Toyota · Soarer

Toyota Soarer 1st generation (Z10)

Years: 1981–1986
Chassis: Z10
Drivetrain: FR

Image: Tokumeigakarinoaoshima / CC BY-SA 4.0

Story

It wore an emblem inspired by the griffin. It won the 2nd '81-'82 Japan Car of the Year, the first such award for a Toyota.

Stories

The 5M twin-cam that looked like a V12

While he was struggling because no existing engine could reach 200 km/h cruising, Okada found a strange engine that looked like a V12 in the engine test building. It was a 5M converted to twin-cam, with the head split left and right. Wanting it as a dedicated engine for the Soarer, he asked for formal development through the Product Planning Office rather than as the engine division's own project. The first Soarer was fitted with this 5M-GEU twin-cam.

Toshihiro Okada

Chassis

Front

Strut

Rear

Semi-trailing arm

Curb weight: 1,305kg

Production plants

Tahara Plant
Tahara, Aichi

US import eligibility

Earliest cars: Eligible since February 200625 years after sales began in February 1981
Last cars: Eligible since 201125 years after sales ended in 1986 (month not recorded)

Eligibility depends on each car's month of manufacture on its build plate, not on the sale dates shown here (NHTSA).

Japanese cars by US import year →

Engineers

Toshihiro Okada

Chief engineer for development of the first through third generations of the Soarer.