JDM Trivia number eight!

I expected people to jump on the Fujiwara Tofu livery of the Corolla E80 sedan and I was right about that. Actually I wasn’t aiming for the Initial D inspired sticker but rather for the panda AE86 paint scheme applied to it. Why? Well because the two tone panda paint scheme of the AE86 is actually quite subtle and it is easy to make mistakes in it.

Panda AE86 paint scheme

To get started, and sorry if you already know this, but there are two types of the hachi roku: the Toyota Corolla Levin and the Toyota Sprinter Trueno. The former has fixed square head lights while the latter has 70s and 80s style popup head lights. Both of them featured in two body styles: 3 door hatch back and 2 door sedan. People also refer both as a coupe as they have been marketed as a coupe in various regions. However according to the Toyota firewall ID plates the real coupe is the 3 door hatchback and the 2 door sedan is called a hardtop. But enough about introducing even more confusion…

Panda and reverse-panda

In principle the two tone panda AE86 paint scheme looks like a relatively simple paint scheme: two tone paint where the bottom part is black and the top part is a contrasting color in either white, silver or red and the side molding also in the same contrasting color. This paint scheme was in Japan only available on the GT Apex models, while outside Japan it was available on the USDM GT-S models and in Europe on the GT models. There were a few other two tone schemes available: gray on black, Gray on silver, light and dark blue, light and dark green and beige on brown. However these paint schemes were not the same as the panda paint scheme: they miss the contrasting side molding and top painted bumpers. In Japan these schemes were sold on the GT-V models and are often referred to as reverse-panda.

Two door vs three door

So let’s continue with the differences between the two door and the three door versions: the two door lacks the swooping up black paint to the tail lights. This swoop is often forgotten or not done properly when people try to redo the paint scheme. The swoop is present on both the Levin and the Trueno. The rear bumper has been painted in contrasting color on top that follow the line of the side molding. On both body styles the side molding has a contrasting color where on the rear quarter panel it has a sticker applied with either Levin or Trueno in black.

Toyota Sprinter Trueno

The difference between the Levin and Trueno is clearly visible from the front of the car. The Trueno’s front bumper sits slightly higher than the Levin, so on the early model (zenki) the contrasting stripe is applied following the side molding and on top of the bumper it is black. On the facelifted (kouki) Trueno the white contrasting line on the top of the bumper is actually following the black line above the side molding. The difference between the zenki and kouki Trueno is quite clear if you compare the two in this Intial D screenshot.

Finding a panda Trueno in a different shade than black and white will be quite difficult, and it is similarly difficult to find a facelifted model Trueno: most of them have been converted into a copy of the Fujiwara Tofu special.

Toyota Corolla Levin

On the early model (zenki) Levin the bumper sits lower hence a thin black stripe is present on the front fender which continuous between the headlights and above the contrasting white line painted at the top of the bumper. This white contrasting line ends at the front indicators of the Levin as they sit slightly higher than where line starts and then after these two meet the line follows the top line of the indicators. For the facelifted Levin the paint on the fender is unchanged but the contrasting line on the bumper has become slightly thinner.

Panda AE86 paint scheme

So hopefully you now now everything about the hachi roku two tone panda paint scheme. If you have any comments or additions, leave them in the comments below.

Teaser

Teaser for next time: what car is this? And maybe you have seen these tail lights somewhere before?

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