For some reason the Starlet has been coming up a lot lately. Rare up here in the rust belt.

Older article these cars have been up for sale lately.


Has it already been a full month since the SEMA Show? It sure doesn't feel like it.
For my final SEMA Car Spotlight, I wanted to share this KP61 Toyota Starlet I found hiding in the corner of one of the display halls.
I was amazed at how much attention the Japanese classic was getting. I could several different guys saying "what kind of car is that?" as I checked out the Starlet. It's definitely not your typical SEMA machine.
From the stickers on the car, it appears that well known Toyota guru and bodyman PJ Bonafacio is behind this build. I'm guessing it's been recently completed, because I can't recall catching this car at any recent events.
What was getting a lot of people talking was the ITB-fed 3SGE tucked nicely under the hood.
Also drawing the eye were these fat lipped eight spoke wheels. Panasports if I'm not mistaken.
The ultra-wide fender flares remind me of the TS Cup Starlets you see often in Japan. So aggressive.
The interior is stripped out and very functional, with buckets for both the driver and passenger. Looks like it's ready for the circuit.
Hopefully we'll see this awesome little Toyota will turn up at a local track day sometime soon.
It deserves it.

This 1981 Toyota Starlet is about as heavily developed as we have seen, now being propelled by a 225 hp 2L engine. We love that these hatches are rear wheel drive, and with some tweaking to the wheel and tire sizes, think this one could look even better. Find it here on eBay in Mission Hills, California with no reserve but also listed elsewhere at $22,500.

Price Drop: 1983 Toyota Starlet Factory Racer

12/2/2013 Update: This Toyota Starlet race car remains available and the seller has now lowered the price to $9500. The seller has taken up MR2 racing and says that over the last three years the car has been started monthly but has not been driven.
From 9/2/2010:
This is the last remaining of 8 Toyota Starlets built by TRD in California to Starlet Cup specifications. It was raced in the SCCA GT5 National Championship races in 1983 and 1984 by TRD factory driver Tom Yoshida, and it raced again in the 2003 and 2004 SCCA National Championship races in the hands of the current owner. This car was first raced at Riverside, and was featured on Speed Channel and in the May 2004 issue of Grassroots Motorsports. It is available in Alexandria, Virginia for $13,500.


The full race car was built by TRD’s Mr. Motoi Kodiara when he organized TRD in the USA in the early 80′s. He later became the General Manager of Toyota Technocraft / TRD in Japan. This is the only car that his team built that carries a signature plaque naming the TRD design team. The Japanese Cup series is shown below.

The engine is a 150hp 4K Stage 3 dry-sump unit with dual 45mm Dellorto side-draft carbs. It also featues Carrillo rods, Venolia pistons, a ported and polished head. Suspension is handled by KYB adjustable shocks, and a limited-slip differential has its own pump and cooler. Brakes are 4-wheel disk with an adjustable proportioning valve, and fuel is stored in an ATL fuel cell with surge tank and dual fuel pumps. Two sets of 13″ x 6″ Weds Ultralight wheels are included, and the full roll-cage has NASCAR door bars. A Kirkey Seat and Halon fire suppression system round out the safety equipment.

Full provenance is verified via a TRD build book and a set of SCCA log books dating back to first race in 1983 at Riverside Raceway in California.


Price Drop: 1983 Toyota Starlet Factory Racer


TRD-Flared 1981 Toyota Starlet

This 1981 Toyota Starlet wears a TRD wide body kit similar to that of factory racers, and though it retains the stock 1.3 motor a 16V 4AGE will drop in pretty easily. It’s not perfect from a cosmetic standpoint, but not bad either, and it’s said to be very reliable and run great. AW11 MR2 seats are very supportive, and the deep dish SSR mesh wheels are an expensive extra worth negotiation for. Find it here on Craigslist in Chino, California for $5k with the SSR’s or $3k without.


Love cars that look like they have been driven and used.

 

meh... i suppose.

 

Been reading some articles lately:

25 Japanese Collectibles You Should Buy Now | Hemmings Motor News

The ten most collectible Japanese econoboxes

Why vintage Japanese sports cars are suddenly the hottest thing on the market | Metro

Japanese Cars - NSX, Supra, RX-7 and more | Hagerty Articles

 

Oh that 4 door!

Friend of mine had a Starlet in 99ish and I never really understood his obsession with the thing. It looked like crap lol

Took me a few more years before I "got it". I would love to have one but rarely rarely see them FS outside of Club4AG classifieds and the like. Almost never on CL with an owner that doesn't know what they have. A grandma sale would be a unicorn from what i've seen.

 

You are correct prices seem to be going up.

This 1981 Toyota Starlet looks decently clean and sounds like a well-built but not quite finished project. It’s running a MegaSquirt controlled 16 valve 4AGE with individual throttle bodies, Corolla GTS rear end with a Kaaz LSD, coil-overs, JDM one-piece bumpers, and fresh paint. We’re guessing it should be good for 130+ HP with lots of revs, a combination that will do wonders to cure any perceived unworthiness of the model. Find it here on Craigslist in South Gate, California for $7,500 OBO.

 

is the wedge looking tercel going to be a classic?

 

Hell no. There's nothing fun or sporting about them. At least the Starlet can have cool motors and is RWD.

I used to have one of those Tercels in college though, was not fun at all but it REFUSED TO DIE. Like I did things any modern car would have blown up 100x over and that motor didn't care LOL

 

Wow I haven't seen PJ in years! Been a long time, he does some amazing work and a real nice guy. I always forget how many of these guys are located here in Socal.

 

Never saw this one.

8.) Toyota Starlet GT


Suggested By: witless_protection
Why It's Cool: Introduced in 1990, the GT was the hot stuff version of the fourth generation Toyota Starlet. It featured Toyota's legendary 4E-FTE engine with a turbocharger on top, as well as rear strut bars and optional limited slip differentials on special limited editions. The cars are rare, but command a cult-like following.

 

Never sold in the states unfortunately, would be nice to get one imported.

Or you could just put a 4EFTE and Starlet suspension in a Tercel and not look as cool but be similarly fun. I always wanted to do that to mine but knew it would never be, given my resources.

Tiny pic stolen from Internet lol

 

Also here's the FS thread if anyone wants to buy this car and the CL link expires.
• View topic - kp61 *STARLET OF DEATH*

 

I'm not going to lie, if I had the space I would have one of these in my garage. Very nostalgic of my childhood seeing these rolling around in SoCal

This was a great feature on one that I actually had a chance to see in person

1981 Toyota Starlet - Star Struck - Modified Magazine

 

Found one was for sale last year front wheel drive 1993 Toyota Starlet GT Turbo. RHD

 

This brings back memory. I had 2 x 1982 Starlets. One was purchased new as DD, the other was bought used and built into a rally car. The rally car had 2x 45mm Weber carbs with headers and mod’ed exhaust, rode on KYB’s. The Starlets were one of the best handling and inexpensive cars I could get my hands on at the time. It came with 5sp MT, RWD, and very light. The 5sp was geared tall for fuel economy, losing too much RPM on every shift. The car was designed to be RHD in JDM. When they brought it over here, the steering was moved to the left. We found out the Weber’s and headers occupied the same space as the steering. Took a bit of work to fit everything in. Most people won’t know about Starlets, there were very few imported. The Tercel looked similar and more popular. In comparison, Tercel was FWD, bigger with more room, and more power (1.5L Tercel vs 1.3L Starlet). I missed that car.