumphrey.Follow Donut on Instagram @DonutMedia.Wanna learn more about the86, watch this episode.You want a fun car for less than 10 grand,check out this episode of Wheelhouse.I love you.