01
From the 86 test drive to Munich in secret
In May, while Tada was attending a press test drive of the 86 in Spain, he got a call from Japan. He was told to go to BMW headquarters in Munich the next day and find out whether they could build a car together. No one said Supra, but BMW was the only maker with a high-performance production inline six, and on the plane he thought, this is the Supra. When he sent back an optimistic report, he was put in charge of the project as its leader.
02
Winning approval for a short wheelbase with a prototype
The ratio of wheelbase to track was decided first, and the wheelbase was made 100 mm shorter than the 86's. Headquarters worried whether something that short could be stable at very high speeds. So he had an advance prototype built on a BMW 2 Series and shipped to Japan for the president and executives to drive, and development was finally given the go-ahead.
03
A year without agreement
BMW's head of development recommended a high-tech sports car that made use of environmental technology rather than a classic sports car with tight economics. Negotiations with Tada, who was set on an inline-six sports car, had gone on for more than a year before anyone noticed. When BMW's head of development changed, the mood shifted at once: if Toyota feels that strongly, then let's do it.
