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Been lurking on here for the last 5 or so years now and I wanted to join in on the fun and make my own build thread. It isn't the typical story though as I've had the car for two and a half years and left it mostly stock until a sudden burst of motivation has convinced me to start digging in.
This is my 1992 Toyota Soarer as it sits today. Stock other than a Greddy MX cat-back and a set of 18x9 Work Seeker wheels that I still can't decide if I like or not (they're staying for now).
I bought the car from an older guy in Japan who hadn't driven it in about 15 years. It had sat outside that entire time and mostly just been neglected. The upside was that the car had around 38,000 original miles with a gorgeous interior and a very healthy 1JZ. He told me that if I bought it I must never sell the car and at this point I think I might live up to that promise.
Here is the car sitting at the port in Japan--
The obvious issues were the faded front and rear bumpers, and a large shallow dent in the left rear quarter that had been spray canned with some impressively matched touch up paint.
I managed to fix the bumper paint within the first week or so, but the rear quarter damage stayed around for a frustratingly long time.
I was so happy with the car at this point. It looked pretty good, it was so comfortable, and I was pleasantly surprised with how quick it was. So far, I couldn't have been happier.
Around this point I started getting serious in to my black skyline build which I've since sold, and also took a job which required me to travel for around 8 months out of the year. The Soarer didn't get much love during this period and I even considered selling it. Fortunately it stuck around.
I've daily driven this soarer since I got it, and have put around 20,000 miles on it total. In that time, I have only had a starter go out, and a water pump fail. Toyota build quality is a powerful thing. Daily driving had been incident free really, until I was making a right turn in to a parking lot.
Got clipped on the corner by a guy looking down at his phone. Fantastic.
As you might be thinking, yes it got hit on the bad corner with the dent and amateur repair. Out of all places, this would've been the one place I picked to get hit. Still can't believe the taillight held up. And the Acura that hit me was completely totaled.
Car went off to the body shop, only for my insurance company to find out that the other person who hit me was uninsured.
Fantastic.
Anyways, the quarter was painted and the faded rear bumper also got replaced with a new factory piece and resprayed to match. To this day the color match is near perfect with the biggest noticeable difference being the difference in quality between the old swirled paint and the fresh new coat. The blend up the C pillar is near perfect.
After this I had a new love for the Soarer, almost like a near death experience. This lead to a full service a bit more in depth than the one I performed when the car first landed off the boat.
And that pretty much brings us up to speed on where the car is today.
However, I do have quite a few parts on the way.
I wouldn't have made the thread unless there would be updates!
Over the next few weeks or so I'll be installing--
- Tom's Advox Coilovers
- 97+ Side Skirts
- A set of Work Seeker center caps that took me way too long to find
- Attempting a paint correction
- Fitting an HKS down pipe
- Installing a wideband
- Tuning on a Greddy Emanage Ultimate
And probably a few other things that I've forgotten about!
It's the old man Soarer because of the old man I bought it from, but also because I want it to maintain its subtle styling and comfortable ride quality. Now I am the old man.
Anyways, I hope a few of you look forward to the updates, I've always loved reading the build threads on here.
In fact, ClubLexus was the entire reason I decided to get a Soarer.
Beautiful original Soarer and a great origin story for it too! I was relieved when I got to the part of your post where you were able to get the rear quarter damage repaired without issue (other than financial). Your insurance company had no problem working with you on this and didn't mess with your title status?
Beautiful original Soarer and a great origin story for it too! I was relieved when I got to the part of your post where you were able to get the rear quarter damage repaired without issue (other than financial). Your insurance company had no problem working with you on this and didn't mess with your title status?
Definitely looking forward to updates!
Thanks so much!
My policy actually included an uninsured clause if I wasn't at fault (which I wasn't), but it had a fairly high deductible. The car ended up being around $1000 on the estimate from being totaled so it does retain a clean title and in the end I'm happy.
10-22-19, 09:06 PM
Nic's 1992 Old Man Soarer
