Tag: Carina TA63 (Page 1 of 8)

Hybrid 2T/3T-G powered Carina TA63 – Carina Sightings

December 11, 2023 / banpei / 1 Comment

Here in Europe, there were three choices of engines for the third-generation Toyota Carina: 1.6 litre 2T, 1.8 litre 3T and 1.8 litre 1C. The 1C offered a mere 62 hp and 111 N⋅m. The 2T offered 75 hp and 120 N⋅m. The 3T adds about eleven extra horses over the 2T, which makes the grand total about 86 hp. So where does this oddball Carina with a 1.8 litre 3T-G come from then?

Zsolt's Toyota Carina with a 2T/3T-G hybrid engine — Zsolt’s Toyota Carina with a 2T/3T-G hybrid engine

Unfortunately, we never got the double overhead cam 2T-G on our third-generation Carina. The 2T-G double overhead cam head adds about 40 hp to the baseline 2T. In theory, slapping that very same head on a 3T would then give about 125hp and loads of torque. That’s exactly what Zsolt (zsolesz_molesz) did to his 3T-powered Carina TA62 and he called it a 2T/3T-G hybrid and renumbered it to TA63!

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:

Hearty swapped Carina GT-TR with lots of love – Carina Sightings

November 6, 2023 / banpei / 0 Comments

Hearts and love surround this Toyota Carina GT-TR TA63. Let me explain to you why! I was split between posting this in Carina Sightings and Family Album Treasures, so I’ll post it in both.

First heart: the girlfriend

In this first photo, you can see a girl posing next to the Carina GT-TR. Her name is Kobayashi Koto (小林古都) and according to the ex-owner of this Carina in the 1990s she used to be a model in the 1980s. She was most famous for being the model featured on the 1987 Bridgestone calendar. We can only assume she used to be his girlfriend as she has her arm wrapped around him. Or at least, as much as we can see of him in that photo. She is clinging to him so much that she must have loved him very much. Unless he was in her friendzone…

Toyota Carina A60 history [JDM Trivia]

October 11, 2016 / banpei / 2 Comments

Welcome to JDM Trivia #12 where I describe the Toyota Carina A60 history.

Carina, Corona and Celica combined

The Toyota Carina A60 started its life when Toyota decided to combine the platforms of the Corona, Carina and Celica. This delivered a floorpan that was identical for all three cars and some of the Corona and Carina body panels are even exchangeable.

Toyota Carina A60 generation

This generation of the Toyota Carina was produced between September 1981 and April 1988. For Toyota this was considered to be a very long lasting production. It obviously helped that the Carina derived van stayed into production till April 1988, but also the sedan and coupe were available till the end of 1987. Continue reading

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