Why the AE86 didn't become famous because of Initial D #BlogPost

Nowadays when you hear the name AE86 you immediately think of Initial D. Sure the anime made the car really famous but not many people know that it’s fame doesn’t all come from there.

Let’s go a few decades back. 80s Japan - the place where drifting got it’s fame from. If you were a petrolhead in Japan back in the 80s or 90s you were most probably a fan of drifting or even an actual drifter. The drift scene back then was really small and people didn’t spend ludacris ammounts of money on a car just to take it out for a sideways spin 2 or 3 times in a month. Drifters were mainly young lads without many funds. All they needed was a cheap and simple car. And that is? You guessed it! The 86 isn’t a car that would make you feel like throwing yourself from a tall building when you crashed it. Just hit the fender a few times with a hammer, put some tape on the bumper and it’s ready to go!

Sure, if you had a bit more cash or if you were a more advanced drifter you’d buy an S13, an FC or if you were really rich - a RWD model Skyline. But most drifters were new to the sport and fairly unskilled, so they needed a car that was easy to drive and easy to learn on. And that’s the 86! It has the perfect formula for a beginner drift car. It’s very light (under 1 ton stock) and for it’s weight it has enough power to drift.

After learning to drift you’d feel like it’s the easiest thing in the world. You’d probably want to drift faster or at a higher angle and to do that sometimes even if you’re the best driver in the world, if it’s beyond your car’s possibilities then you really can’t do it. So in order to drift faster or at a higher angle you would need to modify your car to give it more power or upgrade the suspension. That’s where the 86 beats every other car in it’s class as well. Since it’s so common, the parts for it are even more common. I’d imagine selling replacement or upgrade parts for the 86 was quite profitable back then since a young man crashing his car in the mountain was a very common sight. With the 86 becoming so popular even professionals gave it a shot and proved that with the right driving skill and well balanced car you can kick butt.

It’s also important to note that even though Initial D is not based on a true story, it’s what the Japanese touge scene looks like. Cars actually went really really fast round the bends of the mountain road.

So, in conclusion: I don’t think Initial D made the AE86 famous. It was already quite popular. Shuichi Shigeno just decided that the main character in his manga would drive his actual car (the man who created Initial D actually owns a panda Trueno). It’s normal for the 86 to become more and more expensive. It’s the same story with most Japanese legends from the 80s and 90s. The tofu tax however, is a different story. It’s a result of the 86 becoming even more popular.

Initial D didn’t make the 86 popular. It just boosted it’s popularity.