Episode 03: The Car That Changed Everything — The AE86

The car that quietly changed the direction of my life.

Episode 03: The Car That Changed Everything — AE86

Encountering Initial D

My very first encounter with the AE86 happened when I was still a high school student.
It began the moment I opened the pages of Initial D, serialized in Weekly Young Magazine.

An old AE86 carving its way through mountain passes.
The protagonist, Takumi Fujiwara, using the driving skills he developed from delivering tofu for his father’s shop, racing his Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 against countless rivals.

To me back then, that manga was far more than just a “car comic.”
In those early-morning mountain scenes—where only the engine and tire sounds echoed—I felt a world where you could escape your narrow everyday life.
A world of freedom. A place where you truly belonged.

“Someday, I want to drive an AE86 myself.”
That feeling stayed quietly in my heart for years.

Skipping School for Driving Lessons

In Japan, you can get a driver’s license at eighteen.
From the moment I learned that, my personal countdown toward my eighteenth birthday began.

I wanted to hold the steering wheel as soon as possible, so I started attending driving school even before my birthday arrived.
There were days when I skipped high school classes just to go to the training center.

Looking back now, it certainly wasn’t something my teachers or parents would have praised.
But at the time, nothing mattered more to me than the desire to “be able to drive even one day sooner.”

When I finally held my driver’s license in my hand, that thin plastic card looked like a ticket to a much wider world.

A first step toward freedom.

My First Partner: My Mother’s Suzuki Alto

Of course, getting a license didn’t mean I could immediately buy my own car.
Fresh out of high school, I had no money for that.

For a while, I borrowed my mother’s Suzuki Alto (4-speed manual).

A small engine and a lightweight body.
Every time I shifted gears, the car responded directly to my input.
It wasn’t powerful, but it taught me something important—that driving itself could be pure joy.

It wasn’t an AE86, but looking back, I probably saw the silhouette of a future AE86 through the windshield of that little Alto.

Learning joy before speed.

The Day I Found It: AE86 GT-APEX

Used-car magazines and dealership listings filled my weekends.
Then one day, I found it.

• Toyota Trueno AE86
• Late model (kouki)
• GT-APEX
• Black & white two-tone
• 3-door hatchback
• 80,000 km

The price was 600,000 yen.
Looking back now, that wasn’t just a car price—it was the entry fee to the life I would later build.

The car that became everything.