Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S

Luckily for me, two of my import car industry friends who were AE86 experts came to my rescue, namely Sean Igawa of Munkey Wurks Garage and Lawrence Ojas of Intec Racing/Silk Road USA. With a few additional JDM companies getting onboard with my last-minute SEMA build project, my AE86 finally made its debut at the 2004 SEMA Show. 

Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S
Allen David Lugue - 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S

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Allen David Lugue

1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S

Instagram: @runfreeae86

Photographer: Marvin Recinos - @mr2mivin

www.rs-watanabe.co.jp/allen-ae86

“THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH”

In the Philippines during the '70s and '80s, you would see one Japanese brand more than any other. On the streets of Manila, Toyota was king.

As a little kid, I grew fond of cars by playing with Matchbox and Hot Wheels. Later, during my teenage years, I was introduced to the world of modifying cars. Nilo Escalona was a close family friend that owned a paint and autobody shop called Elite Limited. He had entered a few project cars from his shop, including his own personal award-winning show car, a heavily modified 1982 Toyota Corolla Liftback. The event was called TransShow, and it was my introduction to a culture that I've been fascinated with ever since.

Fast forward to the late ’90s. I had been living in the US for ten years when a mutual friend introduced me to P.J. Bonifacio. P.J. was a well-known personality, known for building bad-ass old school rides; specifically, the AE86. He was kind enough to let me hang out and help around his shop and at the same time taught me how to build functional show cars. The AE86 was never sold in the Philippines, so I never knew this car existed till I met P.J. Bonifacio. By hanging at his shop all the time and getting exposed to his AE86s and his customers' builds, that’s when I started to fall in love with the 86. I dreamed that someday I would get to own and build one that would be worthy of a magazine feature. 

In 2003, a close friend of P.J. Bonifacio had his AE86 displayed in the shop's showroom as an example of P.J.'s handy work. In a fortunate stroke of luck, he decided to sell it to me. During that time, I was working for Bride USA (the famous Japanese Racing Seat Company) as their Marketing & Sales Manager, where I would interact with various JDM aftermarket parts companies. 

My experience being immersed in the heart of the JDM aftermarket heavily influenced my AE86 build. I was exposed to the golden era of drifting by watching Hot Version, JDM Insider, and D1 Grand Prix DVDs, and I knew I wanted to create something like the early D1 cars I'd see on screen. With this goal in mind, I decided to approach Do-Luck USA for help. They were based in Seattle, and the official distributor for Good Line; makers of the Run Free body kits for AE86s. At that time, the 2004 SEMA Show was a month away, and I nonchalantly joked with Do-Luck USA about using my car in their booth. 

They laughed. However, in the back of their minds, they must have seriously been considering it because the next day I got a surprise phone call from Do-Luck USA. They informed me with the good news that they had selected my car for SEMA as the official US Run Free Demo car with the request of Mr Koichi Yamashita (the owner of Run Free Japan). Yamashita-san literally air-shipped the 10-piece body kit overnight from Japan. With less than a month to transform my lightly modified AE86 into an amazing SEMA build, I had to scramble to find help in building my AE86 into a SEMA worthy booth car. 

Luckily for me, two of my import car industry friends who were AE86 experts came to my rescue, namely Sean Igawa of Munkey Wurks Garage and Lawrence Ojas of Intec Racing/Silk Road USA. With a few additional JDM companies getting onboard with my last-minute SEMA build project, my AE86 finally made its debut at the 2004 SEMA Show.  A quick fun fact, the color gold was never my choice of paint color. Due to time constraints and my indecisiveness, Henry Tran; former painter of DTM Autobody stepped-up and decided to paint the car gold to match the wheels I had on the car for SEMA. 

The new transformation of the car was well-received throughout the whole convention week. After its debut, the car kept winning at major car shows and got into multiple magazines. Hot Wheels even made a die-cast toy version of it. Then in 2007, I decided to focus on non-car-related things, and the AE86 was retired and stored in Northern California.

For almost ten years, my car was stored at my cousin Peter Yap's house. It was kept in immaculate condition with the help of his close friends; Robert Co and Mark Iglesias of AZN Motorsports, the 86 was looked after like a family member. At one point I tried selling it, but my good friend, AE86 brother and Garage Life teammate; Ron Ng, convinced me not only to keep it but have it transported back home to SoCal where it belonged. I can honestly say listening to him was one of the best decisions in my life.

