Testamentary disposition from father
to son
Tempted to come jump on the bandwagon as it
approached your local stop? The Initial D anime craze has completely saturated
the global AE86 “Hachiroku” market, skyrocketing the black market prices of the
vehicles. In some cases cars are marked up above $10k, or almost in the general
price range where a new car can be acquired. The animation successfully tainted
the AE86 market with its over-glorification of a seamless archaic automobile by
propagandizing to the youth that it’s a supercar, unbeatable in the mountain
roads. But what these bandwagoners don’t know is that there are plenty of other
chassis that are similar in configuration and vehicle class the AE86, and the
best part is that these vehicles come without the extra “fanboy tax”. One of
the prime examples of such chassis is the Toyota Starlet. The KP61 Starlet had
its first breath in 1987 when it first came off the production line, but sadly
it wasn’t exactly your “weekend cruiser” or “chick magnet” type of whip.
The
KP61 Starlet had its first breath in 1987 when it first came off the production
line
In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s domestic
muscle cars still roamed and ruled the streets, and these flimsy Japanese
go-karts were virtually ignored from the public eye, where the only beneficial
aspect for owning one was the great mpg. On the flip side, things were
completely different overseas in the Land of the Rising Sun, where these Starlets
were more modified than your average plastic surgeon’s wife and were actually
pretty quick. There were endless one-make Starlet races taking place, pushing
forward the Japanese motorsports technology as large corporations, such as TRD
(aka Toyota Technocraft), spent millions producing parts and sanctioning these
races. For the current old schoolers, these were the heyday of TRD in terms of
motorsports involvement, and the parts that were circulated are pretty much
priceless now an cannot be acquired without knowing someone.
1981
Toyota Starlet side
The early KP61 Starlets were equipped with
a carbureted 1.3K 3K engine, and the later 4K versions in 1983 were
transitioned into EFI in Japan. The U.S. versions came equipped with 4K
variants that were carbureted or fuel injected depending on its year. Of
course, this was one of the great ingenuities that led to the success of the
Japanese automaker; they equipped their cars with a smaller displacement engine
combined with a lighter chassis compared to their rhinoceros-bodied Detroit
counterparts. The automaker’s philosophy for the vehicle was to get the
passengers from point A to B by using the least amount of gasoline as possible,
and the marketing timing couldn’t be more perfect than the 1979 energy crisis.
Currently true aficionados seek the KP61 Toyota Starlet for its extremely short
wheelbase and front engine rear-wheel-drive (FR) configuration. The Toyota
Corolla FX16, unfortunately, superseded the Starlet in 1985, where the fuel and
drivetrain efficient front-wheel-drive vehicles became more practical from a
production point of view.
The
early KP61 Starlets were equipped with a carbureted 1.3K 3K engine, and the
later 4K versions in 1983 were transitioned into EFI in Japan
The good news is that die-hard gearheads
who appreciate a lightweight FR vehicle of the ‘80s, such as Edward Feliciano
of Southern California, still exits. Edward spruced up the KP61 after seeing it
sit in his cousin’s garage for 15 years. Edward was looking for a project car
to work on and pass on to his son, like his father had done for him. Eager to
get started, he and his son picked up the wrench and stripped the entire shell.
Leaving the bare-bones chassis in the hands of none other than the premier
old-school autobody expert PJ Bonifacio. Since everything about the factory
Starlet lacked speed, looks, and style, plus the fact that nothing was
available off the shelf in terms of performance parts, Edward had to
custom-fabricate everything.
1981
Toyota Starlet - Amazing Techno Craft Dream Coat
