The old Toyota Supra's 2JZ engine is famous all over the world, used for swaps that range from little Miatas to dune-climbing trucks in the Middle East. However, once you take a 2JZ out, you can put something better in its place, as ‘Smokey’ Nagata decided to do many years ago.
Mercedes-AMG and Ferrari are probably the companies best known for their V12 engines. However, Lexus and Toyota have also engineered some incredible 12-cylinder engines that were buttery-smooth, powerful and easy to modify. The Japanese tuning scene took notice of this and did numerous swaps, but we can't think of a single one cooler than Smokey's V12 Supra.
The project is older than the mainstream Internet, so not many people know about it. However, we decided to highlight it now, along with a couple of nice videos detailing it.
As the story goes, the beast came out at the 2007 Tokyo Auto Show and is the creation of Kazuhiko Nagata from the Japanese tuning house Top Secret. Its 5.0-liter V12 engine comes from the Century, a super-expensive luxury limo that Toyota built just because it could.
To increase the standard output, Top Secret installed a number of custom internals all centering around the extra boost from a twin-turbo system. The actual power output remains unclear, as reports put it anywhere from 930 to 1000 horsepower. We know that the 2JZ can make much more than that, but doesn't sound this good.
Also, this Supra is all about the shenanigans. After finishing the build, Nagata shipped it to Italy's Nardo track where it hit a top speed of 222.4 mph (358 kph). Also, he drove the Supra on public UK roads, hitting a claimed 197 mph (with the original inline-6)... in the rain. After the exploit, he was pulled over and spent a night in jail.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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