Back for the 14th time in as many years, T.O.R.C. welcomed owners/fans of anything Toyota out to Long Beach, CA's Queen Mary Park for its latest, free-to-the-public show-off of the absolute cleanest modified and restored Toyota/Lexus/Scion rides you'll likely see anywhere in the world. Once a show held for owners/restorers of pre-1985 model-year vehicles only, this year's show saw just as many modified late-model whips as fully restored old-school rides. Flared and outboard-oil-cooled, Boso-themed Cressidas sat next to turbo, widebodied Scion show-winners; bagged and dubbed LS and GS Lexus VIP rides next to vintage RHD Crown and Century reclamations; race-prepped, upgraded twin- and single-turbo converted MKIII and IV Supra street cars, next to all-motor ITB'd Hachi, Celica and Starlet road racers. Even a few OG Land Cruisers prompted double-takes from the Jeep community, and a modified '60 Crown harkened to the days before the manufacturer at hand came into its own, with blatant domestic-inspired styling a V8 swap.
Most impressive to us were Milton Salamanca's murdered-out SC400 (nice fender work!), every car in the Autofashion booth, Lamont White and friend's side-by-side ridiculously clean, fully built ITB'd Hachi Rokus, Kenny3TC's drag Starlet, the 5Axis Design Yaris concept car, and Kirk Hubbard's RHD '74 Century...so cool, we're willing to overlook its blasphemous Hemi swap.
Peep the September '09 issue of Import Tuner for the high-res glossies, and check out T.O.R.C. for event details. www.ToyotaClub.org