"Jesse Shaffer" (7esse)
01/02/2015 at 22:38 • Filed to: None
2
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"Jesse Shaffer" (7esse)
01/02/2015 at 22:38 • Filed to: None | 2
| 7 |
You crave the unique, the extraordinary, the weird, and from most of your friends' perspectives - the uselessness of the outer fringes of what car culture can provide. I'm with you. In my personal daily driver - I have no brand loyalty. I have no desire for decadence, or for much safety for that matter (I'll take the air bags if you're offering, but keep my roof pillars thin.) I can't usually define exactly what it is that makes me decide that a particular type of car is the bees knees . There are a few specific models in which that "gotta have it" feature, though, is pretty apparent. High up on my odd-ball wish list is a certain model of Toyota that I have been lusting after for quite a while. The Toyota Soarer Aerocabin.
"What the fuck is that?" you ask. It's this!:
This is a two door special version of the Toyota Soarer, a model that we never got over here in the U.S. The Aerocabin has a few subtle differences to the regular Soarer. The standard coupe has a taller rear window, giving a slightly more proportional feel to the rear of the body and looks like this:
So, yeah, it looks pretty sweet. But, what is it? It's basically the businessman's Toyota Supra. This second generation Toyota Soarer shares its platform with the third generation Supra. The 24V I6 twin-turbocharged engine in this car puts out around 185 horespower and 200 ft. lbs. of torque in a 3,300 lb package. Not exactly a rocket, but the available manual transmission should make for an engaging driving experience, even if you don't feel like coaxing a few more ponies out of your twin CT-12 turbos ( DO IT! )
In fact, you can buy this pristine dark grey RHD import pictured !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! It's practically got it all: Difficult to see out of RHD setup - CHECK. Stick-Shift: CHECK. Digital Dash - CHECK. 80's Turbocharging - DOUBLE CHECK. Don't get in a rush, though. This car has been for sale for quite a while on the auction site. What you can't currently find on ebay is an Aerocabin. So, again, what is it that makes the Aerocabin so cool? If you haven't figured it out, yet- it's a convertible. Better yet, it isn't your standard "buzz-saw the top off, that's good enough" floppity design job of the era.
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What I love about the Aerocoupe is how well it was designed. The structural components of this Soarer's canopy, along with the tensile strength of the chassis, don't go anywhere when the roof disappears.
After you stash the folding hard-top, what you're left with is basically a coupe with a rear-window that goes down and the biggest sunroof you could possibly have.
Which is exactly what I want. I'm a greedy American, and I want it all. I want the open feeling of a convertible with the driving dynamics of a coupe. There is something about the look and shape of this thing that tells me, even with just a glance, that I would enjoy driving this car. I would be the type of person that would be getting odd looks in the Northeast U.S. during the winter months, as passers-by wondered where my roof (and common sense) had gone. I can't tell you how often I've fantasized about being able to drop the back window of my car to bask in the tones of my own exhaust.
I find the Aerocabin especially pleasing for an 80's convertible, a time when your only other options were fully retractable or removable tops that felt as if they, when in-place, were fitted to a chassis held together by erector-set components around the middle. That or grow a thick 'stache and get some T-Tops. The down-side to this particular model is that it only comes in automatic-spec, but it compensates a bit by harboring the more powerful 3.0L I6 as standard, the true predecessor to the 2JZ of "no shit" fame, pushing closer to 240 horsepower. The five-speed swap from the standard car is do-able, and the guys over at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! have an amazing example of one such Aerocabin that they were able to import on their own.
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While there aren't any Aerocabins on ebay at the moment, there is an already-imported unit currently !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! With the hard-top coupe starting bid at $8,500 and the Aerocabin (a limited run of 500 cars) listing for 12 grand - these odd little Toyotas may surpass cult collector status some day and possibly hold a higher value in bigger markets. Now's your chance to get in early and be the envy of every Toyota enthusiast on your block! AE86 Corollas are soo last week.
Written by Jesse Alan Shaffer, former Director of Information Technology and Network Analyst for Pittsburgh Technology Management. Current free-lancer in NYC. @xmarkedspot
jkm7680
> Jesse Shaffer
01/02/2015 at 22:42 |
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My my, That's pretty.
Dsscats
> Jesse Shaffer
01/02/2015 at 22:48 |
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A couple of things:
2 resident Opponauts have a manual Aerocabin in the US (All the Aerocabins were factory automatics, but theirs was swapped). Also, the Aerocabin was a factory 7M-GTE, not 1G-GTE. The 1G seems to have quite a bad reputation, but I really like the idea of tiny, tiny turbos on a proper straight 6.
The grey one is RHD and has a bit strange of a story. It's been available on that importer's website FOREVER (Over a year at this point) at $7000 without a single bite nor a proper description, but now the price is up and the description...well, that's still lacking.
http://www.minitruckdealer.com/stock_details.…
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Dsscats
> Dsscats
01/02/2015 at 22:51 |
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Theirs:
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Jesse Shaffer
> Dsscats
01/02/2015 at 22:53 |
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Fixed the L/RHD brain fart. Did the Aerocabin owners do write-ups for their cars?!
From what I read, the CT-12s are capable of around the same pressure as my TD04
I'm a bit curious why Toyota installed them in tandem in this low-pressure application.
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Dsscats
> Jesse Shaffer
01/02/2015 at 22:57 |
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http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/imported-from-…
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Jesse Shaffer
> Dsscats
01/02/2015 at 23:01 |
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Many thanks
Yogurt
> Jesse Shaffer
01/03/2015 at 01:06 |
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Makes for an easy 1JZ or 2JZ swap.