When I asked Sean if we could shoot under the bonnet, he was a little hesitant to open it up.
#Starlet gt turbo full
It’s a car which evolved considerably during its lifetime, before coming around full circle again to an almost standard engine setup. He had bought the car a few months before getting his licence and has owned it for over 10 years at this point. It was the first car that Sean insured and drove on the road when he was 17. The EP82 GT Advance was my focus because I think it’s one of the best examples in Ireland, and it’s been around for many years. Also, it goes some way to support my recent found cause of shining a light on the lesser praised Japanese cars. The EP82 was my main focus, but seeing as it was easy to bring the EP71 Turbo S along as well, it would have been rude not to include it. Perhaps the best colour combination on a two-tone Toyota? Sean is just a little infatuated with Toyotas, and these two also share a garage with another one of his cars, a 20-valve AE86 Trueno, which is also black-over-grey. What was once a common sight, is now a once-in-a-year kind of deal, if you’re lucky. While there was a time where these were everywhere on Irish roads, it felt almost surreal watching the two cars drive to our shoot location not long after Christmas Day last year. One person that ‘gets’ them is a friend of mine, Sean Hennessy, who reckons he’s owned around 27 Toyota Starlets over the years, including both the EP82 and EP71 photographed here. They might be niche, but they’re also the unsung heroes of Japan. However, they would become notorious and have since almost been completely blacklisted by the majority of companies here.Įven today, the acronym ‘JDM’ conjures images of S-bodies, RX-7s and the like, but so often we overlook cars like this. At this point in time, motor insurance was normally based on engine size, so with just 1.3-litres, the Starlet turbos were hugely popular with young drivers, as Irish insurance companies weren’t really aware of their performance levels at the time. Particularly popular in EP82 GT Turbo and EP91 Glanza V variants, the little Toyotas became renowned in Ireland for their tuning potential. The streets were filled with more affordable Honda Type Rs, AE86s, and perhaps most of all, the humble turbocharged Toyota Starlet. While cars like the Supra, GT-R and NSX might have been the Japanese poster cars of the late ’90s and early ’00s, the reality on the ground here was a little different. At first, it was just run-of-the-mill commuter vehicles, but people quickly started to realise the potential of JDM performance models, too. We are particularly lucky in Ireland to share the same side of the road and car as Japan, so naturally a lot of Japanese used exports made their way onto our shores. It’s a form of car culture that has made its way into every country around the globe, in one form or another. To be fair, most months here could be considered Japan-themed, but that’s more to do with the incredible influence JDM car culture has on the world. The only problem with celebrating a Japan-themed month on Speedhunters is that it’s just another reminder that I don’t live there.
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