How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

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SeeSawStyle
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How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby SeeSawStyle » Mon May 13, 2013 4:42 pm

Just wondering if anyone could figure out how many 1985-1987 Toyota Corolla GTS were left here in the States?

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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby BlackStar » Mon May 13, 2013 7:23 pm

my guesstimate? 2000 at most, exlcuding Canada and Mexico

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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby hachi2k » Wed May 15, 2013 5:58 pm

There are over 40,000 users of this message board even if a 10th of them have them your still looking at 4000, which I think is low... Don't forget that they are available for import now, so your going to get a few from Japan... And I believe most of us have had more than one or have multiples of them at a time...

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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby Ryusei_Date » Fri May 17, 2013 11:57 am

They seem awful plentiful, there's almost always one or two up for grabs on CL in my area, even though I've only seen 1 AE86 in the area that wasn't mine. Is the 8-6 considered rare nowadays? Not many get scrapped and the few that do are usually just converted into part cars. I'm assuming that for now there are plenty to go around, and there hopefully will be for the next few decades, I'll at least try to make sure my AE86 lasts as long as I do! :D
my car: 1986 Toyota AE86 coupe

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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby sqznby » Sun May 19, 2013 3:09 pm

SeeSawStyle wrote:Just wondering if anyone could figure out how many 1985-1987 Toyota Corolla GTS were left here in the States?


Why single out the GTS'?
Why not include all AE86s? GTS' and SR5s?
I guess I'm not a part this being that mine is an 84 :(, yeah its an SR5 to.

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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby 4agshoob » Tue May 28, 2013 11:32 pm

ive owned 6, i know where all but one is now.,,,it left my driveway as a picked clean gts shell...hell i couldnt give it away. in my area, including mine, i know theres at least 20 driving around. mostly gts coupes.


edit: Actually more now that i think about the non-enthusiest. :P
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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby 4agshoob » Tue May 28, 2013 11:35 pm

SeeSawStyle wrote:Just wondering if anyone could figure out how many 1985-1987 Toyota Corolla GTS were left here in the States?


btw, tapitio is the bomb, its like franks, i eat that sh*t on everything.
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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby Red » Thu May 30, 2013 6:39 pm

WHen you ask how many AE86, that's asking how many Corollas of all models there were.

What you mean is how many AE88's are left. Calling the GT-S an AE86 is like saying your vintage Boss302 or Shelby is "just" a plain Mustang.

No one knows how many were imported, because Toyota tossed out all their records, which were only kept on paper back then. To give you some idea, only 12 GT-Ses were imported into the NY-NJ-CT marketing zone every month in 1985. That's 144 for the whole year, in one of the largest sales zones. So maybe 2000 cars were imported into the entire US in that year and each of the following years, when no one including the dealers had ever heard of a Corolla GT-S. In the 1980's, GT-S meant Celica, even to the dealers.

Out of maybe 6000 cars to start with? Half could still be around, probably less since econosports tend to be wrecked faster than other cars.

Anyone who really wanted a hard number could easily buy the information, since each state DMV will sell you a list of registered cars by make, model, year, etc. if you're willing to pay for it.

Now, if Mr. Toyoda understood the US market, he would have personally ordered this done, and made sure the new FRS was sold as a TOYOTA not a Scion, celebrating the history of the car.

Esso got rid of the tiger (oops, brought him back), RCA got rid of Nipper (oops, brought him back), Coke got rid of the New Coke. Sometimes corporations learn that keeping old things, or bringing them back, is a damn good idea. Oddly, one would think a Japanese family company would place some value on tradition and legacy.

In the first 15 years that I owned my car, I'd say I averaged seeing less than ONE other GT-S on the road, anywhere, anytime, per year. And the genius at my local dealer's shop thought I was driving a Nissan.
-- Original owner, 1985 GT-S

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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby Cavi Mike » Thu May 30, 2013 10:30 pm

Did ^that^ guy just compare a Corolla to a Boss or Shelby Mustang? Most jaded Corolla owner I've ever met. IT'S STILL A COROLLA DUDE! STOP WATCHING INITIAL-D! You may now come back to planet Earth.
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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby 4agshoob » Fri May 31, 2013 12:54 am

Cavi Mike wrote:Did ^that^ guy just compare a Corolla to a Boss or Shelby Mustang? Most jaded Corolla owner I've ever met. IT'S STILL A COROLLA DUDE! STOP WATCHING INITIAL-D! You may now come back to planet Earth.



but i get his point, saying "ae's" is really refering to a wide variety, from in between the "te" model, and "zz" model, thats:

ae71
ae86
ae88
ae82
ae92
ae100
ae111


and im sure i missed a few. hes just saying, even if you called the gt-s an "ae86" technically its still not correct. whats the first thing you look at on when buying an 87' corolla, before popping the hood? because in 87' the gt-s had sr5 interior, and mostly manual mirrors. youd look at the vin, to make sure it was an ae88, true gt-s. where-as the sr5 carried the ae86 vin.

he just used the different trim levels of another manufacturer for comparison.
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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby hachigo87 » Fri May 31, 2013 6:00 am

Cavi Mike wrote:Did ^that^ guy just compare a Corolla to a Boss or Shelby Mustang? Most jaded Corolla owner I've ever met. IT'S STILL A COROLLA DUDE! STOP WATCHING INITIAL-D! You may now come back to planet Earth.


Jaded? Ouch, you do realize this guy bought his car brand new and has kept it all these years despite theft & vandalizms, years before Initial-D was even a sketch on a drawing board. I don't think he's off his rocker just yet here.

The comparison is that the name Corolla is very diverse in the 80s. You could have bought an SR5, a GT-S, an econobox sedan or one of the FX(16) variants.. An AE88 is like a Shelby in this regard, it was marketed as a whole different car at the time, look up some advertisements from back in the day if you don't believe me..
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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby Red » Fri May 31, 2013 9:11 am

"or one of the FX(16) variants.."
Oh yeah, that was fun. Try to order parts, or get a wheel alignment, and the first question is "Is that front wheel drive or rear wheel drive?" And then of course, the chains always want to know what engine is in the GTS. The 1.6L, the 1.6 EFI, or the diesel.
I'm still not sure what marketing genius at Toyota decided to offer the same-name car in FWD and RWD at the same time but have to wonder, shouldn't there be a special "employee ritual sepuku room" next to the break room at the plant?

The fine tradition apparently continues today, because I've seen the Matrix listed as "Corolla Suburban" on a state registration. Suburban being dmv-ese for "station wagon", and of course, Toyota doesn't think there is a Corolla Wagon anymore. Or that the Matrix is a Corolla at all.

"What kind of car is that?" Uh, two door?
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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby hachigo87 » Fri May 31, 2013 9:29 am

Oh trust me I've already underwent that headache myself. Most parts on rockauto will say Coupe or RWD. The hatchback variants apparently refer to the 5 doors.. *sigh
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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby Red » Fri May 31, 2013 9:36 am

Rockauto.<G>

I know they mean well and they're often competitive, but when I see DelcoRemy electrical or AC parts for the Corolla...sometimes I wonder how they've put their parts catalogue together. Really, Delco parts for any Japanese car?
-- Original owner, 1985 GT-S

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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby 4agshoob » Sat Jun 01, 2013 5:55 pm

so to add to this i do have a question that me and another educated individual on another forum were discussing. from my experiance and it seems what we covered in the old forum.

"who had more gts hatches? the west coast or east coast?"

which gts was more dominant on either coast as far as release, sales, orders, etc.? the hatch or the coupe?
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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby hachigo87 » Sat Jun 01, 2013 5:57 pm

4agshoob wrote:so to add to this i do have a question that me and another educated individual on another forum were discussing. from my experiance and it seems what we covered in the old forum.

"who had more gts hatches? the west coast or east coast?"

which gts was more dominant on either coast as far as release, sales, orders, etc.? the hatch or the coupe?



I'd love to get some data like this, though I'm not getting my hopes up too high..
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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby Red » Sat Jun 01, 2013 6:34 pm

I think the answer was "no one knows, Toyota threw out all the old paperwork."

But I strongly suspect the west coast got more cars. Remember, this was the mid-80's and you literally couldn't give away riceburners in the northeast, they rusted through from road salt. There was a big lawsuit about that and Honda led the ball with upgrading the ricepaper, ergh, cheapass sheet metal, and upgrading it to meet US standards with better rustproofing.

Then in the southeast US, again, you couldn't give away riceburners, they just weren't part of mom-chevy-cola-applepie. Hell, mine came from a dealer in the Carolinas who was trying to dump them outside their territory, because they couldn't give them away locally.

But in California...riceburner wasn't such a dirty word back then. So I'd expect more were bought, and the more that a dealer sold, the more would be allocated to them on the next round of shipments. And of course, rust wasn't such a problem. And the lousy AC and heating weren't such big problems. Riceburner AC just never was enough in Texas or Florida or points in between.

By the 90's, riceburners had pretty much grown up. But mid-80's? The Japanese still had a weak product, and Detroit still was certain that reliability and fit would never matter. These days...haha, right, fortunately the average car buyer still can't figure out the difference between the gas and brake pedals but meanwhile, the Korean twins have been stealing everyone's lunch.
-- Original owner, 1985 GT-S

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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby hachigo87 » Sat Jun 01, 2013 6:52 pm

Probably the best theory I expect to hear Red. Funny you say about the A/C and the south, my 85 is a factory A/C car and made its way from Florida originally, then to Texas and eventually to Virginia before I found it and brought it to Pennsylvania. Needless to say it hasn't worked for quite a few years..


Interesting also you mention your car was shipped up from the Carolinas, really goes to show the lack of marketing on these cars which have since become cult classics. Even SR5s are pulling strong money just because its the same chassis underneath.


I guess you can confirm the rumor that when these were introduced they were far overshadowed by the MR2 at the time. Not to mention the 85-89 MR2s show up just about everywhere nowadays where ad tracking down an 86 proves to be quite a challenge.
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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby Red » Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:20 am

hachi-
My car wasn't "shipped up", the price was so competitive I flew down, drove it back up on the Blue Ridge Parkway (nice way to break in a stick<G>), and still spent less than what local dealers wanted for it. Yes, they had to give them away in the Carolinas, and mine actually was landed at Jacksonville, FL before it got that far north. All part of the "Southeast" zone. I could have had it driven up, but who wants to gamble whether the driver is going to abuse a brand new stick?

The Fiero was getting all the news back then, the MR-2 trumping it in every way, so if the dealer wanted to tack on a $2000 "added dealer profit" and another $1500 "paint stripe and paint sealant"...that was how they sold 'em. Corolla? Nah, if you wanted an econosport, the Celica GT-S was the car to get. Had power windows and doorlocks and leather seats available, and a much better ride than the Corolla.

Sure surprised me when these started to become cult cars.
-- Original owner, 1985 GT-S

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Re: How many AE86 are left in the U.S.?

Postby hachigo87 » Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:29 am

Oh wow, seems you saw the appeal past the Celica and really wanted one of these in the day. From what I remember reading plenty of dealers were selling the MR2 for far above retail just to combat the heavy demand back then. Go figure, you can pick up a decent one for under $1,000 from those who don't know what they have.
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