COVERAGE> Bay Area AE86 Meet Redux In Oakland

As you witnessed in the first part of coverage from the Bay Area AE86 meet at One Toyota of Oakland, the gathering was a great mix of both hachi rokus and other machines. While more and more cars rolled in, it became harder to pay attention to each car individually. And, although it seemed as if there was almost an equal ratio of AE86s to dope non-AE86s, everyone remembered what car the day was commemorating.

When this GT-S and SR5 came in as a duo, they quickly drew lots of attention. Usually, I would say the clear bumper lights look whack (no hate mail please), but for some reason I really liked them on the car in front.

A closer look at this GT-S  shows the owner’s passion for his AE86. The JDM Kouki front bumper and Zenki lip paired with a fresh set of Volk TE37V shoes all around really did it for me. Simple, yet proper.

Something that has always intrigued me about the scene is the stickers. It’s not just how nice (or ugly) they can look. I enjoy finding stickers that have a story behind them. This particular Drift Day 6 sticker on this SR5 is from a 2003 event at Candlestick Park in San Francisco when it was under the 3COM name. It’s like a badge that shows how long the car and the owner have been in action in the scene. Respect.

Speaking of stickers, I found this Cipher Garage decal from back in the day on an unlikely contender.

It was on the rear window of Kenny Chow‘s 1983 wagon. The dope camber, real motorFix banner and Work Equip 01 wheelset are just a few of the other small things that make his daily driver unique and give it some flavor.

There was definitely no shortage of old-school Japanese cruisers at the meet. Both of these blue Celicas were well-restored and looked beautiful.

This Toyota Hilux was another beautiful creation in attendance brought out by the guys at Performance Options in Oakland. This thing was seriously near perfect. From the 22R-E transplant under the hood to the clean bed, there were nearly zero flaws in execution. Anyone interested in a feature?

The Boost Logic Supra was one of the first cars at the meet and caught nearly everyone’s attention for at least a second or two. A closer look showed a set of drag slicks wrapping the the HRE wheels and two bottles of nitrous in the hatch area.

But, for a car that can do a quarter mile in a little over seven seconds, something else is necessary. Nearly everyone was baffled by not only the engine work on this thing but also the size of the damn turbo! I’ve seen smaller bear traps! Someone could probably fit their head into it!

As usual, Takumi Fujiwara showed up in his Trueno straight from Mt. Akina…

Once again, Wes Ong and Andrew Bohan were out shooting short interviews with AE86 owners throughout the night. The hilarious finished product can be seen here.

One of my favorite cars there was this black Levin conversion on classic Superlite wheels. Lovin’ the rare JDM and British fusion going on here.

That concludes my coverage for this year’s Bay Area AE86 Meet. Hopefully, next year is just as dope and I’ll see you there!

::Sam Attal