The first two generations of #ToyotaSupra were closely tied to the Celica - essentially stretched versions of Toyota’s original coupe with six-cylinder engines. But a major philosophical change happened as the A60 Supra (July 1981-Dec. 1985) was coming online. The next Celica would be a front-driver, which meant changing the formula, and that’s what happened when the next Supra, the #A70, was launched in early 1986. - Now a stand-alone model free of the Celica’s architecture, the new car was now a purpose-built GT rather than an enlarged Ford Capri-style car, having more in common with the Porsche 928 than the Celica. For economies of scale, the #A70Supra shared a platform with the JDM Z20 Toyota Soarer, Toyota’s “Personal Luxury Car” in Japan and the car would eventually become the Lexus SC. - In the U.S., the A70 was powered by the 4-valve-per-cylinder 7M-GE 3-liter six and it’s Turbo variant, the 7M-GTE. Calling out the 4V configuration seems silly today, but this was a sophisticated engine in those days and one with real punch - 232hp in turbo form, more than a 5.0 Mustang, king of “cheap speed” at that time. The A70 sold well initially, with more than 30,000 built in 1986. - The cars also bristled with technology new to that era - ABS and the Toyota Electronic Modulated Suspension (TEMS) system in particular. They were big GTs, and correspondingly heavy - almost 3,800 lbs. in Turbo Automatic form, which blunted performance. Part of that heft came from sharing architecture with the slightly larger Soarer. But the manual Turbo A70 was still a hot car. In Japan there were 2-liter engines and the spectacular Turbo-A homologation version, the very rare 88 spec A. - The A70 was freshened in 1989 with new front and rear treatments and a new "White" package typical of monochrome schemes popular at the time (including color-matched wheels). - As it aged, the A70, like several other Japanese sports cars, got progressively more expensive as sports car sales slowed overall. 1989 was a decent year (~14,500 sold in the U.S.), but the next three (recessionary) years ground to a crawl, with just 1,200 leaving the showroom in 1992, as the A80 Supra waited in the wings. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs56NPmFtg3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=vnzk0cwzm6fa