Atsushi's new Kouki Levin - Arriving to the UK soon!!

[Miguel - Newera]

This car's got a story behind it.... A young Japanese dude living in London had saved for years and fancied the best AE86 he could get for his money... So he contacted us at Newera and had us find one for him. The spec he wanted was originally a Trueno (Panda ideally!) with either an AE92 or 5 valve engine on ITB's...

We spent over 4 months diligently looking through the usual average stuff on sale in Japan and rejecting possible cars when closely inspected whilst Atsushi waited patiently. He didn't like the N2 Trueno we've bought in for stock, wanted something a bit less wide....

A few weeks ago he was due to fly over to Japan to see family for the first time in 4 years.... On the day he arrived, we finally managed to buy this car from a private seller and drove up on an early Sunday morning to Aichi (300 km from Tokyo, near Nagoya) and brought it back with us.

Atsushi met us at the Newera office a few days later and his mouth dropped into a massive grin as soon as he laid eyes on it. Totally fell in love there and then. We then went for a little test drive, slow at first, then to the dock roads to put it sideways to show how well it would drift - then put it away...

Car's well spec'd indeed. It was owned by a son of a body shop owner, so the bodywork's been beautifully restored with arches expertly added to the rear - complete with a genuine full Goodline bodykit made of soft FRP (Resists flexing, etc), TRD rear spoiler, 15" Longchamps are brand new, carries FC3S callipers with EG6 Civic slotted discs and new rear callipers, a properly completed black-top conversion with coil packs for ignition and a 5 valve designated Freedom ECU (80,000km engine - car's done 90,000 km only), complete with new Tokiko & TRD suspension mods, Cusco cage, interior, working air conditioning, etc. It had a few minor things wrong with the interior like missing rear seats and trim, instrument light switch broken, missing spare wheel, etc. Fortunately we had all the interior trim in storage, complete with a set of redline rear lights, rear carpet, new black Cusco cage foam, etc. so these will be added to the car as part of ongoing progress by Atsushi once the car's with him in a month or so.

Dino Dalle Carbonare borrowed it last week and did a photo shoot for some of his Magazine clients, so you may see this one appear on a few shelves around the world soon... (Sorry, no high res pics available).
You may also see it at events in the UK, etc.

Atsushi plans to keep this car for a long, long time - as his Grandfather in Japan still to this day drives a Levin too... So these cars are in his blood.
If you see a Japanese guy driving it in London, wave hello!



























No doubt Atsushi will join here once he's behind the wheel of his new car in UK...

We've bought yet another Sprinter Trueno for stock too prepared by SS Works. Blacktop with FCR (Flat Slide) carbs, long duration camshafts, Route 6 close ratio gearbox and lots more.... It's an absolute screamer which revs to over 9,000 It's in mint condition of course!

Will upload some pics and share that one with you guys next week or so.

[AshCampbell]

Awesome Car

[cavey]

that is one tight clean car!

[banpei]

I like the picture with Tokyo Big Sight in the background!

[DJexor]

damn miquel! You know the best cars!!

Did they mount a frp rear arch or is it metal?

btw what color is it?

[Miguel - Newera]

Hmm...There's a difference in the cars we buy for our customers / stock. Despite always keeping an eye out for the best - this year we'll export only 3 - 5 AE86's. The truly nice ones continue to get rarer, sadly...

It's kinda like Darwin's theory - you could say :wink:

Having watched my father's business in car restorations when I was a teenager then driven interesting old bangers for the first 10 years of having a driver's licence (Including 3 x AE86's till I moved to Japan in '98 ) I grew to dislike rusty cars because of the work & expense involved in repairing them properly (You can't permanently fix rust by grinding it away and adding filler - it'll always come back like a disease after a while.. )

As a company we just don't buy stuff with tin rot (No disrespect to members here doing restorations, etc). Quality rust free cars that haven't been neglected is where the true value's at.

The colour's from a Toyota Bb. The rear arches are FRP, attached to rust free quarter panels. The car started out as completely standard in rust free low mileage condition 3 years ago when the body / paintwork was done, etc. There's no rust underneath, doors, tailgate, A pilars, engine bay, no oil leaks, etc.

It's been prepared for drifting, but the most it's ever been sideways was probably in car parks, etc. judging by the lack of stone chips & missing cracks to FRP, scratches beneath, etc. It was sold to us because it never got used and sat on the previous owner's drive for ages, basically. I reckon his dad liked it more than he did. We had a good chat about AE86's and you could see he was sad to see it go but happy it was going to a good home.

Atsushi plans to store it safely in his mother's garage in UK, so it should stay tidy

I think it's pretty cool it's going to a young Japanese guy living in the UK... And the car's only 4 months younger than he is.. He speaks and reads Japanese like a native, so he's done a lot of reading up on these and intends to tweak the Freedom ECU, etc. himself. Be nice to him when he joins this forum, as he may be a valuable source of knowledge

It's destiny, I reckon...

[Garth Ivers]

blogged for you miguel

should see some traffic to your site from ours soon

[Miguel - Newera]

Thanks Garth - much appreciated
Here's a clicky if anyone wants to see more spec. and pictures: http://www.neweraimports.com/carDetails.jsp?carId=371

Look out for the 20V Blacktop with FCR's, close ratio box, etc. coming soon... It's by far the quickest AE86 we've sourced yet - must remember to shoot a video clip too!!

[projectrollas]

beautiful color i like it allot. if he wouldnt have liked it, i would have slapped him silly. nice find for the customer. cant wait to see pics of the next one to come.

[gt99]

Lovely TRD steering wheel. I want one. Where can I buy it?