The new Toyota 86er is making its way to America, but the old model is still associated with the name. In fact, we can’t even type “GR86” right just yet, since all those dozens of custom projects are engraved in our minds. And one of the most interesting, most ludicrous things is this, the 86 widebody kit from famous Japanese tuner 326 Power.
Both me and Andrei have seen this project before in the past couple of years, so it’s not new. But the video shot by the YouTube channel Roads Untraveled gives us a unique opportunity to cover it for the CARVIBZ community.
What’s really cool is that we may have been the ones who gave it the name “Gundam 86.” If you Google that, my work is going to come up. But any fan of the original series will be able to tell it resembles the Gundam RX-78-2.
Then again, I’d also compare it to the Ferrari Testarossa, also because of those struts inside the air vents. And both the Italian supercar and the Japanese fighting robot add this retro-futuristic element to the 86’s design. It’s “back to the 80s” meets 2010s.
Autobots assemble?!
The first “Gundam 86” in America is actually a 2013 Scion FRS. Its heavily modified bodywork has received large flares that bolt into the bodywork and probably make this compact as wide as a truck. Taking advantage of this, large wheels have been installed, dialed with a lot of negative camber. The rear alloys are 12 inches wide and 285 tires have been stretched to fit, giving it that specific JDM look.
Combined with the diminished ability to steer and you have a cumbersome daily. But that’s the price of being fully custom. This is now more of a show car that you can put on display at SEMA to sell some nice wheels or custom LEDs. The owner initially wanted it to be a crazy-looking autocross car. Yeah, that’s unlikely to happen.
