Photo: Facebook Marketplace Rush, NY (edited by autoevolution)
Oddball JDM cars are like our lifeblood around here. There's something about Japanese cars that looks like something out of a Shonen anime that speaks to us on a primordial level. You might be familiar with some of the more famous weird retro-styled Japanese hardware that was sold back in the 90s. Your Toyota Seras, Honda Beats, Nissan Figaros, etc. But what if we told you there was an even rarer, more obscure JDM luxury car that most in the West have probably never heard of?
This is a bone-stock 1996 Toyota Classic, and it looks like a Chrysler Airflow that caught a glimpse of a screening of Initial D at the local car museum. It's pretty suspect that Chrysler never outright sued Toyota for brazenly copying one of the most historically significant designs in company history. Then again, the Classic was actually inspired by the 1930s and 40s-vintage Toyota AA, a car that itself was inspired by the Airflow to a large degree. Besides, Toyota only ever built 100 examples of this Classic, so it's likely Chrysler was too busy trying to re-invent themselves for the umpteenth time to care about what Toyota was up to outside North America and Europe.
Fresh from a Japanese cargo ship and free from any federal import restrictions after 25 years, this bizarre chimera of a '90s Toyota and a 30s Chrysler is ready to make question marks appear above people's heads like something out of an anime. They're liable to wonder what the hell they're looking at just as much as they appreciate the chance to take a look up close. Under the hood, there's a 1,998-cc overhead-cam four-cylinder gas engine, the same you'd find in an early-to-mid 90s Toyota Hilux Surf, and making a paltry 98 horsepower.
So then, the Classic is by no means a performance car. But on the bright side, the chassis underneath is taken from a Gen-V Toyota Hilux pickup. So, at least this strange chimera of a car will continue trundling along for hundreds of thousands of trouble-free miles so long as the oil is changed on time. Now, you can't say the same thing about a great many classic cars from around the world from this period. This particular imported Toyota Classic now resides in Rochester, New York, suburb of Rush, and is probably not going to enjoy the endless harsh, salty winters the area is routinely known for.
That's why it's up to one of us to save this Toyota from the horrors of Central New York dreariness before it becomes another victim of the rust gods that turn pickup bed sides into scraps of corroded steel. Winters never quite get so bad in Japan it seems, lucky them.
Fresh from a Japanese cargo ship and free from any federal import restrictions after 25 years, this bizarre chimera of a '90s Toyota and a 30s Chrysler is ready to make question marks appear above people's heads like something out of an anime. They're liable to wonder what the hell they're looking at just as much as they appreciate the chance to take a look up close. Under the hood, there's a 1,998-cc overhead-cam four-cylinder gas engine, the same you'd find in an early-to-mid 90s Toyota Hilux Surf, and making a paltry 98 horsepower.
So then, the Classic is by no means a performance car. But on the bright side, the chassis underneath is taken from a Gen-V Toyota Hilux pickup. So, at least this strange chimera of a car will continue trundling along for hundreds of thousands of trouble-free miles so long as the oil is changed on time. Now, you can't say the same thing about a great many classic cars from around the world from this period. This particular imported Toyota Classic now resides in Rochester, New York, suburb of Rush, and is probably not going to enjoy the endless harsh, salty winters the area is routinely known for.
That's why it's up to one of us to save this Toyota from the horrors of Central New York dreariness before it becomes another victim of the rust gods that turn pickup bed sides into scraps of corroded steel. Winters never quite get so bad in Japan it seems, lucky them.
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