On Monday, Toyota announced it’d begin manufacturing specific parts for the AE86 Corolla Levin and Sprinter Trueno as part of its GR Heritage Parts program, for sale globally and for a limited time. The automaker will make rear brake calipers and steering knuckle arms available starting this month; in December, rear driveshafts will follow. Beyond that, it’s unclear how the effort will develop, but what’s been revealed so far was enough to get us thinking: Which beloved enthusiast car do you feel deserves a run of reproduction parts?
I have to commend Toyota for taking initiative with the AE86 duo, because typically carmakers tend to focus on expensive or rare vehicles when setting about something like this. The company already has a similar program going for the 2000GT, and A70 and A80 Supras, but of course the 2000GT is a million-dollar car and Supras approximately quadruple in value every 12 days. Then there are automakers like Nissan who will factory restore an R32 GT-R for you for the humble asking price of three new R35 GT-Rs.
That’s why it’s really encouraging to see new OEM parts made for a cheap and ubiquitous fun-to-drive compact like the AE86. So many of these have been crashed or seen questionable modifications over the past 30 years. Ramping up production of three parts won’t save all the Corollas out there of course, but every little bit helps.
Keeping that in mind, I’m thinking other reasonably-priced performance cars, like the early-to-mid 2000s Impreza WRX and Lancer Evolution, could also benefit from a program like this considering the pain and trauma so many examples have experienced in their lifetimes. The Acura Integra Type-R is another. In fact, with the Integra nameplate gearing up for a revival, the timing seems appropriate for such a gesture.
Those are just my two cents, though. What classic would you especially appreciate being able to buy new parts for?