It's not a mini cooper, it's not a Ford Festiva and it's definitely not a Yugo. It's a car that the Japanese like to call the Toyota Starlet. If you've never heard of it before, you're not alone. It's perhaps one of the few Japanese cars from the '70s that hasn't been whored out to the aftermarket public. For one, finding one in relatively good shape is no easy feat. The Toyota Starlet can only be found in the far reaches of eBay, the junk section of the Recycler and, if you're lucky, inside the garage owned by your senile grandmother. And if by chance you get your sweaty palms on one, you would have an extremely hard time finding oEm parts for it, much less quality performance products and accessories, unless you decide on bringing back the Altezza taillights, which we highly suggest against.
But more importantly, the decision to even build a Toyota Starlet in the first place takes testicular fortitude the size of Rosie o'donnell's because you're risking being laughed at for much of your life and maybe getting excommunicated from your local evangelical church. And that, friends, is not the way you should choose to live your life, which should be, according to Vin diesel, "a quarter mile at a time," whatever the flip that means.
In other words, let's leave the building of cars like the Toyota Starlet to professionals like P.J. Bonifacio. he not only found a Starlet in better shape than your senile grandmother, but he also found one straight from the streets of Tokyo. This KP60 Toyota Starlet is right-hand drive, sexier than a closeup photo of Britney Spears' c-section scar and makes you wish that your evangelical church weren't such sticklers for cars that are petite like potatoes.
If you've never heard of P.J. before, consider yourself a rookie in this game we like to call "Name the majors of the Tuning Industry." P.J. is the preferred Picasso of the tuning industry and his cars have been featured in Super Street at least once every year for the past 50 years. Sure, Super Street has only been around since 1996 but rest assured that if it were 50 years old, P.J. would be in like the proverbial foreskin. whether it's his personal car or a car he worked on, his name has appeared in this magazine more than the phrases "cinnamon ring," "wax the bishop," and my personal favorite, "aerodynamic anal aerobics" combined.
To give you an example of his professional handiwork, take a look at Ben Abutin's mazda RX-7, November 2007's cover car. His shop in the city of Industry, cA painted and set up all its bodywork. when it comes to building his personal cars, however, he prefers to stick with old-school Toyotas, which is why he's been featured in this Back in the day section more times than Angelina Jolie has adopted cambodian babies. The latest to come out of the Bonifacio camp is this KP60 Toyota Starlet.
The KP60 was a popular ride in Japan back in the day, simply because it was small enough to roll down the narrow roads of Tokyo and was easy to park in a city where finding a spot for a bicycle was difficult. The KP60 series went into production in 1978, mostly sold in Japan and European countries. The United States only got a taste of the Starlet during the KP61 series, from 1981 to 1984. It was replaced by the corolla FX in 1985 and never brought back.
Its rare appearance in the United States prompted P.J. to get one, though he opted for the Rhd version. "I love everything Toyota," he explains. "I love getting them from Japan and bringing them here because it creates an added value to its rarity." To top it off, he installed a 4AG 20-valve blacktop engine into the bay and gave his friends from danstoy full control over the modifications of the 4AG. After all, they are considered one of the preeminent experts in building 4AG engines. Aside from the hKS timing belt and adjustable cam gears, mostly everything in and around the engine was custom modified by the people at danstoy.