Original Gangster Rice: Peck’s Track Equipped AE86 Levin.

Some have called us, Mayday Garage, the unofficial preservers of 90’s Japanese tuning, and while we love the way that title sounds, we can’t take that credit. It is not just our close group of ricers that glorifies this golden era of tuning, but individuals such as Peck Panichapong from Houston, TX that help educate newcomers to the import scene to appreciate this style. Peck Panichapong moved to Houston about 12 years ago, and quickly began his search for a RWD project car. He found it in a SR5 model which also carried out his daily duties. Much like a certain famous tofu delivery driver with a similar car, Peck found himself driving the little Corolla 100-plus miles everyday for work through the streets of Houston. The more he drove the car, the more he fell in love with each mile clocked into the odometer. He soon began collecting different AE86 Corollas, and thus began his addiction.

Peck isn’t alone in his addictions. Like all AE86 car enthusiasts, he turned to many Japanese DVD’s such as Hot Version N2 races and he just knew that he would want a track 86 for himself one day. Unfortunately, the reality of building a custom track inspired AE86 Corolla, a car that is well over 30 years old, comes at a cost, and more importantly, time. Time and money is always a constant uphill struggle when you add an expecting child into the mix. Even still, Panichapong began to slowly collect rare track parts for his beloved chassis, with the hopes of one day completing his dream car.

As luck would have it, two years ago, Peck found an online listing in sunny California from an importer who had already imported the car you see before you through the 25 years and older exemption law. With only a few photos and a promise that the car ran and drove (barely), Panichapong took a major gamble on the Toyota and purchased it. The 86 needed some work, and Peck methodically planned out what parts he would need to make it perform like it once had on the Japanese circuit tracks. To restore this once great track star to it’s former glory, Peck had to fund it by selling most of his rare parts that he had collected over the past decade, a sacrifice that was needed to get it to where he wanted it.

Some people will probably point out that the car has “dated” technology and may even find that some of the modifications are hokey, but as Peck states, “I believe this car has been built for its purpose and all parts have been carefully picked by the Japanese builder.” He goes on to tell me that he is trying to only restore the Corolla to what it once was, and wants to keep the 86 ‘Period correct’. We absolutely love how period correct Peck’s AE86 is, and are super stoked to see something that we have only seen on dated DVD’s come to life before our very eyes in it’s 80’s/90’s glory.

Photos by Khiem Pham Peck Panichapong’s Official Mod List: Exterior N2 Flare kit CF hood + FRP Hatch C-west GTwing Suspension Tokico HTS/TRD Springs Nagisa Auto Traction Bracket Front and rear TRD sway bars Cusco LSD Mazda FC calipers+Adapters Car Care Office master cylinder reinforcing bracket SSR mesh 14×8 Beatrush Under Panel AIBA Works Front strut bar Nagisa Auto Shakitto plate Nagisa Auto Gacchiri Fender brace Jubiride rear seat bar Jubiride center bar Next Miracle X-Bar FET Sports rear strut bar Cusco Safety 21 6point cage Crossmember spacers Interior OMP Rally Steering Wheel Nagisa seat rail Prodrive WRC seat Bride old school bucket set Bride seat rail TRW/Sabelt harness TRD shift knob + short shifter Omoni oil pressure/temp gauge Tomei A/F meter Omoni Tachometer Engine 4AGE 16v Toda Camgears + Camshafts Toda ECU with Apexi Super AF-C OER SK Sport Injection body ITB kit OER fuel rails Sard Fuel regulator Silk Road Section Header Kakimoto Exhaust system 1G-GE starter adapter Omori Meter Oil Filter Relocation Kit Tomorrow is 8/6/14, aka 8-6 day throughout the world. We, the unofficial ambassadors of rice, will be having a special AE86 gathering at our Ricer Wednesday event at our food truck, The Rice Box, located at 1638 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77006 (Westheimer and Dunlavy) tomorrow night from 7p-11p to celebrate the Toyota Corolla AE86, and invite everyone to come check out this N2 Levin hatchback as well as a few other AE86 machines over a nice hot serving of General Tso’s chicken! We’ll see you there! Keep Tuning, Ricer X