When I got the AE86 back in March of 2016, it reignited my passion for modified cars. For the past 6 years, I have continued to upgrade this car, from getting a set of RS Watanabe R-Type wheels wrapped on Toyo Tires R888Rs to installing some Cusco Okuyama Carbing suspension parts to refreshing my JDM 4AG-E redtop engine with a few TODA and HKS goodies by my mechanic Dennis Aquino at Denzmechanic. 

Since then, my AE86 has graced various print & online car media outlets. It was also featured in a few automotive calendars. I guess the two proudest & humbling moments since I got the car back were when RS Watanabe Japan featured my car on their official website (www.rs-watanabe.co.jp/allen-ae86/) and another major toy company (Jada Toys) made a die-cast version of my AE86 back in 2018.

Photos of my AE86 once again circulating all over the internet had caught the eye of Sei Cho (Die-cast Product Development Manager of Jada Toys). Upon realizing that the car was back from a very long hiatus, he decided to track me down at every 2017 event I attended until we finally met in person. He invited me to Jada Toys‘ headquarters so they could take detailed photos of my AE86 for their upcoming JDM Tuners line of die-cast toys. The rest is history. 

While I feel so blessed with all the achievements, accomplishments, and notoriety that this car has brought me, it’s all because of the many good people that helped me along the way over the past 20 years. Special thanks to my close friend Stan Chen of Toyo Tires USA for supporting my build since day one and for opening so many opportunities for me and my AE86.

Through all this, I still favour the AE86 platform over any cars that is currently out there in the market. In fact, I loved it so much that I purchased another one late last year. I guess my journey in building AE86s is far from over.

SPEC LIST

Engine

  • 4A-GE Red Top (Japanese Version)
  • KOYO Radiator
  • TRD Motor Mounts
  • TRD Transmission Mounts
  • TRD Head Gasket
  • TRD Oil Filter
  • TRD High Tension Wires
  • Techno Pro Spirit Club4ag 4 Into 1 Headers
  • SARD Fuel Pressure Regulator
  • HKS D1 Limited Edition Oil Cap
  • HKS D1 Limited Edition Radiator Cap
  • HKS Super Flow R Air Intake
  • TODA Fine-Tuning Timing Belt
  • TODA Adjustable Cam Pulleys
  • TODA Camshafts Intake (264)
  • TODA Camshafts Exhaust (272)
  • Okuyama Carbing Reservoir Tank Type Fitting
  • Run Free Full Exhaust System

Exterior

  • Run Free FRP Front Bumper
  • Run Free FRP Rear Bumper
  • Run Free FRP Side Skirts
  • Run Free CFRP Hood
  • Run Free FRP Full Front Replacement Fenders
  • Run Free FRP Rear Over Fenders
  • Run Free FRP Rear Hatch
  • Kouki Redline Tail Lights
  • Smoked Front Corner Lights (Japanese Version)
  • Shaved Rear Side Markers (Japanese Version)

Interior

  • BRIDE Zeta III Racing Bucket Seats
  • BRIDE Seat Rail Type-FG (Passenger Side)
  • BRIDE Seat Rail Type-RO (Driver Side)
  • BRIDE Material Wrapped Rear Seats
  • BRIDE Material Wrapped Door Panels
  • BRIDE Material Wrapped Front Sun Visors
  • BRIDE Floor Mats
  • Splash Boss Steering Wheel Hub Kit
  • Works Bell Rapfix Steering Wheel Quick Release
  • Works Bell Quick Release Lock
  • TOM's Personal Steering Wheel (350mm)
  • TOM's Racing 4-Point Harnesses (Red)
  • TOM's Racing Shift Knob
  • TRD Quick Shifter
  • Pioneer Head Unit DEH-X6800BT
  • Pioneer TS-G1045R 2-Way Front Speakers (4 inches)

If you enjoyed this Car why not read this ONE HERE

  • ROTORA Front & Rear Slotted Cross Drilled Rotors
  • ROTORA Front & Rear Brake Pads
  • Goodridge Brake Lines

Suspension

  • Silk Road SR-RMA Full Coilover Suspension
  • Silk Road Front Camber Plates
  • Silk Road Roll Center Adjuster
  • Okuyama Carbing Front Aluminum Strut Tower Bar Type II
  • Cusco 4-Link
  • Cusco Front Tension Rod Bar

Wheels/Tires

  • RS-Watanabe R Type (Front) 15x8.5 -6 (Silver Metallic)
  • RS-Watanabe R Type (Rear) 15x9.5 -19 (Silver Metallic)
  • RS-Watanabe Center Caps
  • RS-Watanabe Lugnuts
  • TOYO Proxes R888R 195/50-15 (Front)
  • TOYO Proxes R888R 205/50-15 (Rear)

FUTURE PLANS
I am still planning to do an ITB setup (Individual Throttle Bodies), and wire tuck the engine bay to make it look cleaner, which will hopefully be my last major upgrade to fully complete this AE86 build.

ADVICE
Build your car the way you want it, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Every car project is a blank canvas, and you are the artist, show the world your own personal style. Always remember that not everyone has the same style and taste. Do whatever makes you happy with your own car build.



SHOUT OUTS
There are a lot of people I want to thank and the list is a bit long, but without these people, their continued support and help this dream wouldn't have happened, so please bear with me and help me say thanks to all these people mentioned.

My Mom Andrea, My Dad Arturo (may he rest in peace), Arby, Arthur, Monica, and Trevor; Stan Chen and Karl Osaki at Toyo Tires USA; Brooks Manabat at TNT Motorsports; Robert Co, Peter Yap and Mark Iglesias at AZN Motorsports; Koichi Yamashita at Run Free Japan; Mineo Takase and Kaoru Tomita at BRIDE Japan; Toshio Takeuchi at COSEVATI Co. Ltd.; Bun Fukuyoshi at Lot USA; Lawrence Ojas at Intec Racing; Sean Igawa at Munky Wurks Garage; Victor Reyes at Emergency Hookers; Krist Srivivatanakul at Sticky Icons; Toshio Noguchi at Forged Press; Dominic Le at Chasing J’s; Dennis Aquino, Allan Calanog and Javier Hernandez at Denzmechanic; Chuck Hernandez and Rowie Landicho at Showstoppers USA; Duane Bada at R Compound USA; Koko Richards at SuperTuning; Kiyo Enari at Watanabe USA; Michael Jimenez and Sei Cho at JADA Toys; Chris Marion at KW Suspensions; Jonny Grunwald at Terminal Racing; Drew Manley at Cooled Collective; Brian Yoshino and Theresa Tran at HNRS OC; Hansel Echeverria at LeenCustoms; Daniel Chae at Formawerx; Nilo Escalona, PJ Bonifacio, Henry Tran, Steve Nakamura, Hector Levario, Angela (Gelai) Tuason, Tommy Babiarz, JD Ashe, Brittney Donahue, Ollie Ashe, Katherine Ramos, Jonathan Lessner, Josh Karalnick, Kayla Santos, Joseph Joaquin, Steve Bolger, Allan Jorge, Alvin “Sonik” Borja, Teddy Timoteo, David Timoteo, Jovi La Victoria, Ariel Espanola, Zoey Espanola, Abraham Phan, AJ Phan, Rich Trujillo, Ely Hernandez, Byron Miron Jr., Mike Tai, Ron Ng, Ryan Ibarra, Myke Adams, Joey Caban, An (Angie’s Creator) Nguyen, Sam Du, Yuri Ranum, Angelo Angeles, Julian Angeles, Farrah Angeles, Marvin Recinos, Brandon Galvez, Alberto Rios-Rico, Lance Feliciano, Brenda Peon, Nana Kogawa, Ricky Liboro, Mimi Lopez, Louna Lopez and Joel Tan (RIP); My boys at the AE86 Ratchet Club; Yogagumi; Garage Life

DREAM CAR
I have a long list of dream cars but if I had to choose one, it would be the Acura NSX (NA1 or NA2). That is probably the only car I would trade my Gold AE86 for, and my close friends know it.

What do you think?

Please leave your comments in the comments section at the bottom of the page

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