This lowered, skirt-wearing Toyota Chaser is a familiar sight on my morning commute and, over the weekend, I was finally able to catch it sitting still long enough to snap some photos. I also had the opportunity to meet its owner, another American expatriate named Dallas, and after talking with him for a while, I’m glad that I stopped to introduce myself. Dallas’ enthusiasm for the Japanese car scene and his love for his Chaser are infectious and our conversation reminded me, once again, why it is that I enjoy cars so much. Learning about cars is a way to learn about people and, along the way, maybe even a little about myself…
Full disclosure: I’ve been a bit of a judgmental prick concerning this car and my previous on-the-road encounters with it have left me less than impressed. It’s noisy, its front end is bunged up and it judders and jolts over every bump as it passes by. Up close and in-person, however, the car is much more impressive and, despite Dallas pointing out the places he got the heat gun a little too close to the faux carbon fiber vinyl applique on the hood, I really like what he is doing here.
Toyota introduced the Chaser as a variation on the Mark II design way back in 1976. This car is a part of the sixth and final generation and was produced between 1996 and 2001. Like many four door sedans, the Chaser came in a variety of trims and, although I didn’t think to ask about what was under the hood, the large intercooler under the front bumper leads me to believe it is the VVTi equipped turbo 1JZ engine. Dallas tells me that the car came from the factory four speed, something I didn’t know was even possible in a four-door sedan in the late ‘90s, and that he has added an aftermarket differential to ensure better slides. Slides are important to Dallas as he actually races this car at the local drift track.
I am sure I will this car again and again on my morning commute and, while it may still be noisy, still have a bunged up front end and still judder and jolt over every bump, I’ll feel better about it because I have a better understanding of the reasons why.
What’s more, I’ll remember to be less judgmental about what others do for fun as I give the enthusiastic young American who has put it all together a supportive wave. I’m sure this car is still a work in progress and it will be fun to see what he does with it in the future. And fun is, after all, what the car hobby is supposed to be all about, isn’t it?
This is Chaser I like, a 2-door hardtop Cressida, just like a miniature Monte, or maybe a jumbo Celica.
I was going to say a Mustang II coupe with far better proportions
Matt,
That red Chaser doesn’t exactly have better proportions than a Mustang II, when I was stationed on Okinawa in the early 80s I saw one of these: white, with a tan interior. For starters, it’s a bit too narrow for how long it is. And, while not visible in that picture, the trunk lid looks too long. I’m just guessing, but I always suspected the 1st gen 2 door and 4 door rode the same wheelbase.
You are correct on the latter point — a smidgen under 104 inches either way.
…or what a mid-70’s Mustang II-based Cougar might have looked like.
” Learning about cars is a way to learn about people and, along the way, maybe even a little about myself…” .
.
Bingo .
.
-Nate
Always good to hear the story behind a car firsthand, and good that the owner is still working on the car and working it out at the track.
Was the Chaser related to anything we got Stateside? The Cressida was long gone by that time.
Nothing over here was related to this sixth generation Chaser. The final Cressida was the last car to use the X-platform in the states. Japan has continued to evolve the Chaser / Mark II / Cresta family over the years to the current X130 series, now known as the Mark X:
Maybe the four speed from the factory was an automatic. This was not a low end car and at least in the USA the bottom rung Tercel was all that was offered with a 4sp manual from Toyota.
Drifting would never be my scene, but I find myself admiring someone like Dallas for pursueing his interests with like minded enthusiasts even while on the other side of the world.
Yes, it was a four-speed automatic. You could still get a five-speed manual with some of the cheaper four-cylinder engines at this point, but I don’t think the sixes were offered that way anymore.
Dallas told me it came with a manual and wikipedia told me that some of these cars did come with manuals. Looking back on it, I should have said “the car came from the factory with a manual transmission” rather than a 4 speed. That’s my mistake.
Its a bit much to describe a motor sport judged by style not speed as racing, Yeah its popular with the young, a kiwi has just won some drifting contest in Japan in a four rotor Mazda, drifters exhibit great car control but its hardly fast motoring, these Chaser Cresta Toyotas are here in fairly large numbers they arrive as used exJDM cars, cant say Ive ever seen a factory manual but there would be one in the Toyota parts bin that would fit no doubt Later versions of these sport a large X on the grille to distinguish them from Camrys.
CC effect, almost! I got passed by a Toyota Cresta yesterday. Never sold here, and looked like a 3/4 size Lexus LS430, so early nineties I’d guess. Japanese RWD sedans are quite popular here as used imports but mostly Skylines; there are a few in my town. I hadn’t seen a Cresta before, though I have seen a Chaser or two.
For those easily confused by the multiple variants of different JDM cars, the Chaser was sold through the Toyota Auto channel (which no longer exists as such) along with, inter alia, the smaller, Corolla-based Sprinter. (You see what they did there.) The Mark II was sold through Toyota and Toyopet stores while the related Cresta, added in the ’80s, was the flagship of the Vista channel.
If you look at the Chaser in profile, you’ll notice that it has concealed B-pillars and frameless glass. It was marketed as a four-door pillared hardtop in Japan; there was a separate four-door sedan roofline with a different B-pillar treatment and window frames. The Chaser of this era was offered exclusively as a hardtop, the Cresta exclusively as a sedan, the Mark II with either style.
” The Chaser of this era was offered exclusively as a hardtop, the Cresta exclusively as a sedan, the Mark II with either style ”
Actually, beginning with the X90 series that debuted in 1992, the Mark II was also hardtop only, and remained so until the debut of the X110 models in 2000. It was at this point the lineup became sedan only (and wagon if you include the differently styled Mark II Blit).
Oops, you’re right. The X70 and X80 were the way I described, and I got confused because the X80 sedans and wagon apparently carried over for a while after the X90 debuted. So, there was nominally a Mark II sedan available on the same price lists.
Is it my imagination, or does head and tail lights look like aBMW ripoff?
I thought the first pic was a Bimmer when I first saw it.
Toyota took a lot of design cues from the German auto makers in the 1990s. I think it was a dark time, honestly, as I really liked the style of Japanese cars back in the 80s. Japanese cars in the 70s are always weird looking, but they have a unique sense of style that has grown on me over the years, too, but most Japanese cars from the 90s remind me of rehashed Benzes/BMWs.
The Korean cars these days are pretty good about using their own sense of style. I’m not a fan of everything they are doing, but I like the the fact the are innovating and, hopefully, this will give the Japanese courage to go their own way again.
Look at the size of that trunk lid. You’ll likely never see anything like that again as everything turns into a pseudo fastback.