Monday, May 7, 2012

Toyotafest 2012 Old school meets new school

ToyotaFest 2012 featured many rare and unique Toyotas like this S800.

Turns out it great when the weather forecaster is wrong.  The clouds were nowhere to be seen, and it was nothing but sunshine, music and of course the cars.  This year's 17th annual Toyotafest held at the Queen Mary in Long Beach was a great event.  There were cars ranging from the ultra rare Toyota S800 coupe, to the newest Scion xB and tC on display.  Lexus was also on hand, letting attendees pick out a design to have screen printed onto a t-shirt for free. 
All kinds of styles were at the show: The ultra low VIP sedans, stock OEM restorations, gutted and fully built race cars, and street cars in various states of tune.  The one thing that was the same was the high level of enthusiasm everyone had at the show.  Kudos to the Toyota Owner's and Restorer's Club for putting on this yearly event and allowing a new generation of enthusiasts a chance to see Toyota's storied past.  Below are some pictures from the event.  You can be sure we'll be at the next one too!

A VIP style GS300 with a bolt on turbo 2JZ-GE engine.

This was a first for us.  A modded Lexus RX series SUV.

Daruma Celicas have a timeless appearance.

This car was powered by a 3T turbo engine.









1100 horsepower!  Think the owner has any traction issues? =)




A nice sleeper: 1UZ powered Cressida.

Wide bodied Matrix.





This MR2 was sporting an extremely rare TRD 2000GT body kit.


Old school Century. 

At first glance, this MR2 looks like a mini F355.




B-spec Yaris.

This Scion tC was boosted by a Greddy turbo kit.


ZG fenders seem to have a universal application.




The FR-S has plenty of room to work with in the engine bay.




What an awesome license plate!




11 comments:

  1. Nice coverage of a great show. Thanks for the shots of my iQ.

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    1. Thanks! Your Scion iQ is very nice. Love the custom license plate!

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  2. Thanks to you, I didn't have to walk around taking pictures of everyones cars. Thanks for taking pix of my 1UZ Cress and my buddies 1JZ Cress.

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    1. You're welcome! Cressidas are great cars, I see them as 4 door Supras. =) I liked your 1UZ Cressida. I don't think I've seen that kind of a swap done to an MX83 chassis before. It was executed well. What kind of transmission are you using, a W58 or an R154?

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    2. Thanks. The motor mounts were actually produced to anally center the engine like factory by Daft Innovations. He's crazy when it comes to precision lol. The gearbox is a W58 using ToyotaV8.com's adapter. I was going to use his R154 adapter but he's making a T56 adapter to fit the 1UZ which is good news since I'm going to be turbocharging the 1UZ. Both the W58 and R154 don't offer good 5th gear cruising engine RPMs with my 3.90:1 rear end so it'd be nice to have a 6th gear without paying the price of a V160.

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    3. Sounds like an awesome project. I bet a turbo 1UZ will be one crazy beast at WOT, and I agree the 6th gear will definitely help you out on highway cruises to keep gas mileage reasonable. Keep me posted on your Cressida's progress!

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  3. I agree, this is great show of old and new car. It is nice to see vintage car.

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    1. Very true, it's rare to see some of the cars at all, especially the 2000GT and the S800.

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  4. I salute Toyota for organizing these kinds of events as well. If we can only attend one of these, we can experience and relive how Toyota became one of the most bought cars today. But why didn't Toyota include their Corolla model in the show? That model can be considered as a classic of Toyota as well.

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  5. These kinds of events only prove that even if a car is old and, it would have a whole new different look when it is modified, which makes it appealing and eye-catchy. That's one of the reasons why I love going to these shows. Vintage cars were never old; they only need some love and attention!

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  6. Wow! That black SUV at the bottom looks so viscous! With its shiny black paint and lowered wide body, it's close to perfection! And I love that Matrix with the Japanese inspired decals! It's design is so remarkable.

    Ellsworth Mciltro

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