Damas y Caballeros, find me a doper hardtop operation mechanism than this 1989 Toyota Soarer AEROCABIN that isn’t a Honda Del-Sol Transtop and I’ll Venmo you 1,000 internet points.
If you want proof that the 80’s were truly a rad era, only look to the bonkers and amazing Toyota Soarer Aerocabin and its dope hardtop. Only 500 were made but this one just showed up for sale as per JPC Trade UCA Canada earlier this week (Oct. 27,2018) for the low price of ¥1,058,000 which is roughly $9,500, it’s a steal for what amounts to the dopest hardtop equipped vehicle (next to the Honda Del-Sol Transtop) of all time.
The Toyota Soarer is already an awesome coupe that boggles the mind when, even today. Toyota even gave it its own badge, it was so unique. Dubbed a personal luxury GT Coupe, it had everything a car enthusiast wanted if they wanted to, say, drive across the country in speed and style as the name would suggest.
This 1989 model is the Z20 series AKA second generation Soarer which, at this time, saw the Soarer really come into its own with unique angular styling, stellar performance, and sophisticated tech.
Under the hood of this particular Soarer is one of Toyota’s best period-correct engines, a 7M-GTE, a turbocharged 3.0L inline six-cylinder also found in the third-gen Supra. That’s it. This engine was only found in the Soarer and Supra. With a low 5-psi of boost, this Soarer makes a healthy 232 HP and a whopping 254 lb-ft. Paired with a 4-speed automatic, in this case, it’s not particularly ideal, but then again, it’s a GT coupe, not a canyon carver like the Supra.
The real party trick is that Aerocabin. Just like the Honda Del-Sol Transtop, it requires three-separate operations to get it to work correctly except it’s slightly easier in this Soarer.
I’ve come across a video of this Soarer’s hardtop in action here.
The first press of the button opens the rear trunk lid, ready to accept the hardtop when it retracts. The rear parcel shelf does some next level ninja flip and rotates to a vertical position.
The second press of the button retracts the hardtop in a clamshell-style operation as the whole hardtop mechanism closes into the rear trunk.
The third press of the button closes the trunk, protecting the hardtop.
All the while, the system is beeping at you crazy and it’s honestly quite annoying. The whole operation takes less than one minute
What you end up with is an open-air driving experience that’s just as good as a convertible with the rear B-pillars still there to protect you just in case you get into an accident. It doesn’t look the prettiest when it’s open but what a treat to have when it’s a beautiful sunny day.
Since these were built in Japan, you can imagine there aren’t many people who owned something so attention-grabbing so the examples that exist still work flawlessly.
Keep in mind that these cars are approaching thirty years old so expect something with so many moving parts to break down because of its age.
