Tag: Carina GT-TR (Page 1 of 4)

Near original red 1984 Carina GT-TR TA63

Nearly original red 1984 Toyota Carina GT-TR TA63 – Carina Sightings

November 20, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

I have been seeing this nearly original Toyota Carina GT-TR TA63 for the past few years in videos. I think it is one of the most stunning Carina A60s I’ve seen! As there are many videos around, I’d thought I’d go over the car once using photos from one video, and then make an overview of all the other videos I found of the car.

Red 1984 Carina GT-TR TA63 from Hokkaido

This 1984 Carina GT-TR TA63 is from Hokkaido. It is covered by various people on YouTube, but I’ll feature videos by Yu Sasaki and Bankakuemiko.

At first glance, you would think it is nearly original. Almost as if it were new from the factory. It even still has the small black trim pieces on the wheel arches that were only present after the facelift in 1984. However, there are a few things that make it not original. From the outside, compare it to the red GT-TR in the 1984 Carina brochure:

Toyota Carina GT-TR TA63 Digital Dashboard

Brilliant: Toyota Carina GT-TR digital dashboard

January 25, 2015 / banpei / 1 Comment

As a follow up on yesterdays Mitsubishi Starion digital dashboard post I wanted to show the difference with the Toyota Carina GT-TR TA63 digital dashboard:

As I wrote yesterday: the Starion dashboard has a lot more gauges than the Toyota counterpart, but the Toyota digital dashboard is a lot brighter with many more LEDs. On the left you can see the failure indicators (including oil pressure, oil temperature and voltage) and the indicator if the turbo is boosting or not. On the right you can see the fuel gauge and water temperature gauge as LEDs. A lot brighter than the Starion indeed.

Now if you compare the digital dashboard with the analogue below you immediately can see the difference: the analogue has an extra oil pressure gauge and features all the failure indicators on the right.

Just like the Starion, you can see the Toyota Carina GT-TR digital dashboard in action below: Continue reading

Carina Sightings: Murakami’s Toyota Carina 1800 GT Twin-Cam Turbo

August 6, 2014 / banpei / 1 Comment

I just got back from three weeks vacation where I packed a couple of unfinished books to read and never expected to find this level of awesomeness in a book! Basically while nearing the end of Haruki Murakami’s Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World I suddenly had a big surprise: he describes a Toyota Carina 1800 GT Twin-Cam Turbo!

The book is first published in 1985, but one of the dates mentioned is Sunday the 2nd of October. The only viable year that features this date is 1983, so the storyline must have taken place in 1983 (S57). The story is what they called cyberpunk back then and encloses a futuristic view on the new technology that gets available in the early 1980s.

Near the end of the book the main character in the story needs to rent a car, preferably an European:
I checked the yellow pages and jotted down the numbers of four car-rental dealerships in the Shinjuku area. None had any European cars. Sundays were high-demand days and they never had foreign cars to begin with. The last dealership had a Toyota Carina 1800 GT Twin-Cam Turbo and a Toyota Mark II. Both new, both with car stereos. I said I’d take the Carina. I didn’t have a crease of an idea what either car looked like.
He made an excellent choice and of course I do have a good idea what either car looks like. ;)

While the story continues and he picks up the car it turns out to be in the white shade. I’ve searched the Google images for a long time to find a suitable face-lifted white Carina TA63 from 1983 that looked (almost) bone stock. The only one I was able to find was this one that got sold by Flyrat a few years ago with ill matching wheels, but other than that in almost original condition: Continue reading

Carina Sightings: Carina GT-TR TA63 by Wasabi Cars

September 21, 2013 / banpei / 0 Comments

How could I have missed this fantastic video by Wasabi Cars? Or even worse: Daniel even shouted out to me and I only find out two months after he posted up the video on Youtube… How did that happen?

Well first of all I went on holiday around the same time. As you have read after I came back from holiday my son’s birthday came up, then I had to find and buy a suitable car (getting a sapphire blue Civic delivered next week!) and only now two months later I am starting to catch up with all the videos posted on Youtube… Sorry Daniel, will do a better job next time! ;)

Anyway, finally here is the video: Continue reading

Family Album Treasures: Carina GT-TR coupe TA63

Family Album Treasures: Hayashi Streeted Carina GT-TR

February 4, 2013 / banpei / 0 Comments

It has been a while since I posted a Family Album Treasure and to be honest, this one does not meet my own definition of one (owner needs to be on the picture as well) but if you look at the picture it actually is:

A photo taken of a photo of a car should meet the requirements, right? ;)

Anyway, this TA63 Toyota Carina GT-TR coupe has been modified a bit somewhere in the 90s. It sits on a pair of dished Hayashi Street rims up front, a pair of (what looks like) dished 3 piece SSR mesh and at the front it received a lip from an AE86 or AE92. Also something odd is to be seen with the front bumper, but that could have been damage that has been repaired.

At the rear a small spoiler has been added: Continue reading

Japanese rustoseums (part fourty)

July 13, 2012 / banpei / 0 Comments

One of the most sought after engines is the 3T-GTE twin spark turbo engine that featured in the Carina and Celica GT-T(R) so it is a terrible shame to leave a kouki Carina GT-TR rusting away like this:

Even from the rear it looks like it can still be saved: Continue reading