For those of us who enjoy the different Japanese comics the title “Initial D” is a comic we might be intimately familiar with. This is a Japanese comic that tells the story of Takumi Fujiwara and his modified AE86 that he used to drive through the mountains roads in Japan delivering tofu for his dad’s shop. While the premise for the comic sounds a bit bland, the comic is full of adventure along the way, putting Takumi in different situations that his famous car helps him out of as he works to get the tofu order to the loyal paying customers.
In an effort to pay homage to this comic and the car that was driven in these adventures, Toyota is making a GT86 that will look like the AE86 which was used in the Initial D comics. This car is to carry in every detail in the same way the car that jumped off the pages at you did with a gorgeous look that makes it appear to be a panda in appearances, but it’s truly a powerful and exciting beast under the hood.
The features you will see on this new GT86 include the writing on the sides of the car, the monochrome livery, custom RS Watanabe wheels, a TRD suspension, a Fujitsubo exhaust system, a Cusco strut brace and a carbon fiber hood. These active and attractive parts give this car the look and feel of the original AE86 from the comic. Other features you might not notice right away include yellow tinted fog lights, a silver painted engine cover and mud flaps. Taking this car as far as possible to look like the original the rear spoiler has been removed to offer a sleeker appearance that is much more akin to the original AE86.
This certainly has been a challenge and a labor of love for Toyota to create considering the GT86 and AE86 share no common parts. Even with that detail considered the GT is the spiritual successor to the AE, making them related in some form. This will give us a performance model that jumps out at us like the original car did in the comic books and make it so those of us familiar with the comic will have a car that reminds us every day of how much fun it can be to read these stories and imagine being part of the world that was imagined by artists and storytellers.
Toyota has commissioned UK based artist Sonia Leong to bring the GT86 to life and show us the style and appearance this car should have to be a fitting tribute to the Initial D comics. Are you a Japanese comic enthusiast? Is this a car you plan to have for yourself? If so you need to look into how you can have this exclusive model so that you can have a car which reminds you of your enjoyment of the Initial D comics and the adventures of Takumi.
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