Before all the cool kids-at-heart helped Gazoo become a commonly known brand within car enthusiast culture, we — millennials — had the tuning companies in Gran Turismo. One of which is Tom’s.
Here, the recipe is quite compelling, to a complete nerd such as myself: a front-drive 1995 Toyota Starlet (EP82) economy car, treated to a spa day at Tom’s, with a catalogue’s worth of performance parts. Mmmm.
Official Tom’s T082 pamphlet. I’ve broken this up by section (below) • Tom’s
While not exactly readable, I hope this gives a sense for some of the options: stabilizer bars, suspension parts, wheels, harnesses, and seats. • Tom’s
A small body is stuffed with tuning pleasure, as official advertisements said. • Tom’s
“Dress up tools insists its personality. A little giant.”
- Tom’s
Possibly the only reason I love this damn thing?
The image for the cover of the brochure — that I don’t believe has been doctored in any way:
Tom’s T082 brochure cover, with the T082 superimposed over the grid of the 1995 Japanese Touring Car Championship. • Tom’s
Now, I hope you’re wondering:
Was it featured on Hot Version, and driven by Keiichi Tsuchiya?
You bet:
In the challenge, the car was beaten by an I.MEC-tuned Toyota Trueno (AE111), though seeing the two in action, the Tom’s looked quite tenacious for a front-drive performance hatch.
It also had the benefit from a comedy adjustable rear wing / spoiler, which of the two may depend on how adjusted its angle of attack is.
Mercifully, I don’t know how many Tom’s made, how many still exist or what you’d do to locate a T082 for yourself — feel free to tag me on social media (or reply to this email newsletter, as you’ve seen this first) if and when you’ve found one.
Note: I can’t offer money to actually ship one over to ol’ Canada, only admiration for finding one of my personal favourite hatchbacks from this era. (And I might add link(s) to this story as we go!)
