Toyota scores brownie points by restoring the Supra of a Japanese Prime Minister candidate
Dinesh · Mar 8, 2022 06:40 PM
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She was probably too busy running Japan at the time
“Is that a Supra?” Yes it is and it’s driven by Sanae Takaichi, who lost her bid to become Japan’s first female Prime Minister last year but definitely earned a whole legion of new fans when it became apparent that one of Japan’s most powerful women owns a 1991 Toyota Supra 2.5GT Twin-Turbo Limited from new.
Now officially one of the coolest women in politics, Takaichi has been kept busy helping run the country for the past decade. No doubt her role as the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications during the Shinzo Abe administration kept her away from the A70 Supra.
Born and raised in the Nara Prefecture of central Japan, Takaichi was elected to the country’s House of Representatives in 1993. Nonetheless, she was always a petrolhead way before politics ran her life. Once elected, she drove her Supra turbo for the commute between Nara and Tokyo.
Don’t think there’s a better way to arrive at parliament.
Takaichi shared her love for cars during an interview with The Daily Shincho last year. Prior to the Supra, she owned a used Celica XX; itself the direct predecessor to her A70.
Purchasing a brand new A70 seemed like the perfect upgrade. She’d been eyeing the Supra before it went on sale and took some time to save up the money as well as wait for the right colour to be available.
“I worked, saved money and bought a new car for the first time in my life. It took me a long time to get the Super White Pearl Mica purchased,” enthused Takaichi.
Her fondness for Toyota could stem from her father, an employee of a Toyota-affiliated company.
Her Supra was specced to the brim. It had the 280PS 1JZ-GTE twin-turbo inline six mated to a 4-speed automatic. The interior was wrapped in a rare-for-Japan burgundy leather. Back then it cost her a whopping 4.3 million yen.
That’s about RM 134,000 in 1991. For reference’s sake, inflation would bring that to about RM 261,500 in today’s money.
Having dropped that kind of yen, Takaichi drove the Supra loyally for 22 years. She kept it as JDM as possible. It still has the two TOM’s stickers, diversity antennas and, as reported by Best Car, a Panasonic navigation system, Dunlop Le Mans 702 tires as well as export-market side indicators.
Age took its toll though; on both Takaichi and the Supra. Her position as a senior politician meant it was unbefitting of her to be driving a non-eco-friendly car. Furthermore, her eyesight was declining as well.
Unwilling to part with the car, she stored it at a local workshop in her home of Nara. It stayed there for almost a decade with her dropping by to visit whenever possible.
When she ran for prime minister last year, the Supra was brought out and parked outside her Nara campaign office. That’s when many; including Nara Toyota, took notice.
Acccording to Japanese Nostalgic Car, the company overseeing Nara-area Toyota dealerships offered to restore the Supra for her. Its time in storage saw the paint faded, exposure damage on the interior as well as a wasp’s nest on one of the headlights.
Nara Toyota are the perfect people for the job. They have a dedicated restoration facility and museum that’s seen them restore the likes of a S30 Crown, Sports 800, Stout, KE10 Corolla, AW11 MR2 and a different A70 Supra.
10 skilled individuals were appointed to the restoration team of Takaichi’s Supra; six technicians and four body and paint specialists. They christened the project “ST Supra 80.” ST for Sanae Takaichi and, no, they didn’t get the model wrong, the 80 is for the 80th anniversary of Nara Toyota.
Work officially began on February 17 on the Supra and is expected to be completed by the last quarter of the year.
No doubt the move will score Toyota some goodwill from enthusiasts. Nissan took the same route by restoring the Y31 Cima of actress Kazue’s Itoh and received plenty of love.
Here’s to Takaichi having another go at the Prime Minister role, much like how her Supra is getting a second lease at life.
“Better late than never.” Some despise it, others begrudgingly agree with it but he swears by it… much to the chagrin of everyone around him. That unfortunately stems from all of his project cars not running most of the time, which in turn is testament to his questionable decision-making skills in life. A culmination of many wrongs fortunately making a right; much like his project cars on the rare occasions they run, he’s still trying to figure out if another project car is the way to go.
