We recently wrote about a safari-style Porsche 911, a lifted and off-road-ready sports car. Think of it as an speed-addled, desert-racing truck, minus the truck part. We love safari takes on cars—practically anything is a set of knobby tires, some raised ride height, and maybe a light bar or two away from nailing the look. Or maybe we’re suffering from pandemic cabin fever, and are wound up by these safaris’ seeming unbound sense of adventure. Definitely. And @track_hype, who shared these images with us, is throwing gasoline on our cabin’s wood stove with this Toyota Corolla AE86 rocking a vintage-style Ivan Stewart Toyota off-road racing livery. This is safari hotness on a whole ‘nutha level.
The designer takes the theme to its extreme with a convincing load-out of overlanding gear lashed on top. And then there’s the requisite lift, those wheels, the BFGoodrich mud-terrain tires . . . the closer you look, the more intriguing the Pandemic AE86 gets. There’s a high-lift jack strapped to the stinger-equipped front winch bumper, rock rails to protect those delicate vintage Toyota sills, and a roof rack/hatch cage holding an off-road style spare wheel mount. Even the big ducktail spoiler over the subtle rear tube over-bumper is great. The best part might be the rear box flares, which have a hint of Japan’s wild Super Silhouette cars.
Tacoma? Hilux? What are those? This AE86 looks just as Baja-ready as Toyota’s legendary pickups, without being, well, a pickup. Sadly, it isn’t real—it is only a digital fantasy. This talented artist works in the video game industry as a concept artist, so the skill set is appropriate for realizing this kind of project. What’s most tantalizing about it, which is a credit to the artist’s skill, is that it looks so plausible. Someone with a clean AE86 hatchback shell and fabrication skills, and a fair bit of money, could probably bring this to life.
Oh, and if you decide to make the Pandemic AE86 a reality, we’d really like to drive it.
