Relevant books and magazines

[Power_uP]

Maybe it would be a good idea to have a thread to show cool books and magazines that anyone finds. I doubt I'm the only one around here with a collection of reading material. It would be cool if people add to the thread with stuff they find, or items they already have in their collection.

This is a book that I guess most people here already have:
AE86 Owner's Bible:



This one is obviously not 86 related, but its an interesting book that is very well written. Its written and extremely well researched by Shin Yoshikawa.
Toyota 2000GT, Kai Art International:


As you can see, its written in English and Japanese. Its also very picture heavy.



The last one I'll post here for now is published by Haynes (yes, that Haynes) in 1986 and I really enjoyed reading it. It gives a good overview of the history of the major Japanese manufacturers and seems (mostly) well researched.
Complete History of the Japanese Car, Marco Ruiz:


Being published in the 80s, the AE86 hadn't become legendary yet, but its good to see a mention in the Toyota section.


While reading this one, I was surprised to find info on the 'Nissan' Soarer, a car that bizarrely uses a lot of Toyota switch gear.



If anyone wants any info on these books, then let me know and I'll tell you what I can.

[banpei]

Nice idea!
I have stockpiles of magazines, books and stuff on both the AE86 and other Japanese cars. Once I have moved everything from the shurgard I'll share them here.

And the Nissan Soarer is obviously the 1986 Toyota Soarer Z20:
http://www.en.japanclassic.ru/booklets/7...20-01.html
Page 7 is literally the same photo but then in color...

[Power_uP]

I can't wait to see some of your collection Banpei, I'm guessing you have quite a lot of material.

Here's all the material I have from the 1980's, mostly from the UK.

Autocar, April 1984. Full road test:




Autocar, October 1984. Toyota special:





Fastlane, June 1984. Road test:




Motor, March 1984. Road test and a 2-page advertisement:





Motor, November 1986. Comparison against AE82 and AW11:




Rallye Racing, September 1984. Bodykit:




Later on I'll post the Japanese stuff and the more recent magazines from the UK.
Once again, if anyone wants more info on anything then let me know.

[banpei]

(02-04-2020 12:38 AM)Power_uP Wrote:  Motor, November 1986. Comparison against AE82 and AW11:

That reminds me of this blog post I made in 2012:

Quote:Every volume of Practical Classic columnist John Simister looks back at his older work, mainly involving cars that were back then brand new and nowadays potential classics. Today the June volume landed on my doormat and to my surprise I found the following column:


Practical Classics AE82 vs AE86 vs AW11
It is very funny to see John came to the conclusion the outcome of the original article did not reflect the reality at all:
On the shocking surfaces of the ride and handling course, the Coupe went to pieces while the other two shone.
versus
Today the Coupe – code-named AE86 which is how the new GT86 got its name – is very rare and much prized by enthusiasts for its old-school driftability. The hatchback GT had practically vanished without a trace. And the MR2? … values should be heading for the stars, but they are not.

Given the fact that a good condition AE86 has a higher pricetag in the UK as the original showroom model, I’d dare to say that the Coupe (as the English call it) was the safest investment of the past 27 years!

And fast forward 8 years: MR2 prices are soaring as well and the AE82 is still nowhere to be found.

[Power_uP]

Its cool that he reviewed his old article, but I have noticed AE82 values are starting to rise now. Its a shame its taken so long because I always thought it was a decent car.

Anyway, here's a bunch more UK magazines. This time its the stuff from the 90's, when the car was still seen as something of an obscure 'Japanese thing' among all but a few people in the know. The Max Power article isn't bad, I think the magazine lost its way over the years but it started off quite informative. The Max Power article and the piece in C&CC are about getting more performance out of the AE86, something that wasn't easily done in the UK back in the 90s as the car didn't exactly have the following that it had in Japan.

Max Power, June 1994 (believe it or not):




Those who are extremely eagle-eyed (and have a good memory) might remember when the car shown in Max Power was on eBay in about 2004. I seem to recall it being sold as a package of about 10 cars that a rally school was getting rid of.


Cars & Car Conversions, March 1996:




Next post will be my collection of exquisite Japanese reading material. There isn't much of it yet, but some of it is pretty good.

[banpei]

Review by the Dutch magazine Auo Visie in October 1983:


It refers to the fact that the car would only be available from November 1983 in the Netherlands and we would only get the two door variant. They review the car relatively positive due to the lively engine and label it a fun car to drive (for it's price range). However they do have some harsh comments on the live axle, bad tires and the econometer (they suggest it should be labelled power and more power ) that are out of place here.

[Power_uP]

You guys got the Austin Maestro over there too? Now I have to know what journalists thought of it. I wonder if the export version still has the talking dashboard.

It might surprise some people to learn that a Chinese company put the Maestro back into production with Toyota engines until about 2006 (not bad for a car that was originally released in 1983!).

[banpei]

When I'm back in the Shurgard I'll read that review too and let you know. Probably they thought it was a revelation compared to the Allegro